Around the world by bicycle with photographer Nicolas Marino

I do not speculate. I know.

You only need view the likes of Getty and Corbis web portals to know, not speculate; I have an account in both.

Having seen many good images from travel photographers and keen amateurs both published and in stock libraries, I see these images for what they are. There is nothing wrong with this fact.

If you hope to really get close, reveal something of each culture, then you need to view and comprehend what it means to reveal a culture in more depth photographically. There is little “sense of place” in these pictures, which is often the actual, stated theme for professional workshops. The photographic evidence presented above does none of this, none of it is new, or visually exciting, it’s interesting, granted, but I would suggest to you that based on this portfolio, your work has plateaued, it’s standard fare in stock libraries, very competent, technically proficient, and there are thousands of similar images out there just as good.

Therein lies your dilemma - how to make the shots more your own? You hear well known professionals telling amateur photographers that having their own style is vital.

So, how to raise the game? That, I would suggest to you is where most stall and never progress beyond. Earning a living as a photographer has never been more difficult, there are more people travelling, with more kit, the same or better than your own, with the same software, with no intention of trying to make a £$£ out of their work, such that it’s given away on a plotera of web portals.

My contention is that you have not got in close enough, not revealed anything we did not already know, we see nothing unique or different in your images. Sorry - but the work looks 15+yrs old at best, and having been in the industry since the 90’s, I know I have seen the "exact same" images or better dozens of times. it’s how to move beyond these shots that now poses you the greatest quandary?

My contention is that you have not got in close enough, not revealed anything we did not already know, we see nothing unique or different in your images. Sorry - but the work looks 15+yrs old at best, and having been in the industry since the 90’s, I know I have seen the "exact same" images or better dozens of times. it’s how to move beyond these shots that now poses you the greatest quandary?

If you are interested in getting into the heart, the meat of a story, then you need to be spending inordinate amounts of time on the agencies web sites, Panos, V11, Magnum, Getty Reportage, to name but a few, also you need to be looking at World Press winners, their work, what makes a singularly striking image, what makes a photographic project hang together? Try also the Sony awards, Travel Photographer of the Year - there are hundreds and hundreds each year.

Good luck.

My personal opinion is the above tour and pics are more than my life--since as a general these pics opened my eyes to an unknown world--we should not under estimate ones contribution to the world of photography and information through pics!

You didn't end up posting a link to any of your own work there Tim mate.

I know one thing--I love the photographs he delivers-yes,may not be all pics good--but not too bad!

You see Tim? The problem with people like you is that you try to pass as some kind of expert in the industry and what not, and for just a few lines I was starting to believe it, as I started taking most of your last comments very seriously as constructive critique, which by the way, I always NEED and welcome.
However, in your case, opposite to what any serious and objective critic would do, you show your true feathers when you write this silly condescending line to deem once again my work as average:
" Sorry - but the work looks 15+yrs old at best, and having been in the industry since the 90’s, I know I have seen the "exact same" images or better dozens of times."

Honestly, I feel very sorry for you as you must be one of those average photographers that passed as great in the film days but were smashed and became unnoticed with the advent of so many talent springing with the digital revolution. and I ain't saying I am one of them either.

But I know where you are coming from. I've dealt with dozens of resented professors in architecture school like you. People who got mad at young students that were already so much better so much quicker and capable of achieving what they haven't in their whole lives.

As for myself, I'm fine, I know where I'm not there yet and work hard for it, I love criticism, it makes improve and help me to get where I want to be eventually, but that's not what you are offering here. You just ramble using pseudo serious language to be able to justify your ultimately condescending and derogatory feelings, which in turn reveal your sad frustrations. Sad for you.
Thanks anyway for your time, but I rather take criticism from people who have proven experience and whose opinion I respect based on what they show they can do, not from someone who might as well be a bored person sitting behind a computer screen.

Cheers! I'm too busy enjoying the wonders of this world and documenting them

Tim. Looked at your Corbis site. Not much there worth the bandwidth.

D800 may be heavier and bulkier than the Sony, although it produces better images, but "out of calibration?" Stick with your iPad, Dude.

You could learn from this guy. I'd be pleased to show any of his images.

There's always one guy that isn't impressed by anything in these threads. If they highlighted Ansel Adam's, you probably be like, "meh, anyone can take those b&w's in that scenery. Why is there always a guy like you?

A tragic accident. People die every day. What's your point?

His point is you should stay in your house and avoid adventure.

I'd rather die doing something I really enjoy than live doing things I actually despise.