Want to savor precious memories with your family? Use these tips to take travel photos that capture the best moments!
Traveling with family is one of the most enriching and memorable experiences. It’s a beautiful way to explore the world with people you love and bond with them meaningfully. But how do you capture the moment for posterity?
The answer is simple. Take photos!
Getting snap happy is one of the best ways to ensure you never forget the special memories you make along the way.
But just snapping away willy-nilly can result in some slightly chaotic images, which isn’t a bad thing. However, if you want to use the photos for displaying at home or adding to a family album, having some creative ideas for how and where to take those photos is a good idea.
Creative Photo Ideas Make Family Travel More Fun
These days, taking photos feels like second nature. In fact, if there are kids in your family, chances are some of them practically popped out knowing how to operate an iPhone camera!
But that doesn’t always mean that having a plan or coming up with creative photo ideas beforehand doesn’t pay off. It really can. Traveling may be fun, but it can also be stressful, especially if you have young kids in tow.
Having some ideas for how you’d like to capture your family travels and what you feel will make them more special is a great way to ensure that your images turn out as beautiful and memorable as possible.
Here are our top seven creative photo ideas for family travel:
1. Group selfies
When you’re taking a family photo, you want to make sure that every member of the clan is in the frame. But without a tripod, taking family photos can be a mission!
That’s where the iconic group selfie comes in. To keep things creative and interesting, have each member of the family take a turn to snap a group selfie so that everyone is included, but each person gets a little moment to shine.
Group selfies are super practical and versatile. They’re good for almost any leg of a journey and perfect for those special moments you want to remember. Afterward, you can print them like Polaroids and make fun collages or clip them to a string to display them.
2. Foodie family photos
If your family appreciates good food (who doesn’t?), then foodie-themed photos could be the perfect way to document your family’s travel adventures. Every time you stop to enjoy the local cuisine, take a picture of the family trying it for the first time.
There are so many memorable moments that happen when trying new foods. From fresh favorites to new dislikes, tasting foreign cuisine means exposing yourself to all sorts of new taste adventures. These are exactly the kind of memories you’ll want to capture in real time.
3. Family shot at every stop
Travel journeys that involve traversing a lot of ground or stopping at many different locations create a great opportunity to introduce your family to new and exciting places.
If your trip is expected to be a long one (or turns out to be…), stop for a family shot every time you arrive at a new place to document the process. This is a great way to get lots of good photos out of your trip, and these images are perfect for a digital or physical photo album that tracks your journey.
4. Experiment with a video blog (vlog)
Although this is not technically a photo idea, it is creative and will help you document your travels in an interesting way. We’re talking about making a vlog!
Vlogs (video blogs) are a super fun and comprehensive way to capture the minutiae of a trip while keeping kids entertained and documenting your travel experience from start to finish. Anyone who’s made a vlog before knows how intensely gratifying it can be to watch their memories come to life after a special trip has ended.
You can save the vlogs on your computer, upload them to a shared folder, or even publish them on a blog or social media platform for everyone to enjoy.
5. Spontaneity for the win
You can plan all you like for elaborate photo ideas while traveling, but at the end of the day, it is often the moments you don’t expect that make the best photo ops. Embrace spontaneity by whipping out the camera any time something exciting happens.
You can turn this experience into more of a creative, fun game for the kids by establishing a word or scenario in which someone has to take a photo. For instance, whenever someone sees a wild animal, tries a new food, or reaches a milestone, you take a picture!
When you get home, you can choose the best (or wackiest!) photos and make fridge magnets or coasters out of them.
6. Perspective play
Another fun and creative way to document your family’s adventures abroad is to take advantage of unusual perspectives or point-of-view opportunities. “Holding” the sun or moon, “leaning” against a faraway mountain, and “high-fiving” with people on the other end of a field are all good examples.
Perspective play is not only fun but can also teach kids about distance and the science of perspective. It is educational, entertaining, and memorable!
7. Turn your photos into an album
The journey doesn’t end once you arrive home. Once you’re back in your hometown with a treasure trove full of memories to reflect on, you will need somewhere to put them.
A photo album can be a beautiful family activity to work on that is rewarding on multiple levels. Firstly, it has the practical value of containing all the unbelievable photos you will have taken on your trip. Secondly, stitching them together can be a beautiful bonding time for the whole family.
You can use a physical album or an online option, like a professional photography portfolio, to showcase every stage of your journey. If you go for an online option, you can share your adventures with others all over the globe!
Create Memories That Last
When it comes to family travels and adventures, you never really know what to expect. Things change from moment to moment, and capturing each of them is something you can treasure for the rest of your lives.
Family travel photography shouldn’t be stressful. These ideas can take some of the pressure off while ensuring that your family’s adventures are captured in the most unique, meaningful, and memorable way possible. Happy snapping!
