From capturing the vastness of the African skies to the bustling street life of India, Lorraine Yip’s photographs illustrate the dazzling beauty and diversity of life on our planet.

“I love immersing myself in different cultures, seeing new places and going on unusual adventures.”
LORRAINE YIP
HONG KONG ASSOCIATE

Despite only taking up photography around five years ago, she’s had her work featured in National Geographic magazine.

Lorraine’s hobby has also taken her around the globe, and she has photographed people and places in many locations, including some of her favorites in the Amazon, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Iran,  Peru, Lebanon, Myanmar, India and Cuba.

The Hong Kong Associate explains: “Photography is a hobby that lets me combine the two loves of my life (apologies to my boyfriend): travel and capturing moments.

“I love immersing myself in different cultures, seeing new places and going on unusual adventures. It is incredibly humbling to see how huge and diverse this world really is.”

It isn’t a relaxing hobby though, because Lorraine is particularly keen on travel that takes her outside her comfort zone.

She says: “A recent trip to Ethiopia involved hiking up a lava field to photograph an active volcano in the Danakil Depression, famous for being the hottest place on the planet.

“The journey itself consisted of a three-day drive, sleeping outdoors in local road-side villages and a four-hour hike in the middle of the night to the volcano (guided only by an ominous red glow from the bubbling lava in the distance).

“Initially, we were unable to reach the volcano’s crater given the unpredictable wind patterns but, not wanting to give up after such a long and treacherous journey, we eventually found a small window of opportunity and slowly made our way across the brittle and unforgiving terrain of freshly cooled lava.”

Lorraine has also spent time in Tanzania where she participated in a hunt with one of the few true hunter-gatherer tribes in the world, the Hadzabe tribe. In the future, she plans to follow the annual reindeer migration in Siberia.

She first got interested in photography back in 2013, when she took pictures during trips to Myanmar and Israel.

She explains: “I’ve always loved the wonderful story-telling element that is present in the photographs published by National Geographic, so that was a big inspiration.

“I really enjoy the challenge of finding that perfect moment in time when the subject matter, composition and lighting all comes together to create an amazing shot.”

For Lorraine, that might be capturing a street scene, portrait or a landscape and, she says, opportunities often come when she least expects it.

Not Your Average Beach Café was taken while relaxing on a beach in the Lebanon and published in National Geographic’s Daily Dozen in April 2018, while The Golden Hour (her sunset street scene taken while walking through the streets of Jaipur) was shortlisted in week three of the magazine’s Travel Photographer of the Year Awards 2018.

Retro Ride was shortlisted for the awards in 2017, published as the magazine’s Photo of the Day in 2016 and Daily Dozen in 2015, and was eventually published in a printed issue of National Geographic’s German edition.

Lorraine says: “That photograph was taken when we were travelling across Cuba in our taxi, a vintage 1950s Chevrolet. The view perfectly encapsulates this unique and timeless country; from the ornamental keepsakes on display to the broken speedometer that refuses to move from zero.”

Despite her passion for taking a perfect picture, Lorraine is also aware of the importance of getting the balance right.

She says: “Photography for me is about showing people something they haven’t necessarily seen or noticed before and, as much as I find it hard, sometimes I have to force myself to put the camera down and live the moment.”