Get the Picture

There are actually two very different types of challenges I face. The first is logisitcal and involves the need to capture as many useable images as possible in a short period of time in often unfamiliar locales. Learning about the different destinations in advance certainly helps, but there’s no substitute for being on the ground. It’s important to familiarize yourself with the layout of St. Mark’s in Venice, for example, but any prior plans for photographing the scene go out the window when you arrive to find the façade hidden behind scaffolding. Or land in Paris to discover the base of the Eiffel Tower fenced off and surrounded by armed soldiers. (Did I mention “frustrating?”) As insurance against such inevitabilities, I like to compile a list of potential shots before I depart. That way I can hit the ground running, and if something doesn’t go as hoped, I can merely go to the next item on the list without having to spend any time coming up with a ‘Plan B.’

Finding your way to and from your chosen locations has become easier since the advent of smart-phones, but sometimes the most interesting images are found away from the major thoroughfares. I’ll often take the touristy way to my first few destinations of the day, then follow a more meandering path in search of lunch. As a bonus, getting away from the popular tourist spots often results not only in better photos, but also in a better meal! It never hurts to carry a small paper map of the city just in case your phone runs out of juice or gets lost along the way.

The second challenge is biological—jet lag. You can alter your sleep patterns for several nights ahead of a big trip, count on sleeping soundly on the plane, or try relying on serotonin once you arrive, but the reality is that it’s going to take a few days for your body to adjust to the local time zone. However, when you’re only in a given city for a few days, time is a luxury you don’t have. For me, this means getting out on the street and starting to shoot as soon as I arrive and pushing through the inevitable crash that comes in the middle of the day. Generally speaking, the best times for photographing are in the early morning and in the mid- to late evening when the light is pleasing and crowds are thinnest, so count on some long days. And since you’re working mostly on foot, the rapid accumulation of miles only adds to the fatigue. On the plus side, being thoroughly worn out on the first evening practically guarantees you’ll fall asleep fast and start adjusting that much more quickly.

To help minimize the fatigue, I have increasingly adopted a “less is more” approach to deciding what equipment to take. A few years ago I switched from a hefty, Canon, full-frame SLR system to a Sony mirrorless APS-C body and it’s smaller lenses, and the difference in weight is enormous. Currently I travel with:

Everything, minus the tripod, fits into a small waist pack and travels with me on the plane. When I go out to shoot, the few items I need to take along—spare batteries, alternative lens, microfiber cloth—fit into small pouches I wear on my belt.

High-capacity memory cards are cheap enough to afford as many as you need to hold all your photos without the need for additional storage. Still, having a back-up system will definitely add to your peace of mind. Use a hard drive with a built-in card reader or a laptop with an external drive to make back-ups of all your files at the end of each day.

In lieu of a laptop, I have found an iPad, loaded with Adobe’s Lightroom and the Sony app for transferring files, is the perfect tool with which to preview, edit, and share images on the road. Most newer cameras can wirelessly send images to mobile devices in an eye-blink, so even an SD card dongle is no longer necessary. Once you’ve made your adjustments, you can use your tablet to add your edited photo to your social media or blog site. And internet access in Europe has improved a lot in the past decade. The WI-Fi networks offered by most hotels now offer service fast and reliable enough for almost any need. The thick, masonry walls of older hotels can dampen the signal, however, so if you find the connection in your room is a little dodgy, try the lobby or business center.

And speaking of hotels, many have begun adding energy saving technology to their rooms. It is now common to have to insert your room key into a slot inside your room to restore the flow of electricity to it. This is great for saving money for the hotel, not so great for recharging camera or phone batteries while you’re out sightseeing. But despair not—the outlet by the bathroom mirror almost always retains power while the room is otherwise juice-free. Plug in here and come back to fully recharged batteries.

So—you’ve arrived with a plan, your camera is unpacked, and you’re ready to head out into the city. What to do first? If I’m returning to a place I know, I might first return to a favorite spot for a morning cappuccino or an afternoon glass of wine, and take the time to appreciate where I am and to start feeling that sense of familiarity from previous visits. If it’s a new place, I’ll usually start by orienting myself by making a large loop through the most popular areas, trying to get a feel for locations, distances, and the kinds of crowds I can expect.

I also recommend you take a few pictures right away, even if you end up deleting them later. That first handful of throwaway photos will let you know that the camera is working, but also give you the chance to notice if your ISO is set properly, if the image stabilization is turned on, and whether or not the aperture setting is appropriate. More than anything, it helps to re-establish the intuitive link between you and your camera that is so important to taking good photos.

Taking photos of Christopher in Florence

Once you’re comfortable in your new surrounds and know that your gear is working properly, you can start shooting in earnest. If you have enough time, make an effort to revisit the same spots at very different times of the day. Monuments, fountains, and even whole cityscapes can look completely different near sunset as opposed to noon. It’s in the evening I’m most likely to carry my small tripod along. The wide stone ledges typical of old bridges and overlooks compensate for the lack of height, and the firm foundation will allow you to use the long exposures necessary to capture sharp images in the dim light.

Because many of my photos will be published in some way, I have to be extra careful of including people in them if they are recognizable. Including fellow humans in your photos is often a good way to imbue them with additional interest, to add a sense of scale, or to illustrate other aspects of the local culture. Some people are comfortable with that kind of street photography, others are not. You’ll find out whether or not you are the first time you notice someone noticing you taking his picture. Personally, I like to ask before shooting, even if it’s merely by miming with my camera and raising my eyebrows.

One of the harder traps to avoid is the kind of tunnel vision that comes from concentrating too much on recreating the classic shots pouplar in travel guides and on sites like Instagram. It’s not that those images aren’t iconic for good reasons, but if you’re trying to tell a unique story you need to find your own vocabulary. My advice is to take the typical tourist shots—they’re easy, they do look good, and they make good “anchor” images if not overdone—but stay alert for the myriad other possibilities all around you. A good exercise to help you do that is simply to turn around. After getting the shots you came for, turn to face the opposite direction and ask yourself, “Now what do I see?” It’s a simple trick that works just a well whether you’re shooting Roman monuments or sunsets.