The more relaxed, the better the photos

My wife Anna and I are “into dolphins” if you can put it that way. It started in 2005 when Anna experienced the wisdom of dolphins first-hand. These magnificient creatures guided her (and later me) with their energy into a life of higher love and consciousness, a transforming experience that has lasted to this very day.

We now organize spiritual trips to the dolphins of the Red Sea. The photos I take are to provide our guests with memories of their physical and emotional encounters with the dolphins. I noticed that the more relaxed, I am the better the photos turn out. By not focussing on the photography but on the interaction with the dolphins, they allowed me to come closer. The unique photos of dolphins making love that you see here are a perfect example of this.

It is a very intimate moment, but they totally accepted my presence. I really felt at one with the dolphins and the memory still touches me. It was as if they told me; there is no shame in what we are doing, the whole world can watch it. And by publishing these photos in TRVL with readers in 190 countries, this is exactly what is happening now.

Dolphins, with brains very similar to humans, are the only other species that are self-aware. Some scientists believe they are even more socially intelligent than we are.

To some, dolphins are spiritual guides and even their defecating is taken as a spiritual sign but to other, more down-to-earth people they merely represent a million-dollar business

Their favorite pasttime is chatting and sex, and chatting while having sex, which they do outside any mating season and facing each other, just like, you guessed it, humans.

Our human failings make their unconditional friendliness all the more striking. It’s clear what we see in them. The big question is what they see in us.

You can count four women in the photo

Being a staff photographer for the Las Vegas Sun is a dream job, because Las Vegas never lets a photographer down. Where else would you find a stripper mobile riding up and down past the neon of The Strip?  Parked behind Deja Vu gentlemen’s club, it was just a small moving truck with Plexiglas walls and a stripper pole but the colored spotlights that lit up the small cargo area made for great interior lighting.

The dancers took turns practicing their best moves but when Kay got on the pole, she made pole dancing seem gymnastic and graceful and I wanted to make her my subject. I sought to create a layered image with an iconic Las Vegas backdrop. I also wanted to repeat and reinforce the use of the female form as advertising. You can count four women in the photo, starting with Kay on the pole and moving left to the advertisement for the Jubilee show at Bally’s. The image captures –- for better or worse – the ethos of Las Vegas, a city infamous for the commodification of sex and the female body.

To preserve the natural ambiance, I hardly ever touch my flash in situations like this. Instead I push the ISO to 1600 or higher.

Soon after my ride, the stripper mobile was banned by the Clark County Commission. This photo, however it makes you feel, definitely caught a moment in the history of Las Vegas.

Las Vegas, the over-the-top entertainment capital of the world, is also the foreclosure capital of America. As 40 million arrivals a year come to find fun and fortune, it is easy to forget that a real city carries on its life behind the neon facade. Bigger, better and brasher, Vegas is a place where reality is subject to change without notice, Elvis still lives, and a drive-thru wedding chapel helps it hold 5% of US weddings. Yet the newly weds are matched by newly singles.

Whether they are rich, broke or married, every visitor has a story to tell. Certainly on the way out.

Rajasthan, the inhospitable desert land where once the Maharajas ruled, is home to nomadic tribes made up of traders, snake charmers, tightrope walkers and pastoralists.

They represent one of the oldest and richest cultures in the world, but this didn’t impress the British. Colonial rule labelled them as habitually criminal.

People are outnumered by camels. Very useful animals indeed: its dung is used as fuel and its urine is said to cure ear infections.

Hi there! My name is Klasien van de Zandschulp (@klasienz) and I work at TRVL as a UX / Interaction designer. Before this I worked on various concepts such as digital magazines, online television, social networking sites and apps using augmented reality and image recognition technology. My passion is designing great interactions that give the best usability for readers. I like to explore innovative technology and develop new ideas for research purposes, instead of simply copying the standard interactions and interfaces.

When I travel I love to discover different cultures, to explore cities and their art and music scenes. But I also enjoy a break in the sun and finally having the time to read that (i)Book.

TRVL is a cool company to work for.  We are not just focusing on the best way to read an iPad magazine; by using all our skills we transfer that great feeling we know traveling gives you to our readers. That’s our ultimate goal.

You might wonder by now what this weird picture is all about… It was taken in PS1, Brooklyn NYC, and is an artwork by Leandro Elrich called Swimming Pool. I like art that invites the audience to interact with it, or that explores visual tricks.

Who: Charlie Parker

Where are you from? Born: Shoreham by Sea (UK).  Live: London (UK)

What do you do at TRVL? Advertising Director

What did you do before TRVL? Advertising Director for other iPad publications

Why did you want to work at TRVL? TRVL understands the iPad platform, which will help clients to showcase their brands to a fantastic growing audience.  I also love to read the magazine and am constantly caught between wanting to work and wanting to travel.

What do you hope to do here? Revolutionize iPad marketing for a global audience and put TRVL on the map as the biggest and best travel publication for download on iPad.

Where is your favourite destination? Huntington Beach California.  Having lived here for 4 years I have a lot of friends and great memories.  Combine the enormity and spiritual nature of all the National Parks and the Coastline ticks all the right boxes for this dude.

What is your top travel tip?  Less is more.  Never take more than you absolutely need.  Very rarely do you need to take a kitchen sink.  Also confidence to speak to the people around you.  Get immersed in the culture and you will have some amazing experiences.

Tell us one unusual fact about you?  I was once the centerfold in a well known women’s magazine. I was fully clothed and article was about cooking – tut tut dirty minds….

The secret of good market photos

Markets are always attractive hunting grounds for photographers, but in Colombia this is especially true. However, good photographs of markets are difficult to make. Why? Because of the chaos that they often are, the hues of bright color that come from overhanging shades and the stark contrast between dark shadows and bright sunlight. All potential problems you would like to avoid, so watch out for those.

The secret is to make those who work there the subject. Market people are cheerful and open. They like to make jokes, to interact. It’s part of their job and helps to pass the long hours they spend on their feet. They are usually proud of their produce. If you make eye contact, smile, enter into a conversation just for the sake of it and don’t hide your intentions, you are bound to end up with great photos of happy people that reflect the dynamics of the place.

The guy in the second photo jumped into the boxing pose the moment he saw me. All in good fun, of course!

Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, also holds the world record per capita of strange stories. Exaggeration is how life is celebrated.

García Márquez described the people of the Caribbean coast as “descendants of pirates and smugglers, with a mixture of black slaves, capable of believing anything.”

The motto is: Who cares if it’s real or not? What’s the difference anyway? It is a place where crabs only pretend to walk sideways when humans are watching.