The world’s most (un)pleasant international holiday is fast-approaching, and hopefully you’ve purchased the proper materials in celebration.Every year around this time, fat men in togas begin to meet and whisper suspiciously with one another. Downtrodden servants from faraway lands begin wheeling vats of foot-stomped wine into Corinthian-columned halls.
In his latest blog post, British journalist George Monbiot floats the idea that journalists should sign a kind of Hippocratic Oath, the idea being that it might “mobilise readers to demand that journalists answer to them, not just their proprietors.”He argues that:Journalism’s primary purpose is to hold power to account.
David Roberts sounds like he’s talking about mountaineering when he describes the highs and lows of his career as a writer.“Writing isn’t fun, but it sure is gratifying when it works,” Roberts says. “It’s not like making a nice move climbing — that’s fun.”Roberts, 69, is the author of 25 nonfiction books.
![This is what happens when you fall in love with a place [vid]](https://jorgemolder.com/img/mata-2020/3168/image_7ykm2k2w4ZWwz.jpg)
Most of us have been there: hiking up a mountain to a 360-degree view, or kicking back on a white sand beach fronted by sapphire-blue water. You think, “this is the most amazing place in the world.” At least I do. The second thing I think is, “where did I put my camera?”Soon, images of the most incredible place on Earth are streaming onto my memory cards.
David Miller recently interviewed poet and author Suzanne Roberts, whose memoir of hiking the John Muir Trail, Almost Somewhere, was awarded a 2012 National Outdoor Book Award.DM: Congrats on winning the 2012 National Outdoor Book Award for Almost Somewhere. I remember your working on this book when we first spoke in 2010.
Photo: Nessa LandHaruki Murakami, despite being one of the biggest cultural cross-over novelists of our generation, not to mention a freelance journalist, a translator, and a marathon runner, doesn’t have many pretensions.He once reflected, “With nothing but my writing, I had made a number of human beings want to drink beer.
Travel often means spending prolonged periods in a seated position. Aside from being absurdly uncomfortable, extended bouts of sitting can cause health issues including blood clots, nerve problems such as numbness or tingling, muscular atrophy in some parts of the body, and muscular tightness in others.
All we know of Maya S. is the back of her head. Her thumbnail indicates she is blonde with a bun and a floral-print shirt. There are no photographs of her face in the apartment even though it’s otherwise lived-in, cozy. Just as her Airbnb ad described it. When I borrow a pair of mittens that hang from her coatrack, I hope to whomever that she doesn’t accidentally catch me wearing them around the neighborhood, masquerading as Maya S.
It’s getting warmer out, and I’m starting to get restless for movement, so I’ve been going through my bookshelf and remembering road novels I read as a teenager. Here are some of them. Of the books on the following list, four are novels written before 1980. The last is a picture book from 2013. There’s a continuity to horizons, it seems.
Kate Siobhan Havercroft brings a complex photography subject to light. For more on learning about travel photography, visit MatadorU.Aperture can feel like a tricky beast at first. But once you have a sense of what it is — the idea of depth of field — it’s time to look at how to put these tools to use for your own vision with photography.
It’s time to pop some corks: Former Matador Nights editor Tom Gates’ first book, Wayward, is currently 1 at iTunes Travel & Adventure books.I’VE NEVER WORKED WITH ANYONE who has more of a natural gift for disarming you as a reader than Tom Gates. You read his stuff and just immediately feel like you know the guy.
This article complements lessons from the MatadorU Travel Photography program.Let’s say you’ve got a good grasp of exposure. Maybe you’re even mastering exposure locking or the exposure triangle. Or maybe you’ve been doing that for a while, but sometimes return home from a shoot to find shots that looked great in camera are dull, lifeless, underexposed, overexposed, or overall just…blah?
Join a growing community of thousands of travel journalists and develop your skills in travel writing, photography, and film with a course at MatadorU.The only thing that separates a real writer from a non-writer is writing. Do you put pen to paper, use a typewriter, on a computer? Then you’re a writer.
Andrew McCarthy’s new book The Longest Way Home finds him using travel as a method for sorting through life’s toughest questions.Matador: I don’t think I realized that your acting career happened so fast, and that your first movie was a leading role. When you turned your mind to travel writing, did it happen that fast for you, too?
Thomas Reissmann has been shooting travel videos professionally for four years. He travels for free and wants to show you how to do the same.HERE ARE 4 of 157 videos Thomas has on his YouTube channel. Aside from shooting his own video, Thomas wants you to learn the techniques and gain the tools to fund your travels with video production.
Though the poet is three years dead, her shiny, sly, red-lipped brown face looks up at me in the morning from her book jacket by my bed. Her smile undresses all my foolishness.Her name is Lucille Clifton, and if this were a wiser country, it would be known even to school children. I read her poems early in the morning and late at night, the way some people pray.
The tips in this article complement the curriculum of the Travel Writing program at MatadorU.WHEN WRITING a travel story, sometimes you have a minor character or incident that doesn’t fit well in the plot, but which, if included, would add a particularly rich detail or reinforce the story’s overall theme.
Take online courses in travel journalism and join a growing community of thousands of travel writers, photographers, and filmmakers at MatadorU.HERE AT MATADOR, we know that travel—and travelers—rock. But how can you write about your amazing adventures—and your amazing self—without sounding like a showoff?
Take online courses in travel journalism and join a growing community of thousands of travel writers, photographers, and filmmakers at MatadorU.OVER THE LAST MONTH we’ve been expanding the curricula at MatadorU. Among the first new lessons we’ve added are studies in rhetoric vs. transparent language, as well as travel “porn” and plight writing.
The concept of Ground Level is central to the kind of writing we look for at Matador. MatadorU will teach you the skills you need to become a travel journalist.IT SEEMS TAKEN FOR GRANTED that for someone to write about travel, he or she actually travels. But people rarely seem to question if someone who travels somewhere with the intention of writing is (a) truly ‘there’ in any level beyond just physical presence, and (b) able to write transparently about what he or she experiences versus what he or she wants to believe – or wants others to believe – about the experience.
![From goat’s head soup to skink flesh: Aphrodisiacs around the world [pics]](https://jorgemolder.com/img/mata-2020/3075/image_Uelmfq1rWl5.jpg)
