The Traveling Photographer

Note: I edit and add to this article from time to time and re-publish it around the beginning of the summer travel season and at other times as well.

The Traveling Photographer

by William Lulow

With the summer months here for travel, there are several things to keep in mind as a traveling photographer. One is you never want to walk around a strange town or city, especially abroad, with a camera bag on your shoulder. It not only leaves you vulnerable to pickpockets, but it’s also a telltale sign that you are basically a tourist and not a serious photographer. This may sound like a stereotype, but when you think about it, what do you actually have to do to make a great picture. I’m not talking here about raising your iPhone up and extending your arms so you can see what yu are aiming at. You have to take the bag off your shoulder, perhaps find a place to put it down while you search for items you might need to make a picture and finally figure out how to do the task you want, raise the camera to your eye level so you can see the viewfinder and take the picture. Plus, carrying a shoulder bag is a really an uncomfortable way to walk around a city.

Here is what I do: First, I arrange to have all the items I need for any photographic job (and that’s how I think of making these photographs- as a job), all arranged in a larger camera bag that I can take on the plane as a carry on. This is the one I am currently using:

This is a backpack that can carry four lenses, two camera bodies, a small flash, filters, cards and other accessories. It can sometimes be fairly heavy, but I almost never need to carry all of this equipment when I am walking around exploring. So, I take one camera body, lens and maybe one other lens with me when I walk around. I have several pouches like the ones below, that I can attach to my belt which hold the one extra lens and some filters that I always use:

These handy things are right on my belt. I can feel them all the time and the great thing is that it leaves both my arms and hands free which is a major plus when you are just walking around. You don’t need the extra weight of the big camera bag.

Also, the lenses I carry around are the basic 20mm f/2.8 which, on my crop sensor camera acts more like a 32mm. It can do some serious wide-angle work as well as record some fairly decent close-ups. I am always thinking about what I could do with an image in post-production either on the road with my laptop or when I get back to the studio. The other lens I carry is the 85mm f/1.8 short telephoto. I use this to record some objects which are a little distant or to focus in on details of buildings, doorways or other things I come across. And, that’s all I have on my person at any given time. If I am traveling by car, I usually take the large backpack and hide it in the trunk. When you are traveling, you never want to leave anything, shopping bags, boat bags or especially camera bags visible in the car. Then, when I see a view that interests me, then I can stop, take what I need and set up the shot.

This image of the famous Red Mill in Clinton, NJ was made with the 20mm f/2.8 lens while walking on the bridge over the river. I used my gradient ND filter to enhance the sky and then added the clouds in Photoshop.

Another shot made while walking across the famous wooden Chapel Bridge in Lucern, Switzerland. All I had with me was the 20mm and 85mm lenses and the filters. I don’t even think I used the telephoto lens at all.

The name of the game is really to travel as light as you can and only use certain lenses and accessories when you need to. One piece of equipment I always pack in my luggage is my small travel tripod. Although I don’t carry it with me everywhere, I know I can use it for certain shots especially at dusk when light levels are beginning to get lower.

This is the one I have been using lately. It folds down to about 15 inches and I usually pack it in my regular suitcase or just keep it handy in the trunk of the car. It is also very lightweight. Here I am working with this tripod in Hawaii:

I have found that a tripod is really necessary for most interesting shots and today, we just don’t need the ability to support the weight of heavy items like medium format or view cameras. These lightweight ones will support almost any DSLR even with a longer lens attached.

So if you are planning to travel this summer and you want to make some really spectacular pictures, remember to keep it light but versatile.