A year in the life of a travel photographer
Seoul-based travel photographer Julie Mayfeng has one of the coolest jobs in the world — photographing for Monocle, the United Kingdom-based lifestyle magazine that covers everything from politics and business to fashion and travel.
I met Julie at Monocle’s fifth anniversary party in Seoul last year. She was laughing and talking like everyone else at the party, but would point and shoot her camera quickly in the middle of conversations — without a flash in what was a very dark bar — and talk merrily away in the next moment without missing a beat.
Later that week I saw some of the photos she took that night and I was stunned — she manages to infuse voice and style into the most seemingly bland of photographs, and it’s astonishing to see what she captures at her favorite shooting spots.
We asked her to pick a gallery of her favorite photographs, and to talk to us about her work.
CNNGo: How did you first get into travel photography, and when did you first start working for Monocle?
Julie Mayfeng: I began traveling about 10 years ago, and that was also when I started travel photography. I began working for Monocle in 2010. I had always enjoyed photographing, but became serious about it during my travels to the American West Coast in 2005 and the Mediterranean in 2006. When I came back I published a photo essay book titled “The Mediterranean in Blue” and it was well-received in Korea. I also won prizes in an international photography competition, and began collaborating with a French photo agency.
I go on photo trips every year to keep being inspired.
Blue house. Jodhpur. Rajasthan. INDIA.
I love going out early for photos. The morning light is always invigorating. On this morning, I headed over to the blue-painted houses around the Mehrangarh Fort. As I was walking through an alley, I noticed the light falling onto the azure wall, and a woman painting the door welcoming Diwali festival. It was a scene I had dreamed about. Jodhpur is well known as the "Sun City" and "Blue City." This photo shows why.
CNNGo: How often do you travel for work? Where have you been in the past year?
Julie Mayfeng: I usually travel once or twice a year, and when I do I travel for one to three months at a time.
In the past three years I visited India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Laos, Burma (Myanmar), Israel, Palestine, Jordan etc. I usually travel to third world countries to shoot.
Taj Mahal, Agra, India.
Even though the Taj Mahal was magnificent, it was too hot to step barefoot on the marble floor. I languished in the noonday heat and had to take a rest under the shade of a mosque just next to the Taj Mahal. Just then, some people walked in front me, and almost as a reflex action, I captured that moment. This picture is also one of my favorites out of all of my work.
India, Kolkata, Monsoon
Rain makes everything so dramatic. Even though it's uncomfortable to take photographs in bad weather, it gives us a good opportunity to capture the different moments. During the monsoon season, weather is extremely hard to predict. At the time, I was eating lunch at a street cafe. Suddenly it started to shower. I borrowed an umbrella from a stranger and ran out into the street. Although I was wet through and through, I was able to capture this fantastic monsoon scene.
CNNGo: What cameras did you use to take these photographs, and how many cameras do you usually take with you when you travel?
Julie Mayfeng: I use a Sigma DP2 compact camera and I also use a Canon DSLR and SLR. I tend not to carry a lot of equipment when I travel. Just one or two cameras that are very portable. The bag itself is 20 kilos, so if I take a lot of equipment then it becomes too tiring.
I usually only use digital cameras and film cameras only occasionally. Recently I also started using my mobile phone a lot as well. It doesn’t necessarily take a good pencil to write a good poem, and it is the same for photography.
Burma (Myanmar), Mandalay, Monks' luncheon
I can always learn new truths when traveling through Burma. One day I dropped by a place that was producing Buddha images and I found Buddhist monks eating meat and chicken. Some of the workers had offered it to them. Yes, it’s true. Buddhist, they are not all vegetarians. There are many Buddhists who eat meat in southern Buddhist countries.
CNNGo: Do you think you’ll ever be able to travel without a camera?
Julie Mayfeng: Definitely not! For me, my camera is my body, my eyes and my mouth. It holds my thoughts.
Sri Lanka, Weligama, Stilt-fishermen
Weligama is famous for its old tradition of stilt-fishing. I arrived at the town just one day before a full moon. They don’t fish when the moon is full, and if I had arrived just a day later, I would not have gotten this photo. Anyway, it was getting darker and darker, and I hurried to shore. Wow! Many fishermen were balancing on a thin plank. I entered the ocean to shoot, but the waves were rough. I moved to another shore and was able to take this picture.
CNNGo: Where are your favorite places to photograph within Korea, and your favorite places to photograph in the world?
Julie Mayfeng: My favorite place to photograph within Korea is the Southern coast. That’s where my grandmother lives, so I used to go often when I was a child. While the scenery is stunning as well, I love it for my memories.
Of the places I’ve been, India is the place I’d pick for the best place to photograph.
While the rest of the world is moving so quickly, India still has what I want to see and capture. When I travel through India I feel as if I am taking the lid off of time. Everything we have forgotten, everything that was innocent, and all the different question marks of different lives are sometimes terrible to see, but keeps me going back for more.
For me, observing the everyday life of ordinary people in a place seemingly stopped in time is where I feel the biggest thrills of travel.
Sri Lanka, Nanu Oya, Travel by train
Traveling by train through the Hill Country of Sri Lanka is truly a great experience. After putting my backpack down on the ground, I was waiting for my train to Ella at Nanu Oya Railway Station. Wandering around the opposite platform, I saw a train pull into the station. I couldn’t take my eyes off an ebony-eyed girl in particular.
CNNGo: What was your favorite travel photography project thus far?
Julie Mayfeng: You could say it was my first trip to India and Nepal in 2009. It was a place I’d always wanted to photograph, and I think I must have prepared for about six months.
I was frequently sick during the trip but I was very motivated and passionate about what I was shooting. I was also satisfied with many of the results.
Half of the photographs in the gallery are from that very trip. Robert Capa, co-founder of Magnum Photos once said, “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” I feel like that trip was one trip in which I was close enough.
Israel, Jerusalem, Arabian bakery
The Old City of Jerusalem is divided into four quarters, Jewish Quarter, Muslim Quarter, Armenian Quarter and Christian Quarter. On the first day of Jerusalem travel, I wandered around these four quarters. Old narrow alleys were filled with small food shops. This bakery is what stopped me.
CNNGo: What is your favorite photograph from this collection? Your favorite travel memory?
Julie Mayfeng: If I had to pick from this collection I would pick the photograph I took in Jodhpur, India — the first picture in the gallery, of the blue house. I like the combination of the morning sun, the cool atmosphere and the blue in the photograph. Capturing the right moment involves effort, certainly, but it’s about luck too. That was a lucky moment for me.
This photograph isn’t included in the gallery, but my happiest memory is of meeting Hmong children in a secluded mountain community in Laos. We were walking along the dirt roads when a shy young girl gathered flowers and made a crown, which she set on my head.
India, Delhi, School rickshaw
Due to jet lag, I woke up very early in the morning, so I went out for a walk. I met many school kids going to school on this vehicle. This was their school bus. It looked small but I found it could take up to 20 kids in the carriage.
India, Mumbai, Gateway of India
The Gateway of India itself is a major tourist destination. It is a colonial architectural heritage constructed during the British colonial rule. The air was clear and cold and the sunlight was spreading from the Arabian Sea. At that instant, someone suddenly hit the metal guard rail with a ringing crash, and pigeons were frightened and took flight. Thanks to the anonymous hitter I was able to capture this magnificent moment.
CNNGo: What is an assignment usually like?
Julie Mayfeng: Up until now most of my projects with Monocle have been in Korea. I get my assignment from the photo director at the London office, via email. Through phone calls and email I discuss time and location with the writer and other people involved in the project. On the day of the shooting I meet the writer in advance and we discuss the feature, and go to the shoot together.
A single shoot can take anywhere from one short hour up to three hours. Sometimes I have several photo shoots scheduled for the same day. When I’m done shooting I return to my studio to select and edit, and as soon as I upload the photos I am done with that particular assignment. When I receive an email saying that they like my photos, then the assignment is a success.
India, Amritsar, Sikh man taking holy bath (Ishnan)
Early in the morning, I arrived in Amritsar and came directly here, to the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib). It is the spiritual center for the Sikh religion. Many Sikh pilgrims were taking a holy bath in these sacred waters, known as the Samovar.
CNNGo: To what extent do you use Photoshop?
Julie Mayfeng: I use Photoshop almost exclusively to resize my photos. Sometimes I use the curves adjustment tool. The camera I use comes with its own editing program so I usually stick to that.
India, Shimla, Indian Coffee House
It had been raining when I arrived in Shimla. Shimla is located in the northwest Himalayas at an average altitude of 2,205 meters. My clothes and backpack got all wet even though I wore a raincoat. My hotel was cold and damp. I needed something warm so I dived into the Indian Coffee House. I waited until this man sat by the window to take this.
CNNGo: What projects are you working on right now? What are your plans for the future?
Julie Mayfeng: For now I will be continuing to travel throughout various developing countries on photo assignments, and this spring I will be working on my ongoing project the “Romance Series.”
With a few more pieces I am also planning on an exhibition and publishing a collection of photographs. I would like to photograph Cuba, Lebanon and Pakistan in the near future.
Photography is my passion, and I always hope that my photographs are memorable and that they move people. Things never work out the way you expect them to, but I live for my dreams.
India, Agra, Walking on sunset
When traveling, my favorite time of day is the golden hour, the first and last hours of the sunset. I cannot contain my excitement when this time is near. Taking my fill of that generous flood of light, I wander and roam almost as though I'd risk my life for a single photograph of that hour. Because if I miss it I will have to wait at least another 24 hours.
Israel, Jerusalem, On the Mount of Olives
It was May, but it was a very hot and arid day. I didn't think it would be too difficult to scale this mountain -- a mere 826 meters high -- but I started the hike only to feel out of breath the entire walk up. I made it to the peak and looked down at the Old City of Jerusalem, enjoying the cool breeze. I was able to meet many Jewish pilgrims, and to capture this one.
CNNGo: If you could have any camera in the world, what would you pick?
Julie Mayfeng: Something from the Leica series, and out of that, the M9. That M9 is reputed to be clever and light. How can I get my hands on a Leica? It’s another one of my concerns.
Israel, Jerusalem, Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The site is venerated as Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, and is said also to contain the place where Jesus was buried (the sepulchre). One day I got up early and went to shoot this ceremony at the Coptic Chapel. The priest was blessing the bread and wine. For reference, Copts are Egyptians whose ancestors embraced Christianity in the first centuries after Christ.
CNNGo: What do you love/hate most about travel?
Julie Mayfeng: I love what stimulates my creativity and inspiration. I love the taste of the air in a new place — perhaps all of these things can be summed up in a single word Freedom.
I hate lodgings without hot water. Long-term travelers (like myself) have to stick to budget lodging, and that sometimes means lodgings without hot water, lodgings that claim to have hot water but don’t have hot water, and lodgings that take forever to heat up the hot water. There is nothing worse than needing a hot shower in the morning or evening and getting nothing but freezing water.
I hate bedbugs — no matter how careful I am, I am always being bitten. They’re not even visible, so there is no real way to prevent their biting. They’re not like mosquitoes, who will bite once or twice and leave. Once they bite they will stay, and their bites are incredibly itchy. Bed bugs — they’ll bite you at the start of your journey and only really leave when the journey is coming to an end. Even thinking about it makes me feel itchy.
And I can’t stand heavy backpacks. It’s especially difficult when trying to walk up from the train station; if your platform happens to be at the far end it’s certain death. And when your train, without warning, is canceled — eek, I don’t even want to think about it.
By Frances Cha, April, 2012