Maynard Switzer

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Pro TechniquesTravel Photography How To
On The Road: Narrow Focus: Know Before You Go
Maynard Switzer  |  Jun 27, 2012  |  First Published: May 01, 2012

In early February I went to Cuba for 10 days of photography. Long before I left I knew what I wanted to accomplish. I’d been to Cuba 10 years before, so I knew the basics of what I’d see and what I could expect. This time I narrowed down what I wanted to photograph. I wanted to shoot mostly in the old section of Havana and in the city of Trinidad. People would be my main subjects—people on the streets, in their homes, going about their lives. In Old Havana I wanted to work in the late afternoon and early evening; in Trinidad I wanted to capture people against colorful backgrounds. On this trip there wouldn’t be open country where I’d be shooting landscapes or people working in the fields; there’d be no wide-open spaces, no photos of tobacco fields or expanses of sugar cane.

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Pro TechniquesTravel Photography How To
On The Road: Now You See It: Soon You May Not
Maynard Switzer  |  Feb 07, 2013  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2013

At one time or another we’re all tourists somewhere. There’s even the old suggestion that to be a better travel photographer you might pretend to be a tourist in your own hometown. Seek out points of interest and find unusual ways of photographing them and you’re on your way to better images when you get to Paris, London, Toronto, New York, or wherever you’ll someday be headed.

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Outdoor/Travel
On The Road: Two For The Road: Two Words, That Is
Maynard Switzer  |  Apr 30, 2013  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2013
Every traveler with a camera will welcome the words “smaller” and “lighter.” Because I travel and photograph for a living, I not only welcome them, I search for them. I want to see those adjectives accompanying nouns like camera, lens, laptop, and drive (the portable kind).
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Pro Techniques
On The Road; Always Be Prepared; The Rewards Of Research
Maynard Switzer  |  Jun 17, 2011  |  First Published: May 01, 2011
Right from the start it sounded like it was going to be a challenge. In late summer last year I was hired by the Taiwan tourist bureau for a 10-day shoot to take pictures for a travel magazine advertorial. Since I’d never been to Taiwan before, and my usual way of working is to make all my own plans, schedules, and lists of places to shoot, I did some research as soon asI got the assignment. What I found wasn’t promising.
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Outdoor/TravelPro Techniques
On The Road; Parade Route; My Strategies For Festivals And Events
Maynard Switzer  |  Mar 01, 2010

One of the things I always try to do when I’m planning a trip is check out the events calendars of the cities and towns I’ll be visiting to see what sort of festivals might be taking place. Sometimes I’ll even rearrange my schedule to make sure I hit those places at the right time; that’s how important it is for me to take advantage of these photo opportunities. Images of...

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Pro Techniques
On The Road; People Skills; Speak Softly And Carry A Short Lens
Maynard Switzer  |  Sep 01, 2010

In my last column I talked about fixers—the guide/translators who smooth the way and open the doors so I can get the photographs. They’re important when it comes to photographing people, especially when I don’t speak the language, which is most of the time. But while I don’t always have a fixer, I have my people skills.

The most...

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Outdoor/Travel
On The Road; Prime Time; Weighing My Optical Options
Maynard Switzer  |  May 01, 2010

This may surprise you, but I prefer to travel with single focal length lenses rather than zooms.

I have several reasons. First, my primes are usually one to two stops faster than zooms, which is important not so much because I shoot with my lenses wide-open but rather because the extra one or two stops of speed makes the image brighter in the viewfinder—which means...

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Outdoor/Travel
On The Road; The Fixer; A Brief Guide To Guides
Maynard Switzer  |  Jul 01, 2010

Travel photographers call them fixers, and that’s what they do: they fix things to make sure the way is smooth so the photographer can do what he needs to do—get pictures that the average tourist can’t. And if you want those kinds of opportunities—in other words, if you’re really serious about your travel photography—there’s no substitute for a savvy...

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Outdoor/TravelPro Techniques
On The Road; What I Learned; My Journey From Fashion To Far Away
Maynard Switzer  |  Jan 01, 2010

My route to travel photography was not direct, but looking back, I realize the direction was set fairly early.

While attending the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, I got a chance to spend a semester break photographing in Arkansas at the oldest bluegrass festival in the US. I never forgot how much I’d enjoyed photographing the festival and the local...

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Outdoor/TravelPro Techniques
Wider Worlds; Getting Closer To The Story
Maynard Switzer  |  Jan 01, 2011

Ten years ago, when I was primarily a fashion photographer, I did a shoot in Cuba. Normally I’d have used medium and long telephoto lenses, but because the narrow streets I was shooting on featured colorfully painted walls, I switched to a 35mm lens. With that lens I was able to show not only the models but also the background, which revealed a bit about the location. Equally important, I...

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