Travel Photography

TR AVEL AND DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.

—Sant’Agostino

The ﬁrst time I set foot outside of the United States was as a child growing up in Texas. For our annual family vacation, my mom and dad opted for south Texas, and Mexico was close enough for a day trip. I remember the moment we crossed into a foreign country, and the feeling of adventure and excitement in ﬁnally moving out of my comfortable realm. I still vaguely recall the sights and sounds of that initial foray, but I don’t have a single photo from that trip.

2400 miles off the west coast of Chile is Easter Island, the most isolated inhabited island in the world. Also known as Rapa Nui, it is home to the

gigantic stone moai (statues). On a National Geographic “Around the World by Private Jet” trip (I know, it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it), this was our second stop. A good friend, National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson, had completed this same trip a couple of months before, and

he was a great source of information on this location. He’d suggested we go to this site late at night to do a “light-painting” session with these amazing

structures. We were incredibly for tunate in our timing as we had a moonless night and an absolutely clear sky. The best images were captured in the fir st hour of shooting, as the Milky Way was directly behind the moai, offering a

stunning background.

For a tutorial on light painting, visit www.perfectdigitalphotography

On the Web

.com. 14–35mm lens at 14mm, 30 second at f2.2, 2000 ISO

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Now, many years and many visa stamps later, my travels are well documented with photographs. When I look through those photos I am instantly brought back to the sights, smells, and experiences from the

trip. This is one of the huge beneﬁts of photography—the ability to record our travels and experiences for our future, both personally and for our family’s history.

The baby boom generation has come of age and along with it is a longing to travel to the far-ﬂung corners of the Earth. Rarely do you see a traveler without a camera and the desire to gather more than simple snapshots from a trip. We want to document our travels and times. This chapter will explore the dynamics of photography in the extended world and how digital is a perfect medium for that. You’ll ﬁnd tips for traveling as a

photographer, photographing safely in foreign lands, protecting camera gear on the road, and respecting local customs.

Go Light ! Minimize

Equipment for Travel

Photography

Late one night in Haines, Alaska, I watched a group of photographers unloading their equipment from their bus, one individual moving case upon case of gear. The next morning I ran into the same group at the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, and I watched that same individual struggling with his mountain of equipment, all while missing images of the hundreds of bald eagles in the beautiful morning light. The group leader,

on the other hand, was moving quickly from vantage point to vantage point, using one camera with a long lens and a second camera with a shorter lens. His streamlined approach meant that he got the shots the less experienced photographer missed while wrestling with his gear.

Traveling light is traveling smart. We travel to immerse ourselves in another culture and to have new experiences, not to feel like globe-trotting baggage handlers. I prefer to keep my focus on shooting, not on thinking about what particular piece of equipment I need to use to justify the hassle of bringing that gear along.

Tips for Traveling Light

■ Stick with one brand of equipment. I often see photographers traveling with two entirely diﬀerent brands of cameras, necessitating speciﬁc lenses for each body. I always carry two cameras—a wide zoom on one body and a medium telephoto zoom on the other. This way, I’m ready to shoot most anything that appears, and if I manage to ﬁll one of my CompactFlash (CF) cards on one body, I still have the other I can use any of my lenses on. Also, one brand of camera uses the same type of battery; no need to carry diﬀerent chargers and batteries.

■ The amount of gear you carry when shooting should be what you need and little more. Nothing is more daunting than digging frantically through a heavy camera bag hanging from your shoulder

while a “moment” is occurring. Further along in this chapter you’ll ﬁnd a list of what I carry.

■ Be familiar with your gear so operating the camera is second nature. What’s important to you is the image, not fumbling with the camera. The camera is the tool to capture the photo.

■ Decide whether you prefer a camera bag or a photo vest. Each oﬀers beneﬁts, as well as problems. The bag is bulky, but it can be put down quickly. The vest is a

bit more noticeable, but it’s more ﬂuid to work from. This is a matter of personal choice.

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Sometimes the photo gods are shining on you—liter ally. I was photogr aphing in Etosha National Par k in Namibia. The after noon was overcast, the animals were few and far between. Knowing that sunset was

approaching in about 20 minutes, we headed the Land Rover toward the compound, figur ing the day was over.

Rounding a cor ner in this incredible landscape , we came upon a herd of gir affe just as the sun broke out under a low shelf of clouds. 90–250mm lens, 1/500 second at f2.8, ISO 100

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The Advantage of Digital in Travel Photography

Digital is the perfect photography medium for travel. You’ll not only eliminate the hassles of traveling with ﬁlm (carrying it to and from, protecting it, changing it, processing on site if needed), but you can also instantly share your photos with your subjects. I used to carry a Polaroid so that I could show my subject an image of himself, which obviously required extra space for the camera as well as packs of Polaroid ﬁlm. Now, by using the monitor on the camera, I can instantly share the actual image I shot with the subject.

Say “So long” to the shoulder bag containing the required rolls of ﬁlm to get the shoot done—this can number in the hundreds on long shoots—and “Hello” to the 4×4 inch media wallet containing several CF cards.

The photographer also has the ability to geotag images using an external device or enabled memory card to write information to the photo about the exact location, both longitude and latitude, where the photo was made.

Usually I take my laptop, which allows me the opportunity of editing and cataloging my photos. For peace of mind, I always copy the ﬁles to a second, independent location. (Two small WiebeTech pocket hard drives that I have RAIDed—see the How To at the end of the chapter for a bit more on RAID—so the two hard drives appear as one on my desktop. When I drop my images into that one location, it is actually copying to both hard drives.) I

also burn a DVD of my images. This allows me to reformat my CF cards after download so I always have fresh cards at the start of the day.

Since the events of September 11, 2001, traveling has become more of a hassle for everyone, and the photographer is no exception. More often than not, a camera bag will be marked at the security gates for

further screening, primarily because an X-ray of the camera’s electronics can look suspicious. Eliminating ﬁlm from your camera bag makes the trip through security less stressful. No longer do we panic when approaching security at the airport, frantically trying to remember the number of times our ﬁlm has been through the X-ray; multiple passes through airport

X-rays can negatively impact the ﬁlm.

The number one reason in the growing list of advantages of digital over ﬁlm: the ability to conﬁrm the image. Content, composition, and exposure can be judged in a heartbeat.

How to Find Photo

Possibilities

If you actually look like your passport photo, you aren’t well enough to travel.

—Sir Vivian Fuchs

One of the most common questions I hear from dedicated amateurs is, “What is there to shoot?” We all love putting the camera to eye and capturing that moment, but how do we ﬁnd that event that will create our moment?

Becky, my wife, CFO, and oﬃce manager, is also co-founder of our FirstLight Workshops, a series of international photography work-

We hosted our inaugural FirstLight Workshop in Auvillar,

France, in 2003. Ver y unique, as we are the only workshop that publishes a magazine of our students’ work. I believe this is an

impor tant “week in the life” of these communities, documenting the fabric of each community. We always send additional copies to the city center, town hall, or mayor’s office for their archives.

shops held in locations ranging from France,

A signiﬁcant part of the time spent on a National Geographic assignment is used for research. The photographer is right there in the middle of the mix, researching a story and gathering information on what to photograph. What does the photographer look for while doing this research that sets

oﬀ the “Photo Opportunity” buzzers?

Check the local calendar of events for the times you are traveling, and don’t hesitate to call the local tourist board for any ideas or hints. Often an event that the locals consider mundane may be that sparkling photo op you were looking for. An event might be noted with no particulars, and a phone

call can provide exact dates and times, in addition to the “Oh, yeah, you may want to

check this out…” ideas that will surface during a conversation. Festivals, celebrations, annual events commemorating special

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Spain, and Scotland, to Dubois, Wyoming, Chesapeake Bay, and Colorado. We provide the assignments for our participants, prearranged and checked out by myself prior to the workshop. These workshops are unique in

that we actually publish a magazine of our participants’ work.

holidays—all these are potentially ripe for photographic opportunities. I will plan an entire trip around a festival, as such an event can provide wonderful photos. And for the shy photographer, it is an ideal situation since many people involved in the celebration may enjoy being photographed.

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Traveling Abroad Contact Information

What if you don’t have the grandeur of the Yukon or the access that National Geographic may give you?

Do some reading and research about the country or area in which you are planning on traveling. Google is a powerful tool for speeding up this research process. Chambers of commerce offer calendars of events for US locations.Tourist ofﬁces are helpful for international locations.

Here’s a list of some popular destinations and interesting websites:

Africa www.travelafricamag.com (a very interesting magazine about Africa)

Australia www.sydney.australia.com

Caribbean www.caribbeanconsulting.com/ touristboards.htm

China www.cnto.org

France www.franceguide.com Germany www.germany-tourism.de India www.tourisminindia.com Ireland www.discoverireland.ie

Italy www.italiantourism.com

New Zealand www.newzealand.com/travel

Spain www.spain.info

United Kingdom www.visitbritain.com

The Internet can also provide access to local newspapers that can oﬀer information on events in the area. Many search engines even provide a translation option, though the translation is often very rudimentary.

The idea of “self-assigning” works very well in the world of travel photography. As

A great all-around website with information on many countries’ tourist ofﬁces www.intltravelnews

.com/tourismdirectory

Here are a few other websites that can provide valuable information.

Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com worldguide) Lonely Planet is an excellent publisher of guide books and provides a great website chockful of international travel information.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel) This well-built site provides important, sometimes critical, health

information about traveling to third world and remote areas. Required vaccinations, health warnings, and travelers notices are examples of the more important pages on the CDC site.

SeatGuru (www.seatguru.com) I love this site. Once you have your airline ticket in hand, ﬁnd out the type of aircraft you’ll be ﬂying on and then visit SeatGuru. Select the airline and the type of plane you’ll be ﬂying on, and SeatGuru will provide seat maps of the aircraft that show which seats you should avoid as well as those you should try to grab.

FlightAware (http://ﬂightaware.com) Along the same lines as SeatGuru, this site provides real-time information on the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of your (or your loved one’s) scheduled ﬂight.

you head out for a day’s shooting, assign yourself certain images to obtain that day— portraits of the locals, kids in parks, sporting events, the wedding of the day. The beauty of shooting speciﬁcs is that it allows you to focus on the photos within those ideas. Portraits can reveal so much about the people and world

you are visiting. Try to create environmental portraits, positioning the subject in the foreground, and possibly putting him or her slightly to the side of the frame and layering the photo so the background contains a feeling for what that person is about.

In many countries, you’ll ﬁnd that Saturdays are a good day for weddings. Shooting an assignment for Travelocity Magazine, I was in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik, along the Dalmatian Coast.

Walking the walled city on a Saturday afternoon, I came upon a wedding party jubilantly parading down the main cobbled street. Not able to speak Croatian, I used sign language to ask permission of the family to shoot photos as they sang and danced along their way. Instead of a tourist on the outside,

I was quickly assimilated into the group and accompanied the bride and groom as they were married; I was even invited to the wedding party afterward. Isn’t this why we travel?

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In Dubrovnik, I was wander ing the town on a Saturday when I came upon a wedding par ty

making its way down the street, or I should say, they came upon me . It didn’t take long until I was accepted as par t of the group! 17–35mm lens at 17mm, 1/125 second at f4, ISO 100

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So You ’ ve Arrived , Now What ?

Late day into evening is a great time to mix ﬂash with slower exposure. Using 1/4 of a second exposure slower than the normal shutter speed used with ﬂash (which can be 1/125 or 1/250) allows the image to show motion, while the high-speed ﬂash will “freeze” the subject near the camera. This will give a feeling of motion and energy.

Shooting a story on the rebirth of the Dalmatian Coast, previously part of Yugoslavia, I had walked up a path I’d scouted years before on a trip, to an overview of the beautiful city

of Split. I had planned my foray toward dusk, wanting to utilize the evening light, as the port city faced west. Having headed out hours earlier, I took along a tripod since I knew I was going to shoot into early evening, when the city lights had come on but there was still

enough ambient light in the sky to give it some deﬁnition. Mixing these two light sources can produce a beautiful palette in the photo—the warm glow of tungsten light ﬁxtures and

the increasingly blue-purple of the twilight sky. Being prepared and doing my research translated into a beautiful photograph.

I will often go out wearing a photo vest with many pockets. This allows me to carry one or two lenses, a strobe, and ﬁlters, as well as an umbrella and a very compressible jacket, such as a waterproof windbreaker. Vests come in all styles and colors. I’ve found that if I keep the color low-key, my presence is less obvious. The nice thing about a vest compared to a bag

is that the photographer has less stuﬀ hanging oﬀ his shoulders, and a vest is more diﬃcult for someone to snatch gear from.

Where to Find Inspiration

Here are a few resources I use to get inspired before embarking on a journey:

■ Photography magazines The myriad of photo magazines on the newsstand can and should be a source of inspiration to all of us. In summer, look for the Communication Arts Photography Annual. It’s unbelievably inspiring (and a bit intimidating!) and includes very current work. I look forward to each month’s National Geographic, not to steal the ideas of the artists, but to add to my own visual database information about how each photographer approached his or

her subject. The inspiration includes not only examining how each photographer worked the subject aesthetically, but perhaps how that person approached an event that at ﬁrst glance was not visually rich. Every situation has its best picture.

■ Books In the early 1980s, Rick Smolan and David Cohen started publishing their iconic and famous series, A Day in the Life of…, which included America, Australia, Japan, Hawaii, Spain, Italy, Ireland, the USSR, China, and Africa. As a photographer, I was privileged to work on this series; as someone who loves to look at great photography, I believe these books can be a source of inspiration for ideas for future travels.

■

Photographic websites There are so many terriﬁc websites out there…. A great site that illustrates the direction photography is headed today is www

.MediaStorm.com. Also, check out Paul Nicklen’s website at www.paulnicklen

.com—he is a National Geographic photographer doing great underwater photography.

Learn Something About the Area You’re Visiting

In the pre-Internet days, a National Geographic article required a huge amount of research on the part of the photographer. I would spend hours on the phone in the initial stages of setting up the story, in addition to hours spent in a library poring over tomes and text. Now, Google, Yahoo!, and other search engines make the research stage easier. The Internet puts so much more power in the hands of the photographer. One fact can lead to an avenue of discovery that eventually leads to a great photo. While you’re searching, try enabling

or clicking the Images link, which will bring up many cross-referenced images applicable to your search term. This can give you photographic ideas as to what is available in the particular area you’ll visit on your trip.

For photographers shooting for themselves, this power is equally important. In the past, trying to ﬁgure out a location demanded on-the-ground time and research, often not easy or possible with a limited amount of time in a place. The Internet provides information and direction that can

take you to an area of rich photographic possibility. For example, do a web search on the Palio di Siena, the biannual horse race in Italy, and you will ﬁnd not only the dates of the race but also information on the best shooting locations.

Taking Those First Few

Travel Shots

Your research is done, your airline tickets are in hand, and you have several photo ops lined up. You know a bit about the place to which you are traveling. Now what?

An area that concerns many aspiring photographers is “How do I approach a subject I’ve never met before, especially if I don’t speak the language?” On a shoot in

India, I watched a tour bus disgorge its load of camera-toting travelers. In the ﬁeld of ﬁre was an old beggar squatting by a red door. The pack of tourists moved as one, kicking up a trail of dust as they marched in lockstep toward the old guy. All cameras came up as if by signal, and the shooting began. The poor guy never had a chance. Never once did I

see one of the visitors approach him to ask permission or even make eye contact—he was simply an involuntary photo op. The photo most of the 10 or so tourists took home

was of the old guy, hands up to deﬂect their invasion of his privacy. Nice photo.

A few days earlier, on a similar tour bus event, I watched several of the traveling photographers move out on their own. I followed one woman to watch how she

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Islands Lost in Time was a National Geographic book I worked on several years ago. Spending nearly six weeks in the Aeolian Islands of Italy, I had fallen in love with the place and always wanted to go back. In the fall of 2007, I had an assignment for Traveler Overseas magazine, after convincing the

publisher, Steve Connatser, that the islands were absolutely wor th a stor y (after visiting, he agreed). Previously, I’d photographed the Blue Grotto, a sea cave on the western side of Filicudi, one of the seven islands of the chain. On this recent assignment, we knew a seaborne festival built around this cave was planned, and the locals were going to place a figure to represent the spirit of the place. I had a small boat drop me off inside the cave and scrambled up the volcanic cliff to an over view so I could photograph the boats assembling for the event. 12–60mm lens at 12mm, 1/250 second at

f2.8, ISO 100

worked. She walked down a small street oﬀ of the main drag, where merchants were selling psychedelically colored spices in baskets. She moved slowly, making eye contact with the storeowners until a particular scene stood out. Instead of ﬁring away from a distance,

she approached the merchant and gestured toward her camera. She smiled, he smiled, and a tacit okay was given. The photographer stayed for probably 15 minutes, waiting for that nice photo to materialize. She went home with a beautiful photograph from her eﬀorts.

This is a great case study on how to work in a foreign country: As a traveling photographer, the “foreign” part is you. We are guests in these people’s lives. Treat them with respect. See Chapter 8 for information on simple tricks and hints for shooting in a new place.

How to Deal with People and Your Own Shyness

One of the most diﬃcult subjects to photograph is people. Shyness and hesitation in approaching perfect strangers is a natural obstacle to making good photos. Often I will literally take a breath and a step toward someone I’d like to photograph. Most of the

time that person will be okay with having his photo taken. You’ll ﬁnd the curmudgeon every now and then, but you’ll also ﬁnd them in your neighborhood. Let it roll oﬀ your back and try again.

I was shooting in Spain in a small village and asked in broken Spanish if I could photograph an old cobbler working in front of his shop. A curt dismissal sent me on my way, and within a few shops I spotted a baker hanging out his breads. He was quite friendly

and I photographed him for probably an hour. Finished shooting, I was walking away from his shop with a loaf of bread under my arm.

I immediately ran into the cobbler, who had seen me photographing the baker and wanted to know if I’d shoot his photo now.

Showing interest in the person you want to photograph is a great icebreaker. Everyone wants to feel that what he or she does is

On a train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, Vietnam, I spent a couple of hour s of the near ly

11- hour trip sitting across from this older gentleman. He saw my camer as, I gestured a question of per mission, he smiled, and a

shor t while later I photogr aphed him as he sat engrossed in his paper. 12–60mm lens at 35mm, 1/60 second at f3.5, ISO 200

important, and the camera can be a perfect validator of that importance.

Another door opener is to take along a small portfolio of your work. This, too, can work wonders and adds to the idea that photographers are not always taking,

taking, taking. An inkjet printer is perfect for

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producing these images, and your local oﬃce supply store can add an inexpensive spiral binding to keep it together. Sharing your work will also show the potential subject what you have in mind photographically. Or, consider putting together a hard-bound or soft-bound version of your work through an online service such as Mpix or one of numerous similar companies.

I always try to follow through with sending images back to subjects who have allowed me to enter their lives. Sending photos to your subjects means that you not only are doing what’s right, but you are acting as a goodwill ambassador for the next photographer who enters his or her life. Be forewarned, however, that once you give a

photo to one person, everyone is going to want his photo taken.

Photography as a Passport ,

the Photographer as

Ambassador

Photography forms a common language in the world. Everyone loves seeing images of him- or herself. This “passport” to the world should be seen as an introduction between people, not a barrier.

What caught your eye in the ﬁrst place? If something made you stop and smile, or feel awe, or created an emotion, it very well may be worth a photograph. These often gentle moments, or rambunctious celebrations, will

create images that your friends and family, and perhaps editors, will enthuse over.

In addition to being travelers and tourists, we are ambassadors with our cameras. Many people in other countries will form their impressions of Americans by their interactions with you. Understanding the cultural mores of the country you visit is invaluable.

The ability to speak a few words of the local language, as much a no-brainer as it seems, can work wonders. I’ll learn the

basics—Thanks, No thanks, Yes, May I take your photo?—for every country I visit. I’ve found that my clumsy attempts at the local language usually elicit friendly smiles and makes it easier for me to take their pictures.

Documentary Photography

Photojournalism and documentary photography are often viewed as overlapping ﬁelds of art. The term photojournalism came into existence during the Great Depression, when President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Rexford Guy Tugwell, a Columbia University economics professor, as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. Tugwell instituted controversial and expensive reforms that included low- interest loans and interest-free subsidies to America’s struggling farmers. This was a potentially volatile act in those economically depressed times. Tugwell had the foresight

to realize that photographs documenting the farmers’ conditions could be a tool for change: documenting both the problem and the cure. He brought Roy Stryker into the department to direct the photographic mission.

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On a shoot in Morocco, I came upon this family as they har vested the last vestiges of their

wheat. I was with a dr iver who spoke their language , and after asking and obtaining per mission, they allowed me to make a few fr ames…just a few…. The photogr apher has to be aware of

when the camer a becomes an intr usion. 17–35mm lens at18mm, 1/125 second at f4.8, ISO 100

Stryker, another former Columbia economics professor, had used photography in his lectures to illustrate the economic plight of farmers. He brought this photographic documentary approach to his new job with the

Farm Securities Administration (FSA).

Stryker appointed a small group of highly talented photographers,

including Walker Evans, Carl Mydans, Dorothea Lange, and others, to travel and photograph the plight of America’s farmers and the heartland. These artists were not only photographers, but anthropologists and historians.

Documentary photography was deﬁned

by this project. My wife’s father, Harris Skelton, was a bombardier in World War II.

Sitting in the nose cone of a B-17, his moment came over the bomb site, where he would take control of the aircraft. In the seconds leading up

to this moment, Harris shot this photo out the canopy of the bomber, a perfect illustration of a photo becoming a document versus a simple

snapshot: the bomb “sticks” dropping from the aircraft, the diagonal line of smoke from a direct hit, and the explosion of one of the bombers.

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Casteller s in Spain are famous for the gigantic human tower s they build.

Standing as high as 40 feet or more above the crowd at the La Mercè

festival in Barcelona, this tower hovered over a sea of people . 12–60mm lens, 1/320 second at f7.1, 200 ISO

The body of work produced by the FSA stands today as not only a remarkable group of photographs, but as a set of images that had a profound eﬀect on society. An earlier example of the power of documentary photography— even before this style of photography had a name—was the work of Danish immigrant Jacob Riis, a reporter for the New York Tribune, whose main beat focused on the immigrant-jammed slums of New York in the late 1880s. Riis had complained to city health oﬃcials about the horrible overcrowding and high death rates in this area, but nothing was done. Riis decided to use the newly invented

ﬂashlight powder that allowed photographs to be taken indoors. The resulting book he produced from this work, How the Other Half Lives, shocked everyone who saw the photos, including a rising young politician, Teddy Roosevelt, who sent Riis a note saying, “I have read your book and I have come to

help.” Roosevelt soon became New York Police Commissioner, and help he did. How the Other Half Lives resulted in a reform movement that improved conditions in the slums of New York. Riis’s work proved what documentary photography could do.

By captur ing closer detail dur ing the Casteller s event, I forced more intimacy between the viewer of the image and the par ticipants in the photo. The face of the guy looking up is where the eye dr ifts to in this crowded photo of the group’s prepar ation for building a human tower. 12–60mm lens, 1/400

second at f4, ISO 200

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The documentary photograph, upon ﬁrst viewing, may be little more than a snapshot. But interlaced in the image are psychological layers of meaning and importance to the photographer. The camera shows things as they are, and this is the power of a good documentary photograph.

The family photographer is a documentary photographer in his or her own right. The photos we take of our families contain

visual hints of that time, and the successful photograph will elicit a reaction of recognition, joy, or many emotions all at once. Photographs are one of the most powerful records of history.

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How To : Choosing What ' s Inside the Camera Bag

Since the invention of photography, two constants in the world of the photographer have been shutter and aperture. The equipment may become more and more technically sophisticated, but these two compatriots of the camera are still the core of the mechanical side of the camera. Here are a few ideas on using the shutter as your creative tool.

Photographic equipment is the hammer and wrench of the photographer’s toolbox. The lighter and more eﬃcient the toolbox, the easier it is for us to work. Plan ahead for your photo outing, whether it is a Little League game down the block or a month-long trip to Nepal. Take only what is necessary to get the job done. Don’t load yourself down with so much gear that it gets in the way of making photos.

My camera bag is pretty well deﬁned by years of travel and getting caught with too much or not having brought the correct equipment. On the plane or in the car, one medium-sized Domke camera bag, with two camera bodies and three or four lenses—depending on the shoot—will usually suﬃce for almost all conditions.

I carry two Olympus E-3 bodies, along with an Olympus E520 as a backup. I’ll often carry a small point-and-shoot Olympus. The 5060 can go in a pocket and works in some situations where the larger bodies and lenses would broadcast “Photographer!” There are areas where someone shooting seriously may not be well received, and for those times, the 5060 looks more like a tourist’s camera. But the quality from a camera like this is excellent and provides good quality ﬁles for printing.

Another camera that resides in my pocket at all times, the Olympus 1030 is good to 33 feet underwater—and it’s very small and compact.

Your camera choice may be a Nikon D300 with a second body, a D80, or a Canon 50D and a Canon 1Ds

In my Lightware wheeled car r y-on case , I car r y two

Olympus E-3 bodies, three to four lenses r anging from

7mm to 200mm (equivalent to a 14mm up to a 400mm), a flash and cord—along with a LumiQuest 80-20 diffuser, and batter y char ger s (two with one cord that has been adapted to using one plug for both char ger s). Also, two

Singh-Ray gr aduated neutr al density filter s, a war ming polar izer, remote release cord, card reader s and cords, extr a batter ies, extr a CF cards, and my tripod: a Gitzo Carbon Fiber with an Acr atech ballhead. With this

equipment, which will all go onboard a plane , I can pretty much get any job done that doesn’t require exotic lenses or gear.

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Mark III. Having two bodies really makes the shooting process easier. I’ll carry a wide zoom on one body, a medium-long zoom on the other. This way, I’m ready to shoot anything almost instantly. In many if not almost all situations, this camera setup can cover all your bases.

Lens choice is speciﬁc to the type of photography you are doing. In my “basic” bag I’ll carry a 7–14mm (which, in the 35mm ﬁlm world, is equivalent to a 14–28mm), a 12–60mm (24–120mm equivalent), and a 50–200mm (100–400mm equivalent). On shoots that require high-speed lenses, a 14–35mm f2 (28–70mm equivalent) and a 35–100mm f2 (70–200mm equivalent). If photographing sports or wildlife, a 150mm f2 (equivalent to a 300mm f2, extremely fast),

and for wildlife or sports photography, a 90–250mm f2.8 (180–500mm equivalent) and/or a 300 f2.8 (a 600mm f2.8 equivalent). These lenses, along with a 1.4 or 2 power

converter, which multiplies the focal length of lenses by a 1.4 or 2x factor, give me just about all the lens power I need.

Always found in my bag is a TTL (through the lens) ﬂash and a remote cord for that strobe so I can shoot oﬀ- camera with the ﬂash. The cord allows me to hold the ﬂash away from the camera so I can bounce or reﬂect the ﬂash oﬀ of a ceiling or wall for a softer and more natural light. Today’s ﬂashes often use infrared or radio control, allowing the photographer to set up several wireless lights that are controlled from the camera. This is the oﬃcial “Next Best Thing Since Canned Beer.”

A Lexar wallet carries my assortment of Lexar CF cards, usually a couple of 8GB cards that reside in-camera, a few 4GB cards, and a 1GB card in the wallet.

In a second bag, I carry two 160GB WiebeTech pocket drives. These are conﬁgured, in my computer’s operating system, to act as a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) device. When plugged in to my laptop, the two drives appear as one on my desktop. When I drop images onto

the drive icon, the images are copied to both drives, which mirror each other. Packed in that bag are enough CDs or

In a backpack, as my second car r yon, I car r y a

MacBook Pro (maxed out with 4GB of RAM), two Wiebe Tech hard dr ives, my JOBO GIGA Vu PRO (as

my third backup, this allows me to r un a slideshow), a

reading light, a high-end voice/sound recorder, my iPod with a great music selection, and my New York Times

crossword puzzles.

DVDs to burn the number of images I think I may shoot on the particular assignment. Before I erase/reformat a card, I make sure the ﬁles are in a minimum of two independent places. This is a cardinal rule.

If you don’t want to lug a laptop to Lithuania, several manufacturers make small and very portable hard drive viewing units. JOBO makes a beautiful unit, the GIGA Vu PRO evolution, which provides up to 160GB of space. Epson makes the P7000, and Apple oﬀers the photo- capable iPod, iPod Touch, and photo-capable iPhone, now found in many photographers’ bags. These units will hold a huge number of images and allow the photographer to

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view and share them. The one downside to using only one of these two units: will this be the only backup for your photos? This could be reason enough to carry a laptop or a portable CD or DVD burner.

In the bits and pieces category, I carry a Sharpie black marker wrapped with about 1 feet of gaﬀer’s tape (gaﬀer’s tape diﬀers from duct tape as it can be used on lights and other hot items without leaving behind a sticky residue), a small headlamp (a very lightweight model made by Petzl), a pen, and my ubiquitous reﬂector, discussed in Chapter 4.

Power Management

and the Traveling Photographer

One of the great beneﬁts of shooting digital is the elimination of ﬁlm and the problems of transporting the number of rolls needed for a trip. Now we carry a few CF cards that equal many rolls of ﬁlm. One of the big issues with digital is power. We now have a technology that is 100-percent power dependent. Gone are the days of carrying a fully mechanical 35mm body as a backup. When I turn the lights oﬀ in my hotel room, it looks like the approach of the mother ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind due to all the power chargers running.

Here are some power necessities for the road:

■ As I mentioned earlier, use a camera system that uses the same batteries and charger.

■ Always carry extra batteries. This includes rechargeable and non-rechargeable types. In addition to two or three extra camera batteries, I also carry a small bag with extra AA and AAA batteries. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse than running out of power with no backup in the middle of a great photo event.

■ I always carry an extra charger, well worth the minimal weight increase since this provides

100-percent faster battery charging because you are charging two at once. It also provides a backup if one breaks. Not likely, but don’t tempt Murphy’s Law!

■ I carry a small 12-volt power inverter (NexxTech Power Inverter model 2218075), which can be found

at Radio Shack. It’s a 75-watt model that is small and light and provides charging time while on the road, plugged into your cigarette lighter.

■ Keep appropriate adaptor plugs for the area in which you are traveling. I’ll stop for lunch and ask to sit at a table by an outlet, so I can use my charger to top oﬀ the batteries. Steve Kropla’s website (www.kropla.com/electric2.htm) not only lists the voltage availability worldwide, but it tells you the type of adaptor plug you’ll need for that country. Take at least three adaptors.

■ Brunton released the Solaris series of portable solar panels and Solo series of portable battery units that solves a lot of problems unique to digital—that need for power. I’ve been using the Solaris 26 solar panel, and with the Solo 15 battery pack, I’ve been able to charge several of my E-3 camera batteries. This is an invaluable tool for today’s traveling photographer. This gives you the ability to charge not only your

camera battery, but your laptop battery, and your databank (JOBO, Epson, iPhone, whatever) in those powerless areas, as long as you have direct or indirect exposure to the sun for the charging process. These pack nicely, the battery being about the size of thick pocketbook and the panel folding up to similar size.

The Br unton solar panel and batter y pack—finally

the photogr apher can char ge necessar y batter ies in remote or power less areas.

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Travel and digital photography are natural and necessary partners, as we love to document our world and our travels. Taking that step and moving from shooting

On the Web

Geotagging allows the photographer to capture the exact map coordinates of where a picture was taken by using an external

passable images to memorable showstoppers is our aim, and creating a moment that deﬁnes our memory is

our task. We photographers can reap the beneﬁt of our exposure to the world. Isn’t this what travel is about, experiencing a moment in time that transcends our daily routines?

device, such as the JOBO Photo GPS. Adobe Photoshop

Lightroom has a really cool feature that uses this information along with Google maps to create a map of exactly where your photo was made. Go to www

.perfectdigitalphotography.com online for a further discussion of this process.

We travel to find the myster y and intr igue of foreign lands. On a National Geogr aphic expedition in the

Antarctic , I found this colony of penguins at Por t

Lockroy, a sheltered anchor age used by ear ly whaler s and later established by the Br itish as their fir st

Antarctic “Base A” in 1944 as par t of a secret war time initiative to monitor Ger man shipping oper ations. I sat on some rocks, waiting for the cur ious cr itter s to come closer to investigate . The mountain in the distance

for ms the background, providing a lot of infor mation

about this r ugged and remote location. The penguins in the mid-left of the fr ame provide a nice moment, while the fellow in the foreground is the initial layer to which the eye goes to initially. 12–60mm lens, 1/250 second at f8, ISO 100

Scouting ahead can pay off handsomely. My

assignment was to photogr aph the posh Royal

Scotsman train on the six-day route around Scotland.

I had read that at one point, the diesel engine is exchanged for a traditional steam engine when

the train goes from For t William to Mallaigh in the Wester n Highlands, crossing this amazing trestle

br idge , as seen in the Harr y Potter movies. I’d gotten off the train in For t William and hired a taxi to take me to the trestle br idge , clamber ing through the

heather to this over look of the tracks. 35–70mm lens, 1/60 second at f4

Sharing Your Vision

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by Jack and Rikki Swenson

Jack and Rikki Swenson lead Photo Expeditions for Lindblad Expeditions, in alliance with the National Geographic Society, guiding photographers to many of the world’s wildest places. Jack, a professional photographer and wildlife biologist, has co-authored two books, and his images have been widely published in wildlife and nature publications worldwide. Rikki is an inspiring instructor of digital photography, photo imaging techniques, and her own unique programs of creative ideas for photographers. Their travels regularly take them to Africa, Baja California, Galapagos, Antarctica, Alaska, Costa Rica and Panama, and the high Arctic. Their image collections can be viewed at www.ExpeditionGallery.com.

Photographs are rich visual descriptions of our world as it was in the brief moment the shutter was clicked.

In that fraction of a second, a photographer creates a tangible artifact that has the power to inform, to educate, and even to move hearts. Although many images may never reach quite this far, you give them this possibility when you share them with others.

We’ve been fortunate, spending years leading other photographers on photo expeditions and safaris around the world, having amazing opportunities to photograph wildlife in a great variety of locations. Some of these remote places have been preserved within parks or refuges, while others remain potentially threatened by development or other causes. Through the years, we’ve seen how our images have helped to create awareness back home as they are viewed by others, building further appreciation for the natural world we hope to see conserved for future generations.

You don’t need to be able to travel to the far reaches of the earth to reveal the magic of our planet through photographs. This can be true regardless of your subject matter. You might have spent your time

photographing an aging building in your hometown, traveled to a distant country, or found hidden beauty in a nearby swamp. For people who weren’t there with you, their understanding and awareness of this other place will be shaped by the images you share with them. Through viewing photographs, people create associations with a place. These associations can be strong or weak depending on the structure and power of your images. By this simple process—arcing through

you and your images—a place name on the map evolves into other people’s increased understanding and perhaps a meaningful connection to a place. By this elemental process, the roots of deeper values begin to grow.

It was this fundamental step that photographer William Henry Jackson made in 1871, joining the now famous Hayden Expedition to document the marvels of the little known Yellowstone region of Wyoming.

After this expedition, it was Jackson’s photographs and Thomas Moran’s paintings—depicting incredible landscapes and strange geothermic formations—that are largely credited with helping to convince the U.S. Congress of the stunning beauty of the Yellowstone

region. Within a year it was designated as the nation’s ﬁrst national park.

In terms of conserving the places we love, it is a sad reality that people seldom protect something just for the sake of preserving it. People only want to save the things, or places, that have a perceived value or intrinsic charm. Few people have the opportunity to watch a polar bear leaping across a gap in the arctic ice pack, yet photographs and ﬁlms have opened a window into those remote places, showing us the magniﬁcence of these creatures and the tenuous nature of their frozen world. That is part of the power of photography. In our contemporary world, many renown wildlife photographers, like Frans Lanting, David Doubilet,

Tom Mangelsen, and Kevin Schafer (to name only a few) use the power of their images as a means of encouraging awareness of the natural world they

hope to help preserve. Their work will reach millions through the pages of National Geographic, conservation organization’s annual calendars, ﬁne art prints, and

well-distributed books. Most all of these photographers began small, exploring the world around their home with a simple camera.

One doesn’t have to be a professional photographer with publishing contracts to have a role in this process.