About travel photographer Steve Davey

Better Travel Photography tours are the vision of professional travel photographer, Steve Davey, and reflect his passion for both travel and for taking pictures on the road.  

Steve Davey photographer feeding hyena Harar Ethiopia Join our Mailing List

Meet Steve Davey - the photographer who has designed and will be leading your tour

The most important thing about any photo tour is the character and experience of the photographer who is leading it. They might be a great photographer, but their style of photography and of travel might be at odds to yours. This will give you an insight into Steve Davey's work, career and approach to the World.

Steve Davey is a photographer and writer, based in Somerset. Blessed and cursed in equal measure with a low boredom threshold, he has turned travel photography into a way of life, as well as a career.

Steve first got hooked on photography at school. The mix of creativity and technicality seemed to suit his personality and he realised that photography could make a good lifestyle: leaving school during the day was forbidden but, if he was stopped  walking out with a camera, he could just say that he was off to take some photos. He has used this excuse ever since and, remarkably, people still believe it.

Steve first got hooked on photography at school. The mix of creativity and technicality seemed to suit his personality and he realised that photography could make a good lifestyle: leaving school during the day was forbidden but, if he was stopped  walking out with a camera, he could just say that he was off to take some photos. He has used this excuse ever since and, remarkably, people still believe it.

Unlike many photographers Steve actually studied photography, graduating with a BA (Hons) Film, Video, TV and Photographic Arts. Although this qualification has been of little practical use, it was when he first started thinking about why a photographer should always consider the person who is looking at the image in order to establish meaning.

Steve is a writer and photographer who has turned his day job into a way of life, he travels compulsively, coming alive with the chaos of being on the road.

Steve’s work appears in magazines, books and newspapers all over the world. He is the author and principal photographer of Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die published by BBC Books. A second title Unforgettable Islands to Escape to Before You Die involved Steve catching 99 flights in a year and flying the equivalent of over seven times around the world.

Between them, these two bestselling titles have sold over 300,000 copies and been published in almost 50 co-editions around the world. 

Steve has published two further titles; Around the World in 500 Festivals and two editions of Footprint Travel Photography.

To complement the first edition of Footprint Travel Photography, Steve launched a unique series of travel photography tours and London courses. Steve organises and accompanies all of the tours providing his unique blend of tailored tuition, encouragement and boundless enthusiasm.

Steve is essentially a story teller, and regularly researches and writes articles for magazines, as well as photographing them. He has produced countless travel stories as well as various editorial themes, including food, culture and general interest stories. He also writes many articles on the techniques of photography and especially travel photography for a range of publications. 

Subjects have been as varied as the financial pressures on the Kalash People of Northern Pakistan, following the Greek financial crash, to heritage UNESCO recognised pottery from Bisalhães in Portugal.

Steve recently relocated from the cramped streets of Brixton to an Old Vicarage in South Somerset, which has included a protracted renovation project converting an former Coach House into a studio and workspace.

Since moving to the countryside, Steve has explored the landscapes and culture of the West Country, especially spending a great deal of time photographing on Dartmoor, and in the Avalon Marshes.  

Consequently Steve has developed more of the skills of landscape photography and is as comfortable walking miles with a heavy tripod to stand waist deep in a river as he is running amok in a festival in India.

This polymath approach to the art of photography and willingness to absorb a wide range of often contradictory skills and techniques is characteristic of Steve's approach. These skills are mixed and matched in magazine articles as well as photography tours.

Steve is as able to explain complicated professional techniques as he is to convey social skills for engaging with and photographing Indian sadhus.

Steve's approach to photography is much the same as his approach to life. He seldom does anything passively and believes that the way to both travel and photograph better is to experience as much as possible, and to fully engage with a place, and the people who live there.  

This is very much how Steve leads his tours, aiming to encourage people to have as many genuine experiences as possible, and to meet with, and interact with as many local people as possible. 

You can see more of Steve Davey's work on his professional website on www.stevedavey.com

Steve Davey Photographer Holi India
Steve Davey Photographer Chin Hills Myanmar
Steve Davey Photographer Laos
Steve Davey photographer riding police horse kumbh mela

Books by Steve Davey

As well as writing and photographing countless magazine stories around the World in an eclectic range of subjects, Steve Davey is the author of a number of bestselling titles, which have showcased his photography.

Unforgettable Places and Unforgettable Islands BBC Books

Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die & Unforgettable Islands to Escape to Before You Die

These two landmark titles were commissioned and published by BBC Books and involved researching, visiting and photographing a range of iconic places around the world. 

The premise of the Unforgettable Places was to photograph and write about the 40 most stunning places in the world. It was a marathon project. As the author and principal photographer, I visited 26 out of the 40 places, in a remarkably frenetic seven months, averaging around three days in each place!

Shooting a six page chapter in just three days is incredibly difficult. You simply don't have the time to explore: you have to hit the ground shooting. Although we were remarkably lucky with the weather, making the most of the weather and lighting conditions takes a lot of experience in travel photography.

During the shooting schedule I visited such far flung places as the Great Barrier Reef, the Taj Mahal, Lhasa in Tibet, The Alhambra, Rio and Taman Negara rainforest. 

Unforgettable Islands is the fourth book in the BBC Unforgettable... series. Again I shot 26 of the places in the book, travelling the equivalent of seven times around the world on 99 different flights in a very busy year!

Islands are so often unique - their very isolation allows them to be different: culturally, socially, ecologically and even geologically! Unforgettable Islands to Escape to Before You Die takes the reader to some of the most spectacular islands on the planet. 

From the ancient rock island of Kubu in the middle of a salt pan in Botswana, to thriving Hong Kong Island; from the quiet remoteness of the Stockholm Archipelago to the frenetic festival on Sagar Island in the Ganges in India and even from the snowy wastes of Svalbard in the high Arctic to the deserted shores of Socotra off the coast of Yemen this book will show a world people probably never knew existed but won't be able to resist exploring.

Between them, these two titles sold over 300,000 copies and have been translated into almost 50 language and special editions. 

Unforgettable Plances and Unforgettable Islands language covers

You can see more about these titles on www.stevedavey.com/unforgettableislands.html

Around the World in 500 Festivals by Steve Davey

Around the World in 500 Festivals

Around the World in 500 Festivals is a book that will fascinate and inspire. This beautifully illustrated volume is a photographic exploration of the richness and variety of the world's most colourful, moving, joyful, and spectacular cultural celebrations.

A bewildering array of festivals are held around the world every year: this inspiring title is an informed, personal selection of 500 of what the author considers are the best. At its heart is a series of photographic features linking festivals by region or around a common theme. These include:

Carnival celebrations around the world: From Rio to Belgium, the Catholic World has devised imaginative ways to celebrate before the austerity of lent. 

Hindu bathing festivals: the act of religious bathing to wash away sins has spawned many of festivals including the Kumbh Mela - the largest gathering of humans ever.

Food fights: joyful celebrations, where wine, tomatoes, flour or oranges are used in battle.

Displays of bravado: risking life and limb, running with bulls, making human towers and the Naghol land-diving of Vanuatu.

Racing festivals: with horses, camels and buffalo, including the medieval Palio of Siena

South East Asia New Year: From the waterfights of Laos and Thailand, to the various hilltribe New Year celebrations, you can party for weeks!

Bizarre Britain: some of the truly odd things that the British get up to when they think noone is looking.

The festival listings are organised by continent, by region, then alphabetically by country, and are interspersed with the photographic extended articles.

By avoiding purely commercial events this book will not date, and will appeal to a wide range of travellers. Festival goers are not restricted by age and come from every class and income bracket. What links them is a desire to be in a new place when it is most alive, and to take part in some of the most exhilarating celebrations in the world. 

Festivals spread holy dip steve davey

There are three editions to this title: UK English, US English and Dutch. You can find out more on www.stevedavey.com/500festivals.html

Footprint Travel Photography by Steve Davey

Footprint Travel Photography

Footprint Travel Photography is all that you will ever need to improve you travel photography. It takes you from the vital preparation and selecting of equipment before you go, to the ins and outs of being on the road.

Footprint Travel Photography is divided into the following sections, representing the different areas of knowledge that you will need:

Preparation Looking at all of the equipment issues that you will need to consider before you leave, as well as the information you will require to plan your trip and take the best pictures.

Exploration Explaining how to travel with your camera, including keeping your equipment safe and how to survive on the road.

Execution A compendium of technical know-how that you will need to understand the craft of photography and to get the most out of your camera: exposure, focus and some of the scary modes, buttons and menu items that might confuse and bemuse you.

Inspiration Photography is not just the technical stuff: there are different approaches for different disciplines of photography and different environments. This section should make you want to dig out your passport and hit the road. As a further incentive, there are inspirational images throughout the book, which illustrate certain key aspects of travel photography.

Correction There are so many things that can be done on a computer to enhance your digital images and, if you decide to shoot in RAW format, all of your images will have to be post-processed in some way. 

Profession There are a number of ways of making money out of your photography, from competitions and print sales through to being a fully fledged professional.

It is not all hard work: this book will also show you how travel photography can enhance your travel experience. As a keen travel photographer you will see more sunrises, try more bizarre food, see more things and most of all talk to far more local people that you ever would as a traveller. Rather than just hanging back and observing, a travel photographer has to see, feel and experience to put life and creativity into your pictures.

Footprint Travel Photography 2e spread

The two editions of Footprint Travel Photography were published by Footprint Books. You can see more information onwww.stevedavey.com/travelphotography.html