If your travel photos aren’t as good as they could be, I can help. According to this 29 year old French born, U.S. based photographer, you could be too reticent to approach strangers, too bogged down with gear or too determinated to it all yourself.

Alpeyrie conquered these problems, and moved on to a whole other level of travel photography where he deals with the bullets and bombs hurled in conflicts around the world. He is a war photographer.

So just before he took off for China on a series of assignments, he offered these tips for taking pictures in places that aren’t much like home:

• BE LOW KEY. “I don’t like to be seen as a photographer,” he says, “I don’t want to arrract attention.” Avoid such give a ways as a field vest. “In some places, it’s like you’re a walking dollar sign,” with people demanding money every time you take a picture anywhere near them.
• SAY HELLO. “I usually just go up to people and ask if I can take their picture, “he says, flashing a smile. “Average people are agree.
• TRAVEL LIGHT. The nimble photographer gets the shots. “When the troops are on the move, you don’t want to be carrying so much stuff that you slow them down. “The next time you’re tempted to stuff an overflowing camera bag, consider that for a few weeks in the backcountry with a band guerrillas, Alpeyrie brings just a daypack with little more than extra T-shirt and a tiny laptop computer to back up the files from his well-worn Nikon D100-“It’s a really good machine.” His lenses a 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 Nikkor and a 12-24mm f/4 Tokina.
• GET HELP. Self-reliance ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. Hire a guide. Or as they’re called in Alpeyrie’s business, “fixers.” Before a trip, he e-mails local journalists for recommendations, or gets names from hotel managers. “The fixer knows where to go, where not to go, how to get things dine, and serves as a translator.” He says. “It’s an investment you need to make.” If you don’t want to hire a guide go along with rebel armies, you don’t need to hire anyone. You just go with them. They feed you.