Project Recaps: My favorite Travel Photography projects from 2021

Commercial Photography Work Summary: Travel and Tourism
Project Highlights from 2021

Project Recaps: My favorite Travel Photography projects from 2021

It’s crazy to think that it’s already March 2022, I’ve been meaning to write this blog since January and things are already starting to pick up again for my freelance photography business. As I look back at 2021 I have countless memories and many of them were from the commercial travel photography projects that I was sent out on. This is the type of work I am setting my sights on for 2022, and I hope to continue collaborating with and working with tourism boards and destinations marketing organizations. I wanted to compile a blog post that showcased some of my favorite travel projects from last year, at the same time I want to say a huge thank you to all the partners who made these trips come to life. On many occasions I had to stop and pinch myself reminding myself that this was work, that’s some thing I’ve been pushing towards lately is falling in love with what I do. Last year showed me this amazing intersection between my art, my creative vision and my ability to mix my photography skills with travel and working with tourism boards.  If you’re a tourism board or part of a destination marketing organization, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me my creative production company would love to help create some photo and video assets for your location. 

Here’s a look back at some of my favorite commercial travel photography projects from 2021: 

Discover Kalispell: Put a Spell on you, Kalispell, Montana

This project took us on a legendary road trip from Denver Colorado to Kalispell Montana in partnership with Dave And Matt vans, Discover Kalispell and the Journals of Lost Time (an amazing online travel magazine).  After 15 plus hour of driving we arrived in Montana ready to explore with our new creative friends: Tommy, Nicole and Tyler.  We got to explore the lovely town of Kalispell along with participating in some incredible excursions such as kayaking, stand up paddle boarding and one of my favorite memories from last year llama backpacking.  The goal of this project was to showcase everything that Kalispell has to offer not just glacier national Park but all the amazing things you can find in this quaint town in Montana. We also visit local bakeries, breweries and coffee shops… Including an incredible meal on our last night in Kalispell at one of their finer steak houses.  Check out the galleries above and below to take a peek at some of the work we create for Discover Kalispell and the partners who support our trip… full blog post link is below as well.
Huge thank you to Discover Kalispell, Dave & Matt Vans and The Journals of Lost Time

Visit Alamosa: Capturing Astrophotography at the Great Sand Dunes National Park

For this tourism photography project, we were commissioned to showcase the star gazing and astrophotography inside Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park. This was a partnership with the tourism board for the city of Alamosa Colorado call Visit Alamosa and we were tasked with a multi-media project to capture and showcase stargazing at the Sandune‘s.  Through Photography, time-lapses and two mini commercials we told the story and experienced the night sky‘s near Alamosa and also created a tutorial on how to shoot Astro photography in Colorado’s great Sandune national park. There were a few logistical challenges that we had to overcome for this project such as operating a commercial photo and video shoot inside a national park. This took a few extra steps and once we acquired a permit to operate in the National Park, we booked an Airbnb and we were on our way to producing our first project in Colorado’s Sandunes. We ran countless time-lapses and captured sunrise and sunset for three straight days as well as watching the Milky Way set below the horizon line. This was another dream come true commercial work trip as I have always wanted to do a commercial project inside the dunes, this was truly a special project to work on and I hope we can collaborate with Visit Alamosa again in the future. If you would like to check out more of work from that trip you can click on the links using the buttons below.
Huge thank-you to Visit Alamosa for allowing us to bring this project to life! We had a blast working with the team at Visit Alamosa

Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.
— -Anthony Bourdain

Visit Colorado: Exploring the Mystic San Luis Valley

This project was a commercial tourism content trip for Visit Colorado and Destination Think, and was another dream come true road trip to explore the Mystic San Luis valley.  We have visited the Mystic San Luis Valley on a few trips to Colorados Great San Dunes National Park but I have always been curious to explore more of this area. The Valley (as the locals call it) is believed to be the center of the universe and has a huge spiritual culture and rich historical background of the people and American Indian tribes that used to (and still) lived in that area. Destination Think put together a unique itinerary for us that included flying in a small airplane above the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, paddleboarding and hiking on the edge of the Weminuche wilderness, exploring local breweries and eateries as well as stopping in small Colorado towns that I had never heard of before this trip.  The purpose of this trip was to showcase our experiences exploring the San Luis Valley while also highlighting local businesses, tour operators, and unique accommodations like the rustic Rook glamping site that we stayed at near the Sandunes. We create a massive library of content to fill out a road map on the Visit Colorado website taking visitors and tourists through exploring the San Luis Valley… check out some of that trip in the gallery below.
Thank you to our partners’ Destination Think & Visit Colorado

Are you a local or state tourism board or destination marketing organization? Thanks for taking some time to read my blog post we would love to work with you and help create highly engaging assets for your tourism board. 
If you are interested in booking our production team you can send me an email directly to: f.spontelli22@gmail.com

Below are a few more links to check out our website and see more of the tourism and travel work that we have done for other tourism boards as we continue to create beautiful content to promote tourism in amazing locations like Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and beyond.

Frankieboy Photography Travel and Adventure Photography

Blog Post tags: tourism, travel photography, travel the globe, the discoverer, tourism board, tourism photography, lifestyle photography, destination marketing organizations, DMOs, globe trotter, travel photographer, travel videographer, tourism boards, tourism and travel, visit colorado, visit utah, visit montana, discover kalispell, visit alamosa.

Francis H. Spontelli III

I am a freelance photographer and blogger based out of Denver, Colorado.  I enjoy exploring the Rocky Mountains, hiking, backpacking and being outside.  Let’s work together! 

https://www.frankieboyphotography.com/
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How to Shoot Astrophotography (in Great Sand Dunes National Park)