10 Instagram Accounts I Love: Travel

Instagram is one of my favourite social media platforms, especially when I stumble upon especially stunning accounts. This is the first part of a little series I’m going to write to share with you a few of these, from travel to fashion to art and design to food to the little things in everyday life. First up – travel!

1. @brendanvanson. Brendan Van Son is the photographer behind this lively account. He’s also a writer and the founder of Vagabundo Magazine. It’s a varied mix of architecture, nature and street scenes from around the world but some of my favourites are his shots of locals doing everyday things like the woman in one of the photos below eating a cockroach whole in Cambodia.

2. @michaelchristopherbrown. This is not your average light-hearted travel photography account but I include it here because it takes us around the world.. Michael is a a Magnum Photos photographer. His work is some of the most powerful I’ve seen on Instagram, looking at everything from the beds of women forced to work as prostitutes in the Congo to the violent streets of Egypt during the protests.

3. @uncornered_market. This is an account run by Daniel Noll who has been on the road since 2006, exploring every corner of the world. As you can imagine, his journeys have taken him to some places off the beaten track, everywhere from Fish River Canyon in Namibia to the edge of the jungle in Bahia Ballena, Costa Rica.

4. @zachspassport. Zach Glassman is a “travel documentarian and polyglot” with an adventurous spirit who takes us from beautiful landscapes in Guatemala to architectural details in his home city of New York to the icy wonderland of the Apostle Islands. My favourite shots are of spiral staircases and ornate ceilings like these two below.

5. @linadelika. I love the clean, uncluttered look of Lina’s account. She knows the value of empty space. She is a traveller, but also a food photographer as one element of her career. That means she is always posting drool-worthy images of fruit or meals that she eats along the way. She also posts the interiors of cool coffee shops like the ones below, flower markets and street scenes.

6. @dguttenfelder. David Guttenfelder’s account interests me because he has the fascinating job of covering North Korea as AP’s chief Asia photographer. He’s on assignment for National Geographic. His photos offer insight into daily life in this secretive country as well as other destinations he visits like the girl on the bike in Vietnam below. Many of his images are black and white, with a few pops of colour.

7. @muradosmann. The photos of Russian photographer Murad Osmann’s girlfriend Natalia Zakharova leading him around the world have made their rounds across the internet since they started the project in 2011. They’re a bit too over-processed for me, but I love them all the same. They’re always taken with a strong sense of place and I love them for Natalia’s style as well.

8. @mrwhisper. Bal might not travel the world as regularly as some of the others on this list but his account is definitely defined by a strong sense of place – London. Regular appearances include shots of unknowing Londoners on the tube, beautiful light bathing local landmarks and simple scenes of ordinary, everyday life as it goes on around us.

9. @afarmedia. An account run by the team at my favourite travel magazine, Afar, these guys have a wide reach and bring in content from all over the world, updating often. My favourite shots from them are the close-up details shots with vibrant colours like the two below. The coconuts were in Dominican Republic and the pretty blue room in Mexico.

10. @jn. Joerg is based in Berlin so his photos reflect that but he travels plenty as well. Some of my favourite shots include small details like this wooden post below shot in Germany and the wider picture street photos like the fun red street car in Istanbul with a bubble blower standing nearby. Light and shadow come into play in many of his photos and lend a certain atmosphere that permeates his page.

I’d love to hear about your favourite travel accounts on Instagram. Let me know your own as well!

You can follow me on Instagram @LittleObservationist.