Efraín M. Padró is a full-time professional photographer specializing in nature and travel subjects. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Efraín speaks fluent Spanish and has led numerous photography expeditions to destinations including Spain, India, Morocco and Turkey.
Efraín’s work has appeared in Travel+Leisure.com, Geographic Expeditions catalogs, Frommer’s Budget Travel Magazine, and many other publications. He is also the author of The Photographer’s Guide to New Mexico and The Beginner's Guide to Magazine Photography: Professional Secrets for Fast Results, which ranked as a Kindle best-seller last year.
When not behind the camera or leading workshops, Efraín likes reading about history, art, and philosophy, and collecting antique maps (copies!). As a former bicycle racer, he still exercises every day and follows Le Tour every July.
Today: I travel to beautiful places to take pictures, teach or on assignment. I also teach locally. I am my own boss and enjoy my daily commute to the basement.
Love to: Get up early in the morning when nobody else is around.
Hate: Writers who use fancy-pants words when a simple one will do (For example, instead of “Know All Men by These Presents”, just say “Hey!”).
Favorite book: Selling the Invisible, by Harry Beckwith, was very helpful when I started my photography career.
Even after I began taking photography seriously, I still had no idea if my images were good enough for publication. Like many photographers starting out, I read articles about composition, worked hard at understanding the technical aspects of the craft (f-stops, shutter speeds, and the rest), and visited libraries to look at images of magazines […]
Given the number of GEP workshop attendees who ask how you register a copyright, it might come as a surprise that, according to one estimate, the number of photographers who actually register is under 5%. Registration does involve filling out a federal form and paying a fee, two activities that are not included in anyone’s […]
Whether photographing the colorful chaos of a South American market or the powerful simplicity of the Sahara Desert, being a professional travel photographer can be a rewarding experience. However, if you want to make a living with your photos, there are some practical tips you need to follow before going on any photographic adventure. 1. […]
Some of you might remember the TV show Name That Tune, where contestants tried to identify a song in as few notes as possible. “I can name that tune in five notes, George,” a contestant would say to the show’s host before attempting the feat. I think of that show whenever I have very little […]
Whenever I travel to photograph, I usually have a couple of story ideas to work on during the trip. Creating pictures with a story in mind is a great aid in determining what I’ll photograph on a particular day, since it’s impossible to photograph everything anyway. Of course, you should also be open to the […]
Twilight, when the skies are cobalt blue, is one of my favorite times to photograph. Images taken at twilight acquire a richness of color not present during the day, and the surrounding darkness can often hide ugly elements like garbage cans or power lines. To add an extra twinkly element to my pictures I like […]
I am fascinated by the creative process. I want to understand it so that I can be creative myself and share my knowledge with others. In my quest to better understand creativity, I recently signed up for an online drawing class. I’m hoping to learn what other visual arts have in common with photography… and […]
As a travel photographer, I always try to portray my subjects in the best possible light. Travel photographs, after all, are used to sell an idea—a perfect moment in time. There is therefore little room for gray skies, unhappy faces, or trash strewn about. Although most travel photographs are taken in the summer, when most […]
As I showed in my article yesterday, implying the passage of time in a photograph by blurring it can make the image unique and help it tell a story. Yesterday’s photo was a group of cyclists streaking by on a street in Hanoi, Vietnam. For moving objects, like cars, motorbikes, or kids running a soccer […]
“Oops!” “Darn it!” “Missed another one.” These are some of the things I was saying to myself as I was trying to get a decent shot of fast-moving traffic in downtown Hanoi. I was fascinated by the variety of vehicles streaking past me, from conventional cars to motor scooters to bicycles, all engaged in a […]
