You Don’t Need To Travel The World To Be World Class Photographer

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Kashmir In Winter

Yes, that’s true, you read that right. You really don’t need to travel the world to be a world class or international standard photographer. I’ve known many Malaysian photographers who make it big in international level by taking pictures here in Malaysia alone. They rarely travel outside Malaysia and some a lot of them also have won world class recognition by some of the most prestigious international media, whether it is coming from winning international photography competition or their works were admired by international community.

So what makes some photographers achieve that standard? Well, it is difficult for me to answer that, since I’ve not won any international competition just yet, and my work hasn’t been displayed at international gallery outside Malaysia, in fact,  none of my works has been on displayed in any Malaysian Art Gallery.

Some people associate, world class standard when their work were admired by people outside their home country, especially the recognition came from well known and respected photography community or association, for photojournalist, if their work have won or been shortlisted among the top photographers in  World Press Photo Competition, they can be are considered as world class photographer standard since those who enter the competition are coming from all over the world and their work are scrutinised by the greatest  well known photographers   in their field.

In Malaysia we used to call “Jaguh Kampung” or  Village Champion, normal we refer t to sports, I mean when someone has been winning a lot of sports competition inside their home county try but failed at international level, they are what we called “Jaguh Kampung”.

Yes, I truly agree wholeheartedly that in order to produced world class photography standard or to gain international recognition, you don’t need to travel the world. Wherever you are, you can take or make a great photographs from your home country in whatever your chosen genre, be it street photography, landscape, architecture or portrait photography. All you need to do is to produce great pictures, time and time again.

Like I said before a lot of Malaysian photographers have made it big at international level, if you have been following Malaysian photography scene closely, you will know, who’s and who.

So why wasting so much money, time and energy to travel the world when you can gain world class recognition from the comfort of your home birth country?

I cannot answer for everyone, personally for me I just wanted to see the world, to walk as far as my feet will carry me. Some people said that, it is better to see something once, than to hear about it a thousand times. I’ve seen a picture of Taj Mahal more than a thousand times since my childhood, same goes to the picture of Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, even though nowadays we don’t need to figure out how Hagia Sophia in Istanbul looks like, just with the click of a mouse or with the touch of our fingers on iPad we can see how its look like, we don’t have to imagine it like people who lived five hundred years ago before us.

So the next time when you heard someone said that you don’t need to travel the world to take great picture or you don’t need to travel the world to get world class recognition, just ignore them. Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “Ignore The Naysayers” He said that he would not become who he is now if he listen to the naysayers, nobody believe someone who have a great Austrian Accent to make it big in Hollywood , he said again, “The very things that they said at the beginning would make it impossible for me to be successful in acting were the things that became my assets.”

My point is just follow your dream, you mentor or someone whom you respect in photography might not shared your same dream or desire and maybe little by little you might get infected by their ideas, anyway its up to you.

Someone said that I’m a Travel Photographer, that’s not the right world, I’m a photographer who like to travel, for me Travel Photographer is for those who makes money when they travel and takes photos. Same goes to Wedding Photographers, just because you have a camera in your hand and take a picture of  your friend weddings doesn’t make you a wedding photographer, you are photographing a wedding ceremony but you are not a wedding photographer just yet.

Same to me, just because I travel and takes photos doesn’t makes me a travel photographer, not yet. I’m a photographer who likes to travel, who like to visit every corner of the earth surface and take photos to share with my family, friends and to everyone who like to see it.

I don’t want to be a world class photographer, I don’t want to a be travel photographer either, I just wanted to be a photographer who travel the world, to see and photographs as many country as possible, to lay my feet on every continent as possible, or maybe I just wanted to travel the world and my camera is just an apparatus to record the journey visually.