The best photo I’ve ever taken, according to 12 travel writers

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

Emma Thomson’s photo captures a moment of calm during celebrations marking the Ashanti king’s 20-year reign in Ghana - Emma Thomson

This year marks 200 years since the world’s first photograph, a simple courtyard scene captured by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce at his estate in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, Burgundy.

To celebrate this great milestone, we asked 12 of our travel writers to dive into their private collections and submit their favourite photograph.

From an eager salesman on the Nile to a “monster” building in Hong Kong and an inquisitive polar bear peeping inside a tourist vehicle, these are some of our writers’ most cherished shots. Scroll down to the bottom of the article to share your own. 

Into the mystic

Gunshots were going off, horses were rearing around us, people were singing and clapping in raucous celebration of the Ashanti king’s 20-year reign in Ghana, but then I spotted this hand reaching through the incense smoke (pictured above). A moment of calm and quiet mysticism amid the chaos.

Emma Thomson

Highs and lows

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

The surreal landscape of the Danakil Depression was formed by diverging tectonic plates - Sarah Marshall

The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, one of the lowest points on Earth, has always been high on my wish list. I slept open-air at the crater base to explore the Erta Ale volcano at sunrise. A young boy from the Afar tribe guided me. As I turned to leave, he poked a fumarole as if he was stoking a fire. Behind him the sky blazed.

Sarah Marshall

Hot and cold

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

Cruise ship passengers react to the first sighting of a whale on their expedition - Greg Dickinson

This photograph was taken on an HX Expeditions ship, MS Fridtjof Nansen, around halfway across the Drake Passage en route to Antarctica. By the end of the trip we had seen dozens of whales, but this was the first sighting, sparking a wave of excitement across the deck.

Shortly after, the whale was identified as a rare species called a strap-toothed beaked whale. But my photograph focuses on the commotion in the foreground. I love the juxtaposition of the well-wrapped-up tourists with the inquisitive chap in his Speedos, leaning out of the hot tub. Something about the scene speaks to the “look, over there!” nature of being on an expedition cruise.

Greg Dickinson

A break in the clouds

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

Georgia’s Gergeti Trinity Church sits beneath Mount Kazbek - Libby Ryan

I’d just completed the steep climb from my guest house in the village of Stepantsminda to Gergeti Trinity Church, its setting, at 2,170m (7,120 ft), dwarfed by its neighbours, some of the highest mountains in Georgia. It was a brisk May morning, with plenty of snow left on the summits and a dusting of drizzle on the ascent. But the sun peeked out for enough time to capture this shot of the 14th-century church, framed by the staggering Mount Kazbek.

Libby Ryan

Going wild

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

Hikers are dwarfed by the magnitude of the wild Exmoor coast - Sarah Baxter

The Exmoor coast is one of my favourite spots in the world: the plunging cliffs, the secretive combes, the wildness of it all. This is the Valley of Rocks, and brings back so many walking memories. I love the way the two hikers look so tiny, just as they should in the face of awesome Mother Nature.

Sarah Baxter

Bear necessities

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

Marcel Theroux took this photo in Churchill, Manitoba – the self-proclaimed polar bear capital of the world - Marcel Theroux

I love this image because of the irresistible way it combines comedy and danger. I was writing an article about Churchill, Manitoba, the self-proclaimed polar bear capital of the world. While watching the bears in the wild, I spotted this young adult lurking beneath the steps of our vehicle. On that trip, I had an unforgettable conversation with a woman who had survived a terrible mauling by a polar bear the previous year. It supplied useful context for this bear’s comically devious look of innocence.

Marcel Theroux

A rodeo first

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

Miss Rodeo Arizona pictured at The Art of the Cowgirl, America’s first women-only rodeo - Zoey Goto

This was taken at The Art of the Cowgirl, America’s first women-only rodeo. Miss Rodeo Arizona might look like your traditional beauty queen here, but she’s actually a tenacious daredevil rider, and surrounded by cowgirls lassoing and wrestling bulls to the ground just out of shot. She embodies the old pioneering spirit of the American West, while also signalling a shift toward a more inclusive rodeo scene that’s emerging.

Zoey Goto

Up the junction

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

‘Magic for photographers and bliss for the elephant’ - Kerry Walker

On the fringes of the forest-cloaked, waterfall-splashed Periyar National Park in the mountainous Western Ghats of Kerala in southern India, Thekkady is home to Elephant Junction. Here you can get close to rescue elephants and see mahouts giving them a morning scrub with coconut husks in the tea-coloured Periyar River. It is a moment of magic for photographers and – judging by the expression – bliss for the elephant.

Kerry Walker

Join the choir intangible

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

A Suiti women’s choir in Latvia - Elise Morton

Captured on film in Latvia’s Kuldīga region, this photograph shows a Suiti women’s choir. The Suiti are a small Catholic community whose culture – including distinctive vocal traditions – was inscribed on Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009. They invited us to dress in traditional clothing and sing alongside them.

Elise Morton

Capturing a monster

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

Hong Kong’s Parker Estate, aka the ‘Monster Building’, is home to more than 10,000 residents - Gemma Knight-Gilani

I visit Hong Kong often, but had never been to the so-called Monster Building (officially the Parker Estate in Quarry Bay) until last year, when this photo was taken. A complex of five interconnected 18-storey blocks, it is home to more than 10,000 residents, at once magnificent and horrifying; beautiful and dystopian. In some ways, it’s a perfect microcosm of everything Hong Kong is – densely packed beyond all reason, yet determinedly thriving – and standing in its belly, a central courtyard, is a humbling experience.

Gemma Knight-Gilani

The last iceman

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

‘Iceman’ Baltazar Ushca weaves rope from grass to fasten the ice to his mule with - Gavin Haines

This is Baltazar Ushca, the last “iceman” of Ecuador. In 2015, I trekked with him to the closest point on Earth to the sun: the summit of Mount Chimborazo, Ecuador.

Ushca climbed it weekly to carve ice off the glacier, which he sold at market; the last practitioner of a dying trade. In this picture he’s weaving rope from grass to fasten the ice to his mule with.

The climb took us hours. We spoke no common language and had only herds of vicuña for company. At the summit I succumbed to altitude sickness while he hacked the ice. It was an unforgettable day with a remarkable man. In 2024, news got to me that Ushca had died, taking his hardy trade with him.

Gavin Haines

The hard sell

Into the mystic, Highs and lows, Hot and cold, A break in the clouds, Going wild, Bear necessities, A rodeo first, Up the junction, Join the choir intangible, Capturing a monster, The last iceman, The hard sell, Share your best travel photograph

An eager salesman in Egypt haggles with guests aboard a much larger vessel - Mark Stratton

Egyptian traders around tourist sites are unashamedly in your face. But perhaps the most daring I ever encountered was on a Nile riverboat trip. This image captures their verve, how they hook onto much larger boats travelling significantly faster and with marvellous balance haggle with the guests for the “best price” for Egyptian cotton sheets and tablecloths.

Mark Stratton

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