Selfies emerged as a huge trend in photography and now it is almost impossible to visit a tourist destination and not find people extending their arms to click photos. Mobile phone manufacturers are happily squeezing in high resolution cameras on the front and you can also find accessories like selfie sticks for selfie happy travellers. The trend is further fuelled by the increase in number of people travelling solo or in small groups.
A photo sample from Localgrapher in London
Meet Matej Slezak, founder of Localgrapher, a Czech startup that has decided to campaign against tourist selfies with its offering. They offer skilled photographers at your destination in different plans so that you can have high quality photographs to document your travel properly.
Matej Slezak says, “What is the future of vacation photography? We believe that selfies might be sufficient for some but not for the others. Our customers are the ones who want to keep their memories personalised and also with respect to the place.”
According to Localgrapher, selfies are just a trend that will fade away and people won’t be proud to show the same photos to their family in a decade or two. They are usually low quality photos that aren’t worth putting on the living room wall. At this point Localgrapher has over sixty photographers from over fifty cities on their platform. They are constantly adding new partners at locations ranging from the top destinations to beautiful small cities. Going ahead they plan to add more small destinations that attract tourists from all over the world.
As the photographer is a local, he or she can also serve as a reliable guide who can recommend attractions and places of interest in the city. Matej Slezak, the founder of this startup is an experienced photographer himself and started Localgrapher when he noticed a demand for such service after was contacted by multiple tourists for photo sessions.
“We believe that our service provided by professional vacation photographers is next big thing in travel industry. We plan to expand Localgrapher to 20-30 cities in the India and South-East Asia within next few months.” says Matej.
People who are not very comfortable in front of camera or aren’t very good at posing don’t really need to worry as the photographers highly emphasise spontaneous and natural pictures. You can book a photographer through their website and receive the gallery online in a couple of days. They have got different packages that vary in duration and regions covered at a destination.
We came across other services earlier which offer a photographer, who will provide you with Instagram ready pictures every morning, as part of group tour packages. Localgrapher can also join hands with various tour providers to further boost the services. You can find them on their website here.
