The Touring Photographer

The Touring Photographer

by William Lulow

I wrote a piece last year about our trip to Italy and that it was our first real tour. We usually just go to places we want to visit on our own. On this trip though, we saw many places and used a bus to get from one to the other. As a matter of fact, we only got to spend one full day in Florence. I would have loved to spend more time there, but that was the nature of the tour. In last year’s article, I included quite a few images I was able to get during the tour. We did get to stay in Venice for six days which resulted in many more really good images. Here is just one of the Pontevecchio in Florence:

I mention the tour because most photographers these days, don’t have the luxury of staying in one place for very long if they are just out touring the world. 

I have often referred to a photographer I met years ago who had some beautiful images of Canyonlands National Park, here in the United States. I asked him how he captured such beautiful light and he said, “I pick one spot that I like, and stay there for two weeks or so.” There’s no question that you can get some really dramatic shots if you have the time to wait for Mother Nature’s light. Most of us however, are “touring photographers.” We pass by a place for a brief time and have to deal with whatever lighting conditions are there at the time. 

With all this said, my approach to doing landscape photography has changed a bit over the years because I find that I just don’t have the time to spend in just one place. I am a photographer trained and experienced with large format view cameras that made images on sheet film, like Ansel Adams used to do. I made some beautiful exposures of landscapes using my old 4×5″ view camera, tripod, dark focusing cloth and some amazing Schneider lenses. Like Adams, I would make several exposures of the same scene, knowing that I would develop and print them differently to see how I could change the look of each and fashion them to express what I saw. Here is an example:

This image was made when I was much younger and could hike a distance in snow shoes. I had my view camera, tripod, and all the film holders I needed with me in a back pack and trudged up Berthoud Pass in Colorado to make this shot. This color shot really had nothing done to it in post-production. 

This image of the Maroon Bells, near Aspen, Colorado was made back in 1971 with my view camera again, tripod and all the other equipment necessary. In those days, one could drive up to a parking lot right behind where my camera position is here and take pictures. Today, one needs to take a shuttle bus up from Aspen, a few miles away. The crowds have made it impossible to park there. 

Today’s photographers have a much easier job. You almost don’t need a tripod anymore (although it always helps). You can make marvelous images with a digital camera and some good lenses. I have been making landscape photographs with my 20mm f/2.8 lens, then cropping them or enlarging them. I have been able to crop and enlarge with my Canon R7, very well of late. The new sensors and improvements in Photoshop and the cameras themselves have made obtaining really great results much easier than it used to be. Now, with the addition of a Canon 16mm RF f/2.8 lens, I have even more ability to shoot, carrying a much lighter rig as I am “touring” around. Here is an image from a recent trip to Rhode Island. It was made with ISO 100, f/11 @ 1/160th of a second with the 20mm f/2.8:

It seems that now, I can just walk around looking for light in various places and not have to take the time and considerable effort that I used to. Make no mistake, however, making great landscape images still takes time, knowledge of the new digital cameras (what the new sensors can do) and, above all, how to look for light. I have said many times, that once you learn classical studio lighting, it makes it much easier to recognize lightings out in the real world. You still need to be aware of how to manipulate exposures to get just the results you want. 

With all this in mind, The new lens which I have begun to use on my crop sensor Canon R7 takes in a little bit more of a scene. The idea is to think about how I would crop or alter the image in post-processing. It should afford even a bit more depth-of-field than my trusty 20mm. So the 16mm acts more like a 25mm while the 20mm acts like a 32mm. It certainly wasn’t a necessary acquisition, but it’s smaller and easier to carry for a touring pro. I have also taken to using higher ISO settings to be able to take more advantage of the smaller apertures. 

This setup weighs next to nothing. I didn’t want to shell out more money for extra RF lenses, so I needed to get an adapter for the EF’s that I already had, which adds a little extra weight to the whole package, but it’s certainly tolerable. Again, for just walking around looking for scenes, this should get the job done nicely by giving me a bit more of the scene to work with. 

As I have in the past, I always work with prime lenses and when I am touring or just walking around, I carry two lenses with me; one on the camera, the other in pouch on my belt. I almost never carry my backpack with me. I just use it to transport my equipment safely. The two lens system lets me do the overall scenes and have the medium telephoto for specific kinds of shots that call for cropping in the camera or just to bring some elements closer. When you are touring in a strange place or especially in a foreign city, you never want to have a lot of equipment with you on your back where it can be stolen easily while touring. 

As I mentioned, there is a whole lot more you can do these days in post-production. Now, I shoot with that in mind. With the AI tools Photoshop now uses, you can also remove unwanted things in every composition. The workflow has changed in a way that makes it much easier for touring photographers these days.