Well, hello there! This post, as the title suggests, is about travel writing for travel bloggers.

It includes the slides from my recent presentation at TBU Innsbruck, a conference aimed at, you guessed it, travel bloggers.

Travel Reading

If you’re more into travel reading than writing then don’t bother flicking through the slides.

Instead, why not check out some of my other posts, like Beauty, Brutality & Motherhood – Visiting the Alhambra or Alone in the Wild – Kayaking in Alaska.

Travel Writing

If, on the other hand, you are interested in travel writing then I hope you find these slides useful. They were designed to have me blabbering along as you read them so if, in the comfort of your own computer screen, things don’t make sense then drop me a note in the comments section.

I’ll do my best to help.

Happy travel writing, everyone.

Travel Writing for Travel Bloggers first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

As promised in The Sony NEX-5 Camera – The Travel Photography Dilemma Solved, here is a juicy, fruity post on how to make a travel videowith the same beast: the Sony NEX-5. Now, I know that a lot of you have been asking me about this (either on the site or in person) because of the NEX-5′s unique, mirrorless setup.

I also know that a lot of you couldn’t care less about this photography stuff and just came here to read some great travel articles. If that’s you, then why not check out A Cultural Awakening in Benidorm or The Safari Symphony in the Okavango Delta. 

If you’re here for video, then read on.

Video With the SONY-NEX5

It’s actually incredibly easy, to the point that it’s slightly embarrassing to write this post. Press the red record button to start recording – and then press it again to stop. Ta da!

Travel Video Tips

- Steady your hand as much as possible. Use a tripod if you can, otherwise rest your camera on a solid object or at the very least use two hands.

-Noise: Without a special microphone, wind and background chatter will probably drown out your subject. In quiet conditions, though, the SONY NEX5 does a decent job (Listen at around 1 minute 20 on the Alaska video below.)

-Before you start recording, press the photo shutter release half way down to focus the camera.

-Use the zoom smoothly and slowly.

-Film for a few seconds more than you think you need both before and after the crucial event you’re recording. It will make your life much easier at the editing stage.

The Verdict? An Independent Review

For adventure travel situations, when you don’t want to carry heavy, cumbersome equipment, the SONY NEX5 is ideal. It lets you produce high quality photographs and create travel videos with a single piece of lightweight kit. Could you find individual components elsewhere that would produce a better result? Yes and no.

Yes, there are certainly cameras (for both still and moving pictures) that will produce higher quality images than the SONY NEX5 IF (and this “if” is bigger than it sounds) you are able to carry them around without injuring yourself or damaging the lenses. On dry land, in a safe studio, the others win.

Hiking on ice in Alaska, the SONY NEX5 is perfect.

Here’s the video (a picture paints 1000 words, the proof is in the pudding and all that. On ice, the boot’s probably even on the other glove.)

Video Clip Using the SONY NEX5: Icebergs in Alaska

Video Clip Using a Flip Video: Sparkly Bras In Copenhagen

Video Clip Using a Panasonic SDR-S50: Zooming Around London

Video Clip Using an iPhone: Gondolas in Venice

Read the original review on the Sony NEX5 here.

Making a Travel Video with the SONY-NEX5 first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to dive headlong into New Year’s Resolutions again in 2011. It is, after all, late February and even the Korean New Year has come and gone. I may have to get creative and find a New Year festival in some corner of the world that kicks off in March.

In the meantime, I’ve found another challenge. The 1000 – 1000 Travel Blog challenge. One thousand visitors a day, earning one thousand dollars a month. I’ll be joining some of my favourite and most inspirational travel bloggers and I’ll undoubtedly get to know plenty more.

I’ll let you know how I get on…

1000/1000 – Time For A New Challenge first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

If you’re interested in storing and selling photos, travel, portfolio websites or, at a push, me then read on…

Managing Photos Taken on the Road...

A Website Makeover

Essentially, I was looking for solutions to the following:

Internet Access Sometimes Tricky

1) Somewhere to back up my photos online

2) Somewhere where editors could see and download my photos, no matter where I was

Beyond that, I had a wishlist:

3) More options for my footer and sidebar

4) A Nobel Prize

I found the answers in PhotoShelter. (Well, all bar one.)

How to Provide Selective Photo Downloads?

As it happens, I found several online photo storage sites that let others download your work. The difficulty was, trying to find a way of doing that selectively. After all, how could I expect people to pay me for something that I let total strangers download for free?

That was the snag I kept running into with Flickr and One.com. Everyone could download everything. SmugMug seemed a possibility but then I realised that PhotoShelter had the magic pill: integration with WordPress.

The Magic Pill: Integration with WordPress

With PhotoShelter, not only could I match my photo storage to my WordPress site, I could sell photos online and in print, quickly transfer images to twitter and facebook and benefit from the incredibly well put together PDFs on SEO, social media and Google Analytics (see, I told you this would be dull unless you were into this kind of thing.)

However, I am into this kind of thing - because 21st century writers, photographers and bloggers can’t afford to ignore it.

So, What’s The Catch?

Is there a catch? Of course there is. Nothing’s perfect and apparently not even online photo storage sites hand out Nobel Prizes. First off, it’s not free (prices start at $9.99/month after a $1 trial.) Second, not all WordPress themes integrate seamlessly with PhotoShelter, only those from Graph Paper Press (more about them another day.)

It’s a pretty small catch, though, for an amazing product.

Making The Switch

Finally, obviously, you need to organise and upload your archived photos and switch themes, which is why it took me so long.

To be fair, PhotoShelter offers various ways to soothe the pain (including sending them the hard drive and handing over cash to make the headache go away.) Changing themes was easier than changing from blogger to WordPress but it still created a few glitches I needed to smooth out.

Boxes Unpacked, Mail Redirected, Just Need to Hang Some Pictures Up

A System For Photos Taken on the Road

So, I’m almost there with my blog redesign. Head over to my portfolio site and photo archive site to see how they all fit together. And, please, drop me a line in the comments below or via the contact form if anything’s not working as it should or if you have any other suggestions to make.

I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about the new layout and about what lies ahead and I’d like to thank Dave and Deb from The Planet D and Sherry from Ottsworld for their advice and Pokin Yeung from GeckoGo for making the tough look easy.

It’s slightly harder to thank companies, but I’d highly recommend both WordPress and PhotoShelter.* If you’re thinking about setting up a blog, you should definitely use WordPress; if you’re looking for a professional way to store and sell photos while on the road, use PhotoShelter*

Once I’ve got this site shipshape and shiny, I’ll post a resource area to answer questions about travel writing, blogging and photography, so check back soon.

Disclosure: PhotoShelter sponsors my account because they like my work and I like theirs. As ever, I only recommend products that I believe have great value because, well, there’s no point otherwise. Read the breathlessly exciting disclosure policy here.

Storing & Selling Photos on The Road first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...