Sometimes travel photos get to be sublime. Much better than most influencer photos, Roberta Mazzone captured a wonderful view from Venice’s iconic Hotel Danieli.

It gave me a lot of nostalgia of remembering when I visited Venice last – and sat and soaked in almost this same view from the Doge’s palace right nearby. Maybe that’s what’s great about photos like this – they help you recapture the elegance and experience you had when your own photos do not do it justice.

I think the idea of capturing an emotional moment of traveling is much lacking in our influencer/social-media oriented world. Influencer photos seem to be primarily focused on boisterously ‘bragging’ about being in a fabulous place, or to make the photo taker give others the impression their lives are more fabulous, or even to invoke jealousy. Add to this the lengths and insulting local behavior we read about social media folks taking those photos – and it makes them even worse.

Instead, why not capture that feeling of the last day or two of a great trip – but longing to go back home to loved ones? Or the desire to sleep in your own bed again? Or the 3rd day in a new place when the language barrier makes you sit down and take a deep breath to re-collect yourself?

Those are travel photos I think could really make a statement we can relate to – but are much harder to take.