TrekEarth: a global photography community

Every person has their own unique perspective on the scene in front of them and different ways of showing it through the lens of a camera. Photographers of the world are roaming and constantly documenting infinite scenes frozen in time. So what happens to all these photographs? I recently discovered TrekEarth through a fellow traveler/photographer, a website that whose mission is dedicated to fostering a global community interested in photography from around the world.

Photographers can display their work grouped by continent, country, region, state and city, which makes it easy to search for photographs from a certain location. Photographs can also be labeled by category and theme. Users are only allowed to post one photograph per 24 hour period and the photograph should align with the theme of helping others learn about the world. This is not a site to upload and share thousands of photographs from around the world– rather, it’s a site to upload the best of the best of those thousands, share them with the world and see what people have to say about them.

A useful feature, which many members see as the most important aspect of TrekEarth, is the critique and rating system. Critiques are encouraged to be specific in order to be more helpful– vague comments are discouraged. Many people join as a way to improve their photography and get feedback on their work. The workshop feature allows you and visitors to copy, make changes and repost the photograph, which is a good method for improving your post-processing skills.

Even if you don’t want to join, it’s great to browse by country and see how others have seen the places you’ve been. Photographers worldwide, go ahead, upload your photos and share your world!