Photographing Fresh Markets of the World

© 2011, David/Anna Smith. For copyright permissons

Traveling the world gives us the opportunity to visit local fresh markets with rich colors, delicious aromas and interesting people. Always with cameras in hand, we attempt to capture ethic foods and culture while interacting with locals to capture proud smiling faces, ethnic costumes and their wears. Many travelers are reluctant to photograph people they don’t know but we love doing that and we will readily share our experiences and techniques in an upcoming  Blog post.

Fresh Market Travel Photography Tips:

Travel photographers should time their visit to the market schedules (check online, at the tourist office or your hotel) since they are not always daily events and arrive in the very early morning to beat the tourist crush or very early or late in the day to capture better side light and color of light. Take a variety of shot styles including the overall establishing shots,  mid range shots and close-ups to keep your viewer more interested when you share your images.  Be sure to shoot your travelling companion(s) sampling food, trying on hats, or smelling spices. Colors are more saturated on a cloudy raining day just be sure your camera stays dry and check your lens and clean off water drops frequently.

Some world fresh markets are better than others. Here are some of our favorites from famous markets on several continents.

1. La Bogueria market in Barcelona, Spain
2. The Spice Market, Istanbul
3. A Floating  Restaurant Market off the Chao Phraya Rivver in Bangkok
4. The morning seafood market in Hakodate, Japan

Capturing fresh market experiences in images and video is fun but when will digital photography technology enable us to capture the subtle aroma of fresh cut flowers, the memorable  scents of exotic spices, the tasty aroma of cooking stalls or questionable odor of butcher shops?  I guess spice sample bags to take home  will have to do until that happens but at least we have the image and video memories to entice us back.

Here some images form our recent visits to fresh markets.  To see more visit our online Fresh Markets of the World photograph gallery.

Fresh fruit stand in La Bogueria market in Barcelona, Spain

Old man selling posters outside the Spice Bazaar in Instanbul, Turkey

Floating Restaurant Market vendor in Bangkok, Thailand

Morning seafood market in the city of Hakodate in Oshima, Hokkaido in Japan