Hey Guys-- heading to the beach for one last sand castle before this summer gig is up? Maybe you need some advice about how to frame that charming sea shanty! We'll be running a travel article over on School of Stock next week, but I got such great information from Endless Vacation Magazine's Moya McAllister when interviewing her for said article, that I thought I'd share some with ya now. There she is, above.

Moya currently produces and directs photography for many of Story Worldwide's publications, especially travel magazine Endless Vacation for RCI and also clients such as UPS, Bank of America, ILORI, Unilever and others. She is involved in concepting shoots, hiring photographers and stylists, casting models and directing shoots on-location.

Moya is going to parse two layout in the magazine for us-- she'll tell us why she chooses which images, how they're made, and essentially let us into her head.

Thanks, Moya! All the following words are Ms. McAllister's.

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Endless Vacation Magazine's motto is Play - Eat - Shop - Relax - Explore.  Each feature story we publish, whether it's themed a "Relax" story or an "Eat" story, will incorporate the motto throughout, especially visually. For an 8 page feature - each of these photographers probably shot 10-16 hours a day for 4-5 days. They probably captured over 2500 images on the shoot, and turned over about 500 images for my edit. We publish somewhere between 15-25 images per feature story.

For the Core Banks story (from Endless Vacation's third issue - July/August 2007)-- I hired experienced travel photographer, Rob Howard, to shoot this lesser-known area, the Core Banks of North Carolina's coast.

What I love about Rob's work is that he has a graphic approach to composition and framing. Note the left-hand photo on the opening spread. An iconic white house on the beach is almost center frame, with enough environmental details surrounding for most US readers to know that is an eastern seaboard location. The side of the house is parallel to the film plane, increasing visual impact of the pentagram-like shape. Designers like images like these not only because they are powerful enough for a full page, but also because there is plenty of room for type over the image at the top of the frame.

A different example of visual impact is the detail shot on the right of the opener. A close-up, multiple-layer view of colorful lobster buoys gives the viewer another contrasting aspect of this seaside destination, but closely tied in theme to the image it is paired with.  The other item of note is that the art director was able to pick up the strong red from one of the lobster buoys, incorporate that color into the type design and the fun design element of the transparent red tape throughout the layout.

What really shows consistently throughout the layout is that Rob, as a photographer, interacted and experienced the Core Banks with the keen curiosity of a dedicated traveler. This seaside location is captured in many different types of images but they all tie together to evoke a feeling of shared experience-- a close detail of a window decal about pirates reminds readers of the rich history of the area, signage for a boat tour clues people in about what they could do, the meal on the table is ready to eat, a family Rob met randomly is enjoying the beach, the aerial shot from a small plane gives an even bigger sense of place. Rob also spent time in the dunes amongst the wild ponies, making them feel secure in his presence, in order to portray the serenity of the herd.

The second layout is from July/August 2008.

For the Andalusia, Spain story, Barcelona photographer, Francisco Guerrero, caught my eye a few years ago because of the rich color of his photographs-- rich color that is representative of a mood or time of day, not super-saturated or overdone in Photoshop.

Francisco's shoot of Andalusia had to cover a lot of ground, over mountainous terrain, through some of Europe's most verdant rural areas and oldest historic cities.

On the left side of the opening spread, Francisco found an elevated view of the cliffs of Ronda that shows not only the rich farmland in the far distant background, but the architecture of this ancient city in the mid-ground, and the deep chasms surrounding it in the foreground. There's no wasted space in this image, it's full of information.

It is paired with a family gathering at a restaurant in Zahara that conveys the warmth of the people as well as the cultural cuisine. Of note, camera focus is kept on the food, which is specific to the region, in the lower half of the image. The family members in the background and upper right add emotion to the moment and keep this from being just another food shot, but those elements don't need to be super sharp to do that.

The next three spreads follow the route of the story, from Seville's grand cathedral to lunching al fresco in Malaga; each spread has 2-3 photos that incorporate a human element, such as a hand, utilzing a torso as background, a laughing group of friends.  Travel stories are more effective, in my mind, if the viewer connects with the experience and can 'see' themselves in that moment, in that place.

There is also a big variety of types of image: images taken at different times of day set mood and keep the story moving visually through time; interiors and exteriors of buildings have cultural or ethnic references; also, details, overviews and landscapes are represented in each spread. This keeps the eye moving around the page, which encourages the reader to, well..... read the story!

Lastly, back to Francisco's color - the richness of Andalusia's culture and history is tied together by the strong recurring grass greens, burnt oranges and rustic reds of the photos.

By Rachel Hulin on September 5, 2008