There's nothing like a fresh travel high to sharpen storytelling skills and generate excitement. You can tell when someone has recently returned from a trip: Their voice is animated, they have an endless stream of photos to share, and, if they work at our office, they've most certainly brought back a few foreign snacks to share with the team. (All in the name of research.)
We admit it: We're addicted to the high. It's one of the reasons why we've fallen for storytelling app Steller. The platform has quickly become one of our favorite places to learn about destinations and discover and share photos and stories with fellow travelers.
You may already know about Steller, or you may remember it from our most recent 24 Best Travel Apps list. The virtual community makes it easy to create beautiful short-form stories right from your phone using personal photos, copy, and video clips. The app comes with readymade templates to help you design with ease. Sure, it's more time consuming than Twitter and Instagram, but the outcome is worth the effort.
We couldn't resist pulling together a few of our favorite travelers making waves on the app. As with our other 24 Best Lists, we spent a ton of time researching and debating to find a dedicated and innovative group to share with you. These 24 individuals are using Steller to share their best travel photos and stories in a visually exciting and compelling way. We can't wait for you to start exploring.
Fathom
Fathom
What we love: The beautifully designed storytelling app allows Fathom's prose-centered articles to take on a new form as visual photo books. Albums are grouped by photographers and destinations, mixing intimate travel images, off-beat locales (Sweden's west coast, Macedonia's rickety streets), and snippets of conversation.
What we love: The Swedish photographer has a knack for capturing the world's changing seasons, from the winter wilderness of northern Finland to cherry blossom season in Stockholm.
Last seen: Photographing the solar eclipse amidst the stunning landscapes of the Faroe Islands.
What we love: The married duo and Fathom contributors shine with weekly recaps organized by number. From rustic country breakfast spreads to outings in their hometown of Gothenburg, the Bomans make the simplest parts of daily life look like pure leisure. Bonus: A weekly playlist of their favorite tunes for a 360 experience.
Last seen: Exploring the Palm House, a 19th-century inner city garden in the center of Gotenburg.
What we love: There's so much to see and do in the U.S. that it often feels like we've barely scratched the surface of our own backyard. Get inspired to visit America's incredible national parks with an eye-pleasing collection of photographs.
Last seen: Exploring the pristine forests, alpine meadows, and rugged mountains of Glacier National Park.
What we love: The mixture of still and moving imagery for the adventurous set. Join an 18-day cycling trip through Cuba or spend a couple of days chasing stars and Northern Lights across Jasper National Park. The digital nomad keeps us on our toes as we try to guess where he's headed next.
What we love: Exploring our favorite cities through someone else's lens is always fun, but we're especially taken with her street art series featuring Paris and Berlin.
What we love: Stunning and intimate photographs of narrow city streets and wide open spaces, as well as detailed descriptions of each of her destinations. It's all very inspiring.
What we love: Focused stories (facades, hidden streets, specific colors, Sunday strolls) and whimsical illustrations from her walks around Paris and Venice.
What we love: Andy feeds our inner adrenaline junkie with photos of wild road trips across the United States. He makes us crave campfires in the woods and quiet nights in the Badlands.
What we love: The magazine-quality photos and consistent album layouts make scrolling through his albums fun and easy. Based in Portland, Oregon, Bryan takes us around the West Coast, from the Vance Creek Bridge in Washington to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
What we love: What better way to travel than through the food we make and consume? Based in Barcelona, the food stylist posts albums that evoke a lovely sense of place through traditional Catalan recipes, local festivals, and scenes from recent trips (like Morroco).
What we love: The Sydney-based photographer has an amazing eye for architectural detail. We can't stop looking at his Hong Kong, Sydney, and Tokyo albums. When he's not capturing buildings, he's capturing daily life around town.
What we love: A reintroduction to our part of the world through albums that capture remote places in Canada and the United States. Sleep in the forest of British Columbia's Nemiah Valley or see West Kootenays by canoe.
What we love: The Aussie photographer makes his bread and butter capturing ocean landscapes. We love going underwater in Tahiti and across icy landscapes of Greenland through his jaw-dropping photos and videos.
Last seen: Traveling in the Arctic Circle for 29 days.
What we love: The Alaskan photographer gives us a dose of everyday life in the mountains through charming portraits of locals, some island-hopping snaps around Pribilof island, and an amusing story on what -40ºF looks like.
What we love: In a sea of beautiful wilderness-inspired stories, Sideris' natural perspective on urban environments makes for a refreshing change of scenery.
What we love: The self-described "candy colored minimalist" transforms typical travel imagery — like the Las Vegas welcome sign and a row of California palm trees — into explosions of Pop Art goodness.
We make every effort to ensure the information in our articles is accurate at the time of publication. But the world moves fast, and even we double-check important details before hitting the road.
