Episode 32 - Discovering the Art of Travel Through Julie's Lens

Ever wondered how a childhood passion can blossom into a prolific career? Join us as we chat with Julie Diebolt Price, a seasoned travel writer and photographer who transformed her early love for snapping photos with a Brownie camera into a life filled with published works and global adventures. Julie shares her unexpected journey, overcoming her fear of English classes to become a celebrated author and mentor. She reveals the magic of capturing travel experiences through timely writing and the exhilarating feeling of seeing her work in print. Get ready to be inspired by Julie’s story and gain insights into balancing the artistry of photography with the craft of writing.

In our next segment, Julie demystifies the world of stock photography, offering practical tips on capturing stunning images using just your smartphone and traveling light with a preference for trains over flights. Julie's passion for scenic destinations like Italy, France, Mexico, Canada, and the Rockies shines through as she discusses her favorite spots to photograph. We also offer a sneak peek into upcoming events and invite you to explore our travel adventures through our blog. Connect with us and share your stories because we believe in traveling not to escape life, but to ensure life doesn’t escape us.

Website = https://phototravelwrite.com/
X/Twitter = @JDPphotoBIZ
FaceBook = @PhotoTravelWrite
Instagram = PhotoTravelWrite

Chapters

• 0:18 Travel Writing and Photography With Julie
• 15:17 Exploring Stock Photography With Julie
• 31:40 Engaging Travel Talk and Resources

Transcript

Jim Santos: 0:18

Welcome to Travels with Jim and Rita. Jim and Rita, I'm your host, jim Santos, and in this podcast series you can follow along as my wife Rita and I work out our crazy plan to outfox the real estate market in the US and actually increase our retirement nest egg by spending the next three years or so living abroad and exploring the world. Are we bold, forward-thinking pioneers or just plain nuts? Let's find out together, shall we? Hello and welcome once again to Travels with Jim and Rita. I'm Jim Santos, along with my lovely wife Rita, and we're still working our way through Eastern Europe using trains, buses and, eventually, ferries. In fact, since we recorded some episodes before we left for Berlin, by the time this show airs we should be in Krakow, poland. Now we'll be doing some episodes from the road, so you can check out our blog at jimsantosbooks. com for more timely updates on our travels and pictures of where we've been.

Jim Santos: 1:22

Joining me and Rita today is Julie Diebolt Price, a professional photographer who helps solo entrepreneurs establish their brands with images for websites and print media. She educates and mentors aspiring photographers to navigate and tame the technology in the field and in online photography courses. She's also a journalist who loves to travel as well, and she has developed her expertise through extensive domestic and international travel. In addition to a growing list of bylines, restaurant reviews and photo essays, she's also the author of three books Baby Boomer's Guide to Digital Photography, nine Steps to Stock Photography Success and the Ten Most Important Things to Know About Event Photography. And if that's not enough, she also has two more books in production. Julie, welcome to Travels with Jim and Rita.

Julie Diebolt Price: 2:10

Well, I'm very happy to talk about what I do and where I've been and where I'm going. So thanks for the invitation to have me.

Jim Santos: 2:19

Well, sure, Now I was curious what came first, the writing or the photography? Do you consider yourself more a writer who became a photographer, or the other way around?

Julie Diebolt Price: 2:28

Oh, it's the other way around. I started my illustrious photography career when I was a child. I got one of those brownie cameras and, of course, no film, and I was running around everywhere taking pictures and I liked the sound of the shutter click and so that kind of hooked me there, and I really didn't become a travel writer until after I got my bachelor's degree and I had quote unquote time to work on other things besides my schooling. I have to admit that it took me 17 and a half years to get my bachelor's degree, and one of the reasons is because I was afraid of writing English. I hated English classes throughout grammar school, high school and I got to college. First of all, I went to a secretarial school where I learned shorthand and all of that so I could have a trade and earn money. My family couldn't afford a four-year college, so I escaped from going through an English writing class and so I had one year of secretarial school and then I had to start paying for school myself.

Jim Santos: 3:56

Been there, done that.

Julie Diebolt Price: 3:58

Yeah, and as I was going to type in class and whatever and I said, oh my God, I really don't like this. So I transferred to the community college, went into the dance and theater program, which I'd been a ballerina since I was five years old, and then I started gaining interest in actually getting a degree and, very long story short, I put off that English writing class until the very last moment before my degree. And at that point then, you know, they had this CLEP program where you could take a test and not have to take the whole semester class.

Rita Santos: 4:48

Right.

Julie Diebolt Price: 4:49

And I was so terrified of taking that test and of doing poorly. Now, keep in mind I had worked in all of these other industries, so I had a lot of OJT, on-the-job training. But I had to pass this exam or sit through a semester. So I hired a tutor. I think I had her for two hours and she told me the secret of stringing sentences together and then leading them into paragraphs. And I looked at her and I said you mean, that's all there is to it. And she said yes, and so I went in. I passed the CLIP exam and I could kick myself now for being so afraid of it. And guess what I do for a living? I write and string sentences together and I get them published and I get paid.

Rita Santos: 5:50

That's a good thing yeah.

Jim Santos: 5:52

It is kind of a scary process, isn't it? I think about that sometimes, sitting there by yourself writing something, and it goes out and people you've never met read it and are affected by it.

Julie Diebolt Price: 6:03

Exactly yes.

Jim Santos: 6:06

It's really pretty rewarding when you think about it like that.

Julie Diebolt Price: 6:09

Yeah, it is, and that's what I think I like best about travel writing. Well, any kind of writing is that I can put my thoughts down on paper and that can be kind of grueling, but I like coming up with concepts. The writing is grueling, but then when I hit publish and I see my name in print and when somebody comments, like you said, that's what makes it all worthwhile.

Jim Santos: 6:38

Yeah, I think my favorite quote from an author. I think it was attributed to Robert Heineman, the science fiction writer. He said I hate writing, but I love having written.

Julie Diebolt Price: 6:47

Oh yeah, that's wonderful.

Jim Santos: 6:49

Yeah, I think that sums it up. It sums it up.

Julie Diebolt Price: 6:52

Yeah. So, getting back to the photography, I actually became a photographer and then the writing came after that. It came as an outshoot of photography, because I would go and take pictures of anything and everything and I'd have the signs and the images so that I could go back and remember where I was, and it would evoke memories, and so I got into some bad habits. By doing that, though I wouldn't write my articles for a long time, and that's one of the things that I've learned, as I really have to produce articles more quickly, and that is to write the article as soon as possible after visiting the destination and after capturing the images, because, while the pictures evoke memories, if you don't take good enough notes or you're not in the emotional state of when you were there, it's more difficult to write about.

Jim Santos: 8:00

Right, it's hard to recall that and memory is pretty faulty Now, when you started doing the photography, was that travel photography right off the bat?

Julie Diebolt Price: 8:09

Well, I did travel photography because I was traveling and I loved it. I was going to take one photography class, that's all. I needed just one class to know how my camera worked, and all of that. Well then I was doing landscape photography. And you don't make much money at landscape photography unless you've had years of practice and you're really outstanding and you've built a name for yourself. And those were the days when I was using film.

Jim Santos: 8:44

Yeah, kicking it old school, and those were the days when I was using film. Yeah, kicking it old school Right.

Julie Diebolt Price: 8:47

Oh, old school yes, and doing events. Yeah, I had to make money somehow because I was spending all the money on the film If I wasn't processing it myself in the darkroom. I was sending it out to a lab, so it took me about one semester to figure out. I better figure out how to earn some money. So then I retrained myself as a portrait photographer, Because people buy pictures of their families, events.

Jim Santos: 9:21

Their pets.

Julie Diebolt Price: 9:22

Oh, my gosh pets, I mean I did it all.

Rita Santos: 9:24

Yeah, yeah, I would probably like the pets the best.

Julie Diebolt Price: 9:31

Oh, I did too. Well, then I kind of well, I fell into baby and children's portraiture because the age group that I wanted was like they were a pet, and I'm talking about three months to a year old. Well, I ended up photographing way too many toddlers and four-year-olds and I ended up not liking that. And, of course, I photographed weddings and we had a disastrous family reunion event that people came from all over the country and my camera failed to work correctly. And I've committed every sin that there is committed, every major faux pas in photography. And I teach now because I want my students to know that, yes, you will live after a disaster and this is how you prepare for it and this is what you learn on the job that you don't learn in the classroom, and this is how you get enjoyment out of it. So I want my students to know all the mistakes that I made. I don't hide anything because that's how you learn.

Julie Diebolt Price: 10:51

You have to learn that way.

Rita Santos: 10:54

Well with being digital. It's much easier than the film.

Jim Santos: 10:59

Hasn't that changed your profession quite a bit?

Julie Diebolt Price: 11:01

Oh yes, I was an early adopter of digital photography. For a couple of reasons, I was not afraid of using a computer. I cut my teeth in corporate America and I was the first one in our department in the aerospace company where I learned how to use a mainframe computer. I learned how to use an Apple Lisa at the time, or one of the first Apple computers.

Jim Santos: 11:29

I remember Lisa.

Julie Diebolt Price: 11:30

Yeah, yeah, and I learned how to use a PC all in the matter of about one or two years. So I was not afraid of using a computer, and when digital came out, I was an early adopter, because it's like having a little computer in your hand that captures pictures and there was nobody out there teaching the digital workflow how really to use a camera and what it did, and how to track your pictures. So I devised my own system. I started out with a small camera because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a camera. That was too hard to learn, so you know little point and shoot. But it had a lot of little capabilities, and so I learned how to use it, and so I learned how to use it. I learned how to track the pictures. I learned how to retouch them, enhance them and then to produce them and deliver to whomever. And so a lot of my colleagues refused to go digital, and I was more than willing to teach them how. But when people get stubborn, they say no, I'm not going to have anything to do with it. Well, unfortunately, those people weren't in business much after the digital hit the scene. They were out of business in two years, and so, as I taught myself how to do it, I went to a conference and some other photographer was up on the stage telling everybody my digital workflow and I said, now, wait a minute, that's my information. Well, somebody else figured it out too. So then I thought well, they're standing up there telling people how to do it. I can do that too. And that's how my digital photography teaching career started.

Julie Diebolt Price: 13:34

So I've been teaching for 30 years and I actually became a better photographer when I got into digital, because I don't like the philosophy that well, you can take a whole bunch of pictures and just throw away what you don't like. My philosophy is a good photographer will get it right in the camera first, like we did with film. That is still my philosophy. But when you take a picture and you look at it and you immediately say, oh, I can make the composition better, I can make the exposure better, I would go back and fix it, retake the picture and see exactly what I would get. So I became a better photographer and with that I also learned that, coming straight out of the camera, even though you tweak it in the camera and get the exposure right, every image has to be enhanced once you get it on your computer, or later if you do onboard enhancing like on an iPhone. Every picture needs enhancement. That's the nature of digital.

Jim Santos: 14:49

You mentioned how much you learned from teaching other people. I taught adult education for a while and I really found it. If you're doing your job correctly, you learn just as much as the students learn from trying to explain something to somebody else, you really have to understand it yourself. To do that.

Julie Diebolt Price: 15:06

Right, because you have to simplify it so you can explain it to them.

Jim Santos: 15:12

Right, right, you're breaking it down to the component parts and then doing that.

Julie Diebolt Price: 15:16

Right.

Jim Santos: 15:17

So in your mentoring for others, I assume a big topic now is stock photography.

Julie Diebolt Price: 15:23

Oh yes.

Jim Santos: 15:24

For our listeners who aren't familiar with the term, can you tell us a little bit about stock photography?

Julie Diebolt Price: 15:30

Stock photography is where you take pictures.

Julie Diebolt Price: 15:36

You dream up your topics, you take the pictures and then, after you enhance them, you submit them to online agencies who will sell the pictures for you.

Julie Diebolt Price: 15:50

It's really a sweet system because you have to do your job, in that you got to take good pictures, you have to be able to enhance them to make them attractive to buyers and you have to keyword them so people can find them. So when you do an internet search on a topic, that's just how you do it for a stock image. So let's say you, as a writer, want a photograph of a bowl of grapes to illustrate one of your articles, so you would go to a stock agency, you would put in that search term and the agency would deliver a whole series of pictures of grapes in a bowl. So that's how you do a search and you want to have as many keywords that apply to an image so it stands a better chance of being found. And then, if the buyer decides they want to buy it, they take care of that whole transaction within the stock agency app online and then they get a digital file that they can use in the manner that the rights that they purchased.

Jim Santos: 17:12

So it seems like there's a couple of skills there that you really have to work on developing. One is coming up with images that you think might be popular, and then the other is choosing the correct keywords.

Julie Diebolt Price: 17:24

Everything else is handled by the stock agency the money, the collections showing the images. They handle everything.

Jim Santos: 17:34

So I suppose then in the classes, what you're teaching them is how to choose good images and how to choose good keywords.

Julie Diebolt Price: 17:40

Yes, and how to enhance. That's an art in itself. The barrier to entry is so low photographers to try and get good images and get in an agency, because now they even accept well, the iPhone. I use an iPhone, but the Androids, the optics are so good and the cameras built in are so good you can use an iPhone or an Android now to submit. So you don't have to be a professional photographer. You don't have to have the latest, greatest, best equipment, you just have to be able to capture good images and high resolution. They have to be high res. You have to understand high res versus low res.

Jim Santos: 18:31

Right, because it might be blown up into big poster size or something.

Julie Diebolt Price: 18:34

Exactly.

Jim Santos: 18:35

Yeah, it's also been a big advantage with the increase in the power of the cameras on phones. Now when you travel, you don't have to carry a four or five pound camera and a 10 pound camera bag with lenses and lens cleaners and all that stuff.

Julie Diebolt Price: 18:49

Exactly.

Jim Santos: 18:50

So, as a travel photographer, that must have really helped you out a lot.

Julie Diebolt Price: 18:52

Oh yeah and I can't tell you how many times I took my big camera I'll call it the big camera and I just used my iPhone and finally, after half a dozen times doing that, I said okay, julie, it's time to stop with the big camera. Make your life easier, because now I have a passion for travel photography and telling stories with my images and not having to lug everything. Now I still have to take a tripod because there's still use for that, but I don't do studio photography anymore. I very seldom do family portraits or anything where I really need a big camera.

Jim Santos: 19:36

Well, how much of the year do you spend traveling?

Julie Diebolt Price: 19:37

Oh, that's a good question. I actually looked that up on my calendar as I was preparing for this podcast, and I typically do one big trip a year, which means I may fly or take the train or drive to get there, and that's usually two to four weeks. A couple of years ago I took the train. The reason was to go back for my 50-year class reunion and I always hate to admit this, but I always laugh about it because I'm a travel writer but I hate to fly, and so I will figure out any possible way to get to a destination without flying. So two years ago I decided to take the train from Flagstaff, arizona, to Chicago and then get a rental car and drive to Michigan and drive to other destinations on the way to visit friends and whatnot. Well, 17 and a half hours late getting into Chicago, oh brutal.

Julie Diebolt Price: 20:45

Oh, and that just about did me in for train travel, but I had to come back by train and, omg, I try to avoid the train now.

Jim Santos: 20:54

Well, what are some of your favorite or your most photogenic destinations that you've been to?

Julie Diebolt Price: 20:59

Well, I have to say that Italy oh, yes, beautiful. I've been there half a dozen times and I would go back in a heartbeat. I have adopted family there, so we adopted each other on my first visit to the Amalfi Coast, and, and so so I love Italy, france. I've been there several times. I haven't been there for the lavender in bloom.

Rita Santos: 21:32

One day I'll do that.

Julie Diebolt Price: 21:34

Mexico, because I love all the brilliant colors that they use in Xochimilco and the pyramids that they have there. Well, the colors of Guanajuato, the buildings, and so I love all that. Canada I was just in Canada last year I went four times to Canada on different trips, and I don't know if you've been to Butcher Gardens in Vancouver Island, just absolutely stunning. And let's see where else have I been? Well, all the Canadian Rockies, the Colorado Rockies, just about every place I go is pretty scenic and photogenic. There isn't a scene that I haven't loved or enjoyed.

Rita Santos: 22:28

You know, if you love to photograph flowers. You were close to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.

Julie Diebolt Price: 22:35

North Carolina, oh, in Asheville. Yes, yes, yeah, you were close to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, north Carolina. Oh, in Asheville.

Rita Santos: 22:38

Yes, yes, yeah. Their conservatory is amazing.

Julie Diebolt Price: 22:42

Yes, it's been probably 10 or 15 years since I've been there, but you're right.

Jim Santos: 22:48

Well, tell me about your books too, because you're not just a photographer, also a writer.

Julie Diebolt Price: 22:52

Oh, yeah, I'm a writer. Oh, yeah, I'm a writer. So the first book that I did was published in 2008. And it was called Baby Boomers Guide to Digital Photography. Baby Boomers, at that time, were the ones that I was teaching most, and so I wrote this lovely book and it was really hard. I as I keep teaching more. I love teaching and I love sharing information. So my next foray into book publishing was 10 things you must know about event photography. So I hired a terrific editor, I hired a terrific layout designer and I published that first book. The next one was Nine Steps to Stock Photography Success, and I really like the way this book came together.

Julie Diebolt Price: 23:56

But the reason I write and publish these books is to give me credibility. It helps me gain new students. It helps me present my work to DMOs, destination marketing organizations, pr companies, schools that want me to teach, workshops that they want me to teach, so it is advantageous in that regard. I have two others in the pipeline that all I have to do is sit down and assemble all the materials. Sit down and assemble all the materials. One is photography for travel writers. Travel photography is a bit different than any other regular photography and things that you have to consider, as a travel writer, that isn't necessarily required for some other forms of photography. So this way, with this production, it will help me address my photography career and my travel writing career, and then the other one that is in the works is things that you need to know for digital photography in today's world. So it's really an update to the 2008 volume, but it'll be produced much differently.

Jim Santos: 25:19

Yeah, I see you also have some coloring books on Amazon.

Julie Diebolt Price: 25:21

Oh yes.

Jim Santos: 25:23

Did you do the artwork on those?

Julie Diebolt Price: 25:24

I'm so glad you asked. So what I did with ChatGPT plug-in or an adjunct to that, is DALE3. It's D-A-L-E-3. And I learned that I could put in a few prompts and I could create two-dimensional line art for coloring books. And I thought, oh, I will make a coloring book of the worlds, of the seven continents and the capital cities there. And so with just a few prompts, I had all of these coloring book pages and I said, oh, I'm going to put this in a book, put it on Amazon and I will have a coloring book on Amazon and I will have a coloring book.

Julie Diebolt Price: 26:19

Okay, so that was the first one. And then I did the Sonoran Desert animals, wild animals, and that one actually turned out better because they're not as detailed. So I made those two coloring books and I use Print on Demand, a company for Print On Demand. I don't have to print any number of them ahead of time. I put them for sale on Amazon. The order goes immediately to the Print On Demand company. They fulfill the order, they send it out, they collect the money for me. I have no physical work to do.

Rita Santos: 26:57

Right, right.

Julie Diebolt Price: 26:58

So I've sold a few of those. I need to promote those more, but I've been busy traveling and writing about it so yeah, it's amazing how life gets in the way. Yes, yes.

Jim Santos: 27:08

Well, for someone who's interested in travel writing or travel photography, how do you suggest they get started, like, do they need expensive equipment or editing software or anything like that?

Julie Diebolt Price: 27:18

Don't need expensive equipment, but learn how your phone camera works. One of the things I do in my training for students new students is do you have a cell phone and do you want to learn how to use your big camera? They always say yes and I say okay, we're going to start with your cell phone camera. Are you using the grid? Is the grid turned on? Nine times out of 10, my students don't know. And just for the listeners, if you turn on the grid in your settings, if you turn on the grid in your settings, it gives you the tic-tac-toe rule of thirds that you can compose your pictures. When you start using that understanding composition, that is halfway to outstanding pictures that you will always use for your travel, writing and for stock photography. You do not need a lot of equipment. I would get a tripod, because that will always be necessary. You should learn how to use Lightroom and Photoshop. That is by Adobe. It is the industry standard. Lightroom and Photoshop have so much capability. All you have to do is learn a few things with Lightroom and you don't even have to go into Photoshop. You can also get those programs on your phone. Photos is the native enhancement program built right into your phone and you can simply use that. Learn how to use those because, again, if you can deliver nicely enhanced, cropped, sharp, clear pictures, that's all you need. You do not need a big camera for print publications either, because the phone cameras make high res, high file size images.

Julie Diebolt Price: 29:17

You've got to be able to tell stories about the destination, either in writing or in pictures, so I like to create storytelling images that all you have to do is look at the picture and understand what's going on. That is really key. If you can submit a storytelling picture with words to go with it, that is a definite plus, because a lot of times viewers when they're scrolling on their phones and more people read my articles on a phone than they do on their computer so the picture will stop the scrolling. So you want to have really terrific pictures that tell a story. And then you want to start local, because you know your hometown. You may take a lot of things for granted, but put on your visitor glasses and look at your hometown. What stories would you tell somebody that's coming from out of town that hasn't been there before? Write up a story about that and then find a local outlet. Find a local publication, either print or digital that you can submit your article to.

Jim Santos: 30:39

Okay, some great information, great advice. We've been chatting with Julie Diebold Price. She's a traveler, author, photographer and mentor. For more information, check out her website at phototravelright. com. You can order her books there or also check out her coloring books on Amazon. Now, as always, we'll have links to that in the show notes. Well, julie, happy travels and thanks for joining us on travels with Jim and Rita.

Julie Diebolt Price: 31:03

Thanks, Jim and Rita.

Rita Santos: 31:05

Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Jim Santos: 31:20

You've been listening to travels with Jim and and rita. Thanks for your support and please continue to like and follow and promote on social media as you're able. We're up to being heard in 50 countries now, which really just blows my mind. Now, remember that subscriptions are not required, but of course they're always appreciated. Don't forget r Rita and I will be at the International Living Ultimate Go Overseas Boot Camp in Las Vegas, nevada, october 26th through the 28th.

Jim Santos: 31:40

I'll be giving some talks in the main hall of the Fireside. Chats and Rita and I will both be in the exhibit hall to answer questions about what we've done, where we've been and where we're going. You can get more information or sign up at intliving. com/ events. That's intliving. com/ events. Now, if you'd like to read more about where we've been and see some photos and video, check out our blog at jimsantosbooks. com. You can access my books, audiobooks and short stories at jimsantos. net. We'd love to hear from our listeners as well. So if you have a question or a topic you'd like us to cover or want to tell your own travel story, email us at jim@ jimsantosbooks. com. So until next time, remember we travel not to escape life, but so that life does not escape us. Thank you.