Another year has passed, and the World Press Photo Foundation presents the new winners of the World Press Photo Awards 2015. Approximately 100 exhibits showcasing the best images taken by photojournalists in 2014 are presented simultaneously in a variety of cities around the world: from Paris to Mexico City, from Montreal to Kyoto, from London to Wellington. Presented as "the most popular traveling photo event in the world", WPPA exhibit is definitely not to be missed!

How do you spice up your travel photography, stimulate your creativity and practice various photo techniques at the same time? Start your day with a photographic self assignment! Focusing on one single idea or task at a time will be your guide, will make you more disciplined and will get you to think outside the box. And beside this, you will end up with a great series of photos that you can share with your friends and family, or maybe even enter a photo contest! Here are 5 ideas of self assignments for better travel photos.

Each year at the end of August, several streets in northern Paris explode in one of the biggest, loudest and most colourful festivities: the Ganesha Festival. Streets bursting with colours, traditional Indian music from every corner, the smell of incense and jasmin flowers, smiling people dressed in their best clothes - everything blends together in the atmosphere of celebration! If you are ready for one the most flamboyant sides of the City of Light, grab your camera and join me for an unforgettable walk among the worshipers of Ganesha.

We continue the series of interviews with photographers at Better Travel Photos who share their knowledge and passion for photography with our participants in both Paris and London. This time we are excited to introduce you to our photographer Elena Usacheva!

As a journalist and photographer, Elena traveled all the way from Yakutsk in Siberia, Russia, to pursue her dream and continue her studies in the City of Light. Her sunny and easy-going personality shines through the photos she takes: a portrait session with Elena is always romantic and fun. When guiding Photo Tours, she combines both her creative vision and technical instruction in the most inspiring way. Let's ask Elena a few questions, as she has many stories to tell...

Sunsets are among some of the favourite photographers' subjects. When the sky turns red and orange and everything around seems magic, even the most worldly-wise photographer finds it hard to resist taking a photo or two. For truly captivating photos of sunset some preparation is needed: this is where the notions of "golden hour", "blue hour", "civil twilight" and "nautical twilight" come into play. I recently had a chance to witness a spectacular sunset from the top of the Dom Luis I bridge in Porto, Portugal, and here is what came out of it...

Almost every little European town has its own secret. So does Oostduinkerke in Belgium, where I was recently to see and photograph a unique Shrimp festival that included a demonstration of traditional shrimp fishing on horseback, a shrimp parade, a fishing contest, a folklore market and of course the tasting of local dishes made of shrimps. While traveling towards the seaside with the festival program in hand, I could not even imagine what fishing on horseback might look like... And eventually the whole day on the beach of Oostduinkerke among horses, fishermen, seagulls and of course shrimps turned out into a wonderful photographic surprise!

Every city has its secrets: hundreds of years of history unfold in front of you as you scout the streets in search of the best images. Knowing the background of a building in front of you may fuel a great deal of inspiration and help you compose a stronger image with a story. One of the ways to get to know the location better is to take a walking tour with an experienced local guide. You may find, however, that during such a guided walking tour there is not enough time for a proper photographic exploration as the group moves quickly from one location to another. Not all is lost though. Here are 9 tips on how to make the most of a guided tour and get some great architecture photos along the way.

What image comes to your mind first when you think of Paris? Let me guess... I am quite sure it's the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, the cafés, maybe even the white Sacré Coeur Basilica at the top of Montmartre. Paris, however, is a big city with many different corners and some of them are so untypical that you may easily forget you are in the French capital. While you may of course want to photograph all the iconic sights on your first visit, there is more to this city to explore through your lens. So let's get off the beaten path, get a camera and travel within Paris to discover La Mouzaïa, a charming residential area in the North-East of the city.

Getting the correct exposure of a highly contrasted scene can be tricky to handle, especially if you are taking some photos on the go and do not have time to stop and think twice about the camera settings. There are various ways to adjust the exposure, such as using exposure compensation or center weighted metering. In some situations, however, every moment counts, and you may need a quick and easy solution to get your image right. This is where the exposure lock button on your DSLR camera may prove helpful. Let's see how to quickly and easily adjust the exposure on the go without touching any of the camera settings other than the exposure lock.

While most of travel photography is usually about documenting the people you meet and the things you see along the way, or the events that happen to you and around you, there is a way to cross the line and to turn your documentary travel photographs into fine art. How to do it? Think abstract! Learning to see shapes, patterns and colours through your camera lens is not only good training for your creative eye, but also lots of fun!

In previous posts, we discussed various composition rules and ideas that can be used as a good starting point for an aspiring photographer. Once you master these rules and your eye is set to easily recognize various composition ideas through the camera lens, you may also realize that these "rules" are only guidelines and can also be broken. This is where the fun begins! Let's have a look at some examples of how to break the rules and unleash your creativity!

In the previous article we discussed various composition rules and ideas to help you gain more confidence in photography. Knowing how to use the many technical features of a camera is one thing, developing your photographer's eye to actually recognize a good composition is another, and dare I say, is more important. Since there are more ways of composing a stronger image than fits in one article, here are some more ideas for a good starting point in your photographic explorations.