The 10 most beautiful destinations on Earth – by the world's greatest photographers
Billions of pictures swirl around the world every minute of every day. It takes patience, skill and experience, as well as a creative mind and a good eye, to take incredible photos that stand out from the digital maelstrom and make people stop and look. It helps the odds, of course, if you place yourself and your camera in front of some of the world’s most eye-popping spectacles, fascinating cultures and otherwordly landscapes, from India’s sensory overload Kumbh Mela festival or the tribal people of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley to the remote wilderness of Hokkaido in northern Japan.
Photographers such as Steve McCurry, Art Wolfe, Marina Cano, Michael Kenna and Timothy Allen have spent decades hauling their camera gear through the world’s most photogenic countries, their incredible images appearing on magazine covers, in books and exhibitions, and seen and shared around the world.
To mark World Photography Day, here is their pick of the most fascinating countries in the world for photography.
Burma by Steve McCurry
I’ve always been attracted to Buddhist cultures: Burma, Cambodia, parts of Tibet, Thailand, Japan. In the case of Burma, they have a really great relationship between the communities and the monasteries. There’s a strong Buddhist belief here that I respect.
I find it very positive, and I think the principles are exactly what the world needs at this time.
There’s a different pace of life in Burma. Perhaps less so now than there used to be, but you can still get into the countryside and people have a less active pace of life than, say, neighbouring Thailand. It’s also a developing country due to the politics going back to the Sixties, when it became a closed and isolated country. Because of that, there’s a marked difference between Burma and Thailand. Bangkok’s a bustling modern city, whereas places like Rangoon or Mandalay are sleepy. There’s something about this that really appeals to me.
Burma is one of the safest countries in the world as a photographer and traveller – there’s no hesitation or worry at all about going there, and I’ve always loved tropical, warm countries. The people are friendly, hospitable and charming. Colour is an integral part of life in countries like Burma, much more so than in the US – in a monastery in a place like Tibet or Burma, the colours are very uplifting.
For more information see stevemccurry.com and instagram.com/stevemccurryofficial
Take me there
Inside Burma (0117 370 9759; insideasiatours.com) is offering a 13-night Beautiful Burma tour, from ￡2,650 including accommodation, some meals and local transport. International flights are not included. Departs October 18 2018.
France by Charlie Waite
My immense affection for France and its landscape began in the Sixties when my older sister acquired a farmhouse in the department of The Lot. Some 30 years later, I’ve had a series of enormously enriching experiences there. I was then, and am still, entranced by France and its landscapes.
No French autoroutes for me. I prefer the enormous pleasure of the criss-cross network of roads and tracks that often reveal untold cameos. Give me the French canals any time and the village nuggets with no suburbs that are nestled so comfortably alongside their banks, the Canal du Midi being a favourite.
I love the Vercors Massif, west of Grenoble, for its rich walnut groves against a backdrop of chunky mountains, and the department of The Lot and its people, who have no fear of my camera, as their full-blown characters radiate out toward it.
The best of the world’s sheds can be found in France, and the seven-star hoar frosts of December are better than I have ever seen.
The many great rivers of France, often swollen after heavy rain, are irresistible to me.
The contemplative and sedate nature that lies behind my approach to photography seems grounded within rural France. My understanding of beauty is so regularly encountered and expressed through my photography in this wonderful country. I am also convinced I get smiled at in France more than in any other country.
For more information see charliewaite.com and facebook.com/Charlie-Waite-Photography-519101258116541
Take me there
Great Rail Journeys (01904 521936; greatrail.com) is offering a seven-day Carcassonne and the Canal du Midi tour from ￡1,695 including accommodation, some meals and rail travel. Naturetrek (01962 733051; naturetrek.co.uk) also has an eight-day The Vercors (by train) wildlife tour, from ￡1,495 including full-board accommodation and rail travel. The tour operator also offers an eight-day The Lot Valley tour from ￡1,495including full-board accommodation and flights.
Namibia by Marina Cano
I’m in love with so many countries in Africa, but my first cat’s name was Namibia, so that shows how special this country is for me. I was invited for the first time I visited to the largest private game reserve in Namibia: Erindi. It was an encounter with the origin, with Earth, with my wild interior. It’s rich in wildlife, with a romantic spirit in the air.
Every place has something specific you can fall in love with. Namibia also has Etosha National Park, a unique place where the white earth from the pan, a dried salt, gives a special character to all the animals that live there. The landscapes are full of intense warm colours and splattered with different waterholes that make it possible to take fantastic images with a big herd of elephants drinking, or giraffes, leopards, rhinos. It’s a paradise. With Etosha, I can see one picture in a thousand and I recognise that it’s Etosha because the light and the land are so distinct.
For more information see marinacano.com and facebook.com/marinacanowildlifephotographer
Take me there
A private Namibia’s Highlights by Audley Travel (01993 838525; audleytravel.com) starts from ￡6,895 including accommodation, a driver-guide and flights. Meals not included. Departs year-round. If you’d like to travel with a small group, Exodus (020 3733 5171; exodus.co.uk) has a 15-day Discover Namibia tour, which starts from ￡2,479, including accommodation, some meals and flights.
How to take the perfect travel photograph
India by Art Wolfe
Earlier in my career, the worst advice I ever got (and was naive enough at the time to heed) was “Don’t go to India.” However, in the late Nineties, I was working on my most important wildlife book, The Living Wild, and the omission of tigers would have been egregious. Off to India I went, to Bandhavgarh National Park, which is a fantastic area for tigers and other wildlife. I’ve been back to India every couple of years since.
India has an absolute embarrassment of riches for photographers. There’s extraordinary colour, pageantry, ritual, culture, architecture and wildlife. In particular, I love attending the Kumbh Mela, which is a mass pilgrimage when Hindus gather and bathe in the Ganges. The Kumbh Mela in 2013 attracted some 120m pilgrims and visitors to Allahabad over a two-month period. It’s like the Burning Man festival, but on steroids. You get snake-charmers, fire-walkers, tightrope-walkers, naked sadhus walking around covered in ash, and massive groups of people coming in from remote villages throughout India. You might think this is an awful crush of people, but I find these gatherings absolutely exhilarating and authentic.
For more information see artwolfe.com and instagram.com/artwolfe
Take me there
A 15-day India in Slow Motion from Wild Frontiers (020 3930 4183; wildfrontierstravel.com) costs from ￡2,615 including full-board accommodation and local transport. Excludes international flights.
Mongolia by Timothy Allen
For the kind of photography I do, Mongolia is one of those countries that’s just contemporary enough, while still maintaining some beautiful and unusual traditional values. I’ve been going there for 10 years. The reaction when I take people and they see the eagle hunters is incredible. It’s a fantastic spectacle, especially in winter when we go out on their proper hunting trips.
The country’s not changing a huge amount – 40 per cent of the population still live a nomadic lifestyle. The people are very friendly, especially in the west, Bayan-Olgii, where I go. It’s mainly populated by ethnic Kazakh people, whose culture is Muslim, whereas many Mongolians are Buddhist. It’s also the least densely populated country in the world. That matters to me.
It’s just amazingly beautiful to travel there. You’ve got the Gobi desert, full of incredible sand dunes, the Altai Mountains, which are magnificent, then you’ve got the Mongolian Steppe. A lot of people think Mongolia is a big, green, flat place. It’s actually very different to that.
For more information see humanplanet.com; instagram.com/timothy_allen
Take me there
Mountain Kingdoms (01453 844400; mountainkingdoms.com) has an 11-day Genghis Khan Trail to Mongolia.
Papua New Guinea by Jimmy Nelson
Of all the world’s destinations, Papua New Guinea has to be top of every adventurer’s list. My journey there began unconsciously in puberty when I lost all my hair in one day after taking anti-malarial medicine. It is somewhat ironic that 35 years later I’m photographing the Huli Wigmen of Papua New Guinea, who use the growth of their hair and separation thereof as the ritualistic passage to manhood.
Papua New Guinea is a photographer’s paradise with its diversity of unique cultural wealth, hidden in its mist-shrouded tropical valleys. Until only 70 years ago, not only were these peoples hidden from us, but also from one another, due to its rugged and inaccessible terrain. When I first arrived, it felt like truly living and seeing life on the edge.
Although I’m far from a pioneer, my journeys there are always filled with cultural exploration and discovery. Every time I return home to the Netherlands, I realise that I have only scratched the tip of this kaleidoscopic iceberg. I feel as if I am in a perpetual process of reassigning myself for one more visit, just one more time to indulge in finding the real-life Avatar.
For more information see jimmynelson.com and instagram.com/jimmy.nelson.official
Take me there
Intrepid (0808 274 5111; intrepidtravel.com) has a 9-day Papua New Guinea tour, from $3,615 for accommodation, some meals and airport transfers. Flights excluded. Departs July 2019.
Kenya by Greg Dutoit
My favourite country for photography has to be Kenya – because it really is a world in one country. It offers mountains, tropical forests, deep valleys, savannah plains and an incredible amount of wildlife. It is the one country I can go to and tick all the boxes I want to cover.
It has a buzz to it, an energy that is tangible and that translates onto camera. In most countries, I try to avoid photographing people, except in Kenya, where the Kenyans are very much a part of the experience. The biodiversity in this relatively small country is also unsurpassed.
For more information see gregdutoit.com and instagram.com/gregdutoit
Take me there
A nine-day Kenya Photographic Safari (020 3811 6417; exodus.co.uk) starts from ￡4,949 including accommodation, most meals and flights.
Ethiopia by Eric Lafforgue
Ethiopia is not one country, but several countries all in one. Every time I go back there, I discover new things, as I’ve done ever since my first trip as a child in 1974.
There’s incredible diversity. You’ve got the rock churches in Lalibela with pilgrims dressed in white, just like in biblical scenes. And there are tribes from the Omo Valley, in the deep south at the border of South Sudan and Kenya, who are celebrating impressive ceremonies, dressed in cheetah skins and ostrich feathers, or fighting naked with giant sticks for village fame.
There are salt lakes welcoming camel caravans in the legendary Danakil, with an active volcano spitting lava at your feet, and ancient Muslim cities, such as Harar, in eastern Ethiopia, where you’ll be hypnotised by the chants of the Sufis.
For the animal lovers, there’s the endemic wolf from Bale Mountains National Park and the gelada baboon in the Simien Mountains.
Ethiopia is a heaven for photographers. You can do it all: portraits, landscapes, street life, wild animals, events…
For more information see ericlafforgue.com and instagram.com/ericlafforgue
Take me there
Explore (01252 883749; explore.co.uk) offers a 13-day Simien Mountain Trek and Lalibela tour, which costs from around ￡2,739 including b&b accommodation, local transport and flights.
Iceland by Tim Flach
Iceland stands out as a country I’ve been back to on many occasions.
I don’t always spend extended time in countries, but I’ve been back and forth to Iceland. The first time I went was for a book I worked on about horses.
I spent time in Jokulsarlon, a large glacial lake in southeast Iceland, on the edge of Vatnajokull National Park. I photographed huskies there for another project and I’ve been there working with local farmers. I didn’t get to see puffins and whales, but I’ve seen seals and other great wildlife.
One of the things I love about Iceland is the microclimates. It’s a place that’s always changing. You can go from somewhere where there are clear skies, then if you want cloudy skies you can walk over to an area of mountains and it will be just like that. It’s that vitality and light and the changing environments that I like.
You have landscapes full of moss that covers the volcanic rock. You’ve got lava and places where everything is volcanic, and it’s still active. It adds drama and texture and form to the photographs. I also love the people and the food. I’ve had some great times in Iceland.
For more information see timflach.com; instagram.com/timflachphoto
Take me there
A 16-day Absolute Iceland tour from Discover the World (01737 214250; discover-the-world.co.uk) starts from ￡5,866, including accommodation, some meals and flights.
Japan by Michael Kenna
Japan is a country where the land feels alive, where the elements are strong and powerful. It’s a volatile, sometimes unpredictable place, with occasional earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis. For me, it’s a country that accentuates the beauty and fragility of our world.
It’s a relatively small country, reserved, surrounded by water, and it’s been inhabited for centuries. Echoes and memories of the past can be felt everywhere. There’s something wonderfully alluring there, especially in the interactions between water, earth and sky. There’s a reverence towards the land, as symbolised by the ubiquitous torii gates, which are an integrated part of the landscape: places to rest, meditate and escape from our fast-paced modern lives.
Shikoku, the smallest and least populous of the four main islands, is where Kobo Daishi, the Grandmaster of Shingon Buddhism, journeyed some 1,200 years ago. His legacy includes an 800-mile Henro-Michi pilgrimage trail of 88 temples spread throughout Shikoku. In 2003, for my 50th birthday, I undertook this pilgrimage by car and photographed all the temples along the way.
Honshu is home to Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara. Kyushu boasts the active volcanoes of Mt Aso and Mt Sakurajima. Hokkaido, the most northerly island, is the place in Japan where I’ve spent the most time. Home to exquisite lakes, graceful mountains and countless majestic trees, it’s where I’ve had the best photographic results.
For more information see michaelkenna.com and www.instagram.com/michaelkennaphoto
Take me there
An 11-day Shikoku Temple Pilgrimage from Walk Japan ([email protected]; walkjapan.com) costs from ￥524,000 (￡3,732) including half-board accommodation. Flights excluded. Departures between October 2017 and October 2018. Insider Journeys (01865 268941; insiderjourneys.co.uk) offers a 14-day Japan Winter Discovery tour that takes in Hokkaido. It starts from ￡6,917, including accommodation, some meals and local transport. Flights excluded.
Graeme Green is a journalist and photographer. Follow him at instagram.com/graeme.green