Travel photography is a subcategory of photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 involving the documentation of an area's landscape, people, cultures, customs and history. The Photographic Society of America

Photographic Society of America

The Photographic Society of America is one of the largest, non-profit organization of its kind. Despite its name it is an International organisation open to anyone with an interest in photography. Established in 1934, it has expanded to include members of over 70 countries. The Society includes...

 defines a travel photo as an image that expresses the feeling of a time and place, portrays a land, its people, or a culture in its natural state, and has no geographical limitations.

Travel photography can either be created by professionals or amateurs. Examples of professional travel photography can be found in the National Geographic

National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...

 magazine. Amateur travel photography is often shared online through photo sharing websites like Flickr

Flickr

Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...

 or niche travel photography websites such as TrekEarth

TrekEarth

TrekEarth is an online community of travel photographers who upload their images to the site. The goal of TrekEarth is to learn more about the world through photography; it uses an encouraging critique system to enable users to comment on each others' photography. In addition to uploading their own...

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History

Travel photography dates from the 1850s. Early practitioners include Francis Bedford

Francis Bedford

Francis Bedford was an English photographer.-Life:Francis Bedford was the son of the successful church architect Francis Octavius Bedford. He began his career as an architectural draughtsman and lithographer, before taking up photography in the early 1850s...

, George Bridges, Maxime Du Camp

Maxime Du Camp

Maxime Du Camp was a French writer and photographer.-Life:Born in Paris, Du Camp was the son of a successful surgeon. After finishing college, he indulged in his strong desire for travel, thanks to his father's assets...

, Solomon Nunes Carvalho, Francis Frith

Francis Frith

Francis Frith was an English photographer of the Middle East and many towns in the United Kingdom....

  and James Ricalton

James Ricalton

James Ricalton was a school teacher, traveler, inventor, and photographer. Ricalton travelled extensively and he circumnavigated the world seven times. -Maplewood:...

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