Unposed Wonders

Capturing Candid Photos From a Moving Vehicle - Cambodia, Peru and South Africa

While one of the joy’s for me is getting to know my subjects while photographing them up and personal, some of my best travel photos have come from capturing candid shots from a moving vehicle with a long lens (as a passenger of course!).

This picture of a young Vietnamese boy was taken from a canoe at the floating village on Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. I love how the photo isolates the subject without clutter helping to tell the story of this unique village.

This woman working in the Peruvian fields was shot with a 400 mm lens.  I was 100 ft. away from her in a moving vehicle so its zoomed in quite a bit in post.  I love how the photo isolates the subject giving the subject enough room in front to give a sense of movement.  The beautiful terraced landscape contributes to revealing the cultural identity of the region.

The key is using a fast shutter speed according to the vehicles speed.  I love how this candid captures a glimpse of this woman’s expression as she herds her donkeys. It was shot from our vehicle at f16, 1/1000 second with an ISO of 800. I also turned on vibration reduction hand holding the camera as steady as possible without leaning against the car.