Travel Photography Tips: Loic Marcille of iPhoneography Oz

We have the rather dashing Loic Marcille interviewing for us today. He’s been swanning about Australia with a handy iPhone and turning his adventure into a unique blog. We love iPhoneography Oz so read on for his French twang and seriously cool photos.

1. Hi Loic! Could you briefly introduce yourself and your site?

G’Day! As you’ll see from my twitter profile, I am Loïc Marcille, a marketing professional with a proven track in the areas of sports, cinema and television. I am also the founder of iPhoneography Oz. I started my blog in January 2012 to document a 1 year road trip aroundAustralia for friends and family. I did not want to spend too much time on facebook and did not want to write a regular travel blog which I found not adapted to this particular trip. Instead I imagined telling about my year in Australia at the rate of one picture a day taken with my iPhone.

Travel Photography Tips – iPhoneographyOz – Australian Cliche

Each photo is edited directly on the phone with Instagram. It is more an artistic guide book allowing visitors to experience a preview of Australian society, through a perspective that differs from traditional guide books. Along my travels, my project has also become a promotional window for the Australian tourism industry. Funnily enough, most of my readers are from Australia. But above all, the good thing is that both my mother and my grandmother know what I do every single day!

Recently iPhoneography Oz has been selected as a nominee for the 2012 Golden Blog Awards for Best Travel/Tourism Blog. You can vote for us once a day until October 22!

Travel Photography Tips – iPhoneographyOz – Front Row

2. How would you describe your iPhoneography style?

It is important to speak about iPhoneography and not photography. I do not really consider myself a photographer, but rather an iPhoneographer (or mobile photographer) facing a lot of technical limitations. I try as much as possible to think outside the box with my pictures but I always keep the final result in mind. For example, I love this photo I took in Sydney. I tried to find a different angle because, between you and me, we have seen the Sydney Opera House at great length before. My ultimate goal is to take my readers’ breath away with my photos and encourage them to visit Australia.

Travel Photography Tips – iPhoneographyOz Sydney Opera House

3. Tell us a little about your experiences travelling before Australia

I’m an avid traveller. I have had the chance to visit over twenty countries around the world. In addition to France, my birth country, I have also lived in England, Canada and India. And now I am spending a year in Australia! Actually I have been travelling since I was born as I am lucky enough to have parents (and now a sister) who has worked for Air France. With sports, my second passion, travelling has always been a drug for me.

Travel Photography Tips – iPhoneographyOz – Baby Wombat

4. What does your itinerary in Australia contain?

I was in Montreal when my visa had been confirmed. One of my friends who visited me from New York City gave me a Lonely Planet dedicated to Australia. It is not complicated, I wanted to see everything I was reading! I thought a year was a reasonable time frame to achieve it. The advantage of travelling over such a long period, a first for me, is to have the luxury not to plan too far in advance. It is more a week by week experience which is great because when I like a place I can stay and take the time to enjoy it. Through the blog, I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people and to experience many activities that I could not afford otherwise. This trip also allowed me to discover the CouchSurfing community which I highly recommend! It is one of the best way to meet locals, the best source of information ever!

5. What’s been the highlight so far?

There have been many highlights so far. It is difficult to choose but I would say: the Blue Mountains, Tasmania, the Flinders Ranges, Kangaroo Island, the Coral Coast and Ningaloo Reef. These are dream destinations! Why do travel guides talk so briefly about it? There was also something surreal when I took part in Sydney Marathon and ran among Sydney’s most spectacular and historic landmarks including the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

Travel Photography Tips – iPhoneographyOz – Red Banks

6. Any major challenges?

Publishing a photo a day is nothing when I see the amount of information that I was able to publish on social media on a daily basis in my former life. Well, that is what I thought before the beginning of this adventure. In fact it is quite a challenge!

The main difficulty I had not thought of is internet access. A trip around Australia is a travel closer to nature and basic human amenities. And in that world, the wifi is scarce. I have had to learn to optimize my time on the internet while maintaining the pace of a daily publication.

Creativity is another challenge. The scenery is beautiful. But a beach is a beach and there are many of them in Australia! On several occasions, I thought I would end up being boring with similar photos. Rather than giving up, I took it as an opportunity to be more aware of my surroundings and pay attention to detail.

Finally, I must admit that the main challenge is maintaining the pace. Being a travel blogger involves a lot of work. I spend a lot of time researching, planning, visiting, editing, conversing on social media, sending emails and selling my project to promotional partners etc. Not to mention daily tasks such as going to the supermarket and cooking. Given the fact that iPhoneography Oz is published both in French and in English, it is twice the work! Like I am used to saying to people I meet, it is a full time job with no income. I would like to “hire” an assistant but I have not found him/her yet. Anyone interested? Contact me!

Travel Photography Tips – iPhoneographyOz – Murphy’s Haystacks

7. What’s been your most popular shot?

My most popular shot had been taken last week in Kalbarri National Park in Western Australia. You must admit that only the Coyote and the Road Runner were missing on this one! The most popular photos are usually animals or natural phenomena such as sunsets or rainbows.

Travel Photography Tips – iPhoneographyOz – Nature’s Window

8. What one travel destination would you absolutely love to photograph that you haven’t already?

The travel destination I can not miss is definitely Uluru (Ayers Rock). I should be there in the next few weeks and I would really appreciate if Mother Nature could make sure to provide some exciting lightning during my visit.

9. What do you plan to do after Oz?

My plans after Oz? There are a few ideas bouncing around in my head.

First of all I am currently working on different options to keep iPhoneography Oz alive after my trip is over. I have also heard here and there the possibility of publishing a book and showing my photos in an exhibition. Why not?

Then I must admit that travelling like this is really exciting. I can not stop thinking of other trips of this kind in the future. Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. I have always wanted to visit this country. It sounds like a good opportunity. I also recently met someone who really inspired me and gave me an idea that I would like to turn into a truly exciting (and crazy) project. It is huge. Really huge. We will see.

Last year, I received an intensive DJ training. I loved it! I want to go ahead and improve my skills. I still need to practice but one day I intend to travel around the world as a DJ.

Until all these projects become a reality, I am available and open to any business opportunity allowing me to use my expertise in marketing and community management.