5 Must take travel photos

When traveling, I tend to either completely forget to take photos or get so snap happy that I forget to enjoy where I am because my face is glued to the viewfinder. After tons of traveling and then sorting through the photos and then collecting them into blog posts, frames and scrapbooks, I have determined the 5 most important photos that I always take on a trip. These help me balance out my photo obsession and help tell our story in a cohesive and descriptive way.1. Where I stand: This tells your physical here and now. It shows the landscape of where you are and who you are with without worries about framing and smiles, etc. This photo below just screams beach, friendship, sunshine and fun. You can also take these in landscape mode while you are sitting down, we love those for scenic views. It's a fun little challenge to seek out beautiful tiles or pretty flowers, street graffiti, etc to make these photos more interesting and informative. For more inspiration check out the hashtag on instagram #whereistand or our hashtag we use #hoopersonfoot2. The Details: Remember to zoom in. To capture the tiling, the flowers, the menu, the site history markers. These are the details that you will want to remember years later. How stonework reminded you that someone built a cathedral by hand years ago. How large or small something is (which is what I wanted to show in this photo). These are the quirks, the stories that we want to remember about a place.3. The Big Picture: you may be thinking 'Duh'. Well sometimes I want to be so artsy I forget to zoom out and remember places as a whole. This is most people's go to photo and it is really important! Make sure you get this one first and then branch out and look for ways to photograph things you wouldn't normally!4. The Cheesy Tourist:  You're never too cool for these and may cherish these the most years later. Don't be afraid to get in front of the camera. Use a tripod, timer or ask a stranger if you need to. Having beautiful photos is great, but YOU were there. That's the memory you take back with you!5. The Stuff: This is the fun one! This is the one that most people neglect. I love this photo below for a multiple of reasons. First, my hair looked great that day.  Second, I love that you can see my gloves and scarf showing that it was really cold. The pretzel is the star of the photo and takes me right back to the street vendor I bought it from and how crazy delicious it was and how starving I was after walking through the museum for hours. I remember so much about that exact moment, all from a pretzel. Take photos of food you eat, clothes you wear, people who are nice, tickets, signs, your luggage. Anything that was special on that trip that you may not experience again or that represents a special moment of that trip!What are your go to shots? What photos do you have framed over and over in your house? Take your favorites, look for the unusual, then go enjoy your travels! Related reading:My top 10 travel tips part 1 and part 2