Hello everybody, this is Ty Schwartz with Snap Lens Education and I am here talking
a little bit today about travel photography and what kind of things that
you think about when you're getting ready to go on a travel.
So I travel a lot and I'm constantly before I even pack my bags and put all my
clothes and everything in there, I will go through my camera bag and I will say, okay
so...
What am I going to be doing on this trip?
Who am I going to be photographing?
How am I going to photograph them?
And then I realized I have so much equipment.
I don't want to say I am a equipment hog, but I have more equipment and then I'm a
hoarder.
I don't get rid of stuff because, oh, I never know when I'm going to use it.
And so it's very rare that I don't keep everything.
I'll put them in boxes.
I'll put it on shelves.
If you've ever watched our YouTube video and some of the videos I've done you see
this shelves behind me Some of those cameras are 10 15 years old.
I found a camera in a box that I used in 1999 It was a film camera.
It was an old Nikon f5.
Oh my gosh It just brought back so many memories and I can't even remember The
days of film well, I can't remember the days of film, but I realize how much I did
not like
processing film, I didn't like waiting for film, but at the same time, I dragged my
feet going into digital photography because back in 2000, 2001, I had gone on
a couple of missions and I used a digital camera and I wasn't able to get the same
color or the same results because digital cameras just weren't ready yet.
But...
They started to come in I think 2004 2005 I said, you know what?
I'm gonna break down.
I bought a Nikon D 100 12 months later about a D 200 12 months later I bought a D
300 and then 12 months later I bought a D 300 s and the 300 and 300 s Definitely
work horses Nikon Bravo on the great work that they did for those cameras and I
think the 300 300 s that I had
think it had almost a million actuation before I said okay I'm not gonna use you
anymore.
I really really love that camera.
So let's talk about what to take on your trip.
So I'm a complete nerd and I will I take a full frame camera and I'll take one or two
lenses.
Now when I was younger I could easily slug around 40 -50 pounds on my back all day
long walk around.
But I realized this last trip to New York I'm carrying forty five fifty pounds on my
back and I am dying I want to sit down.
I want to take a nap.
I realized that I over equip myself And and now I'm afraid this is what I'm afraid
of is under equipment myself is because what if I get into a situation where I
want to create And I can't because I don't have the equipment, but then I realized
that When I go on travel, I have a set purpose.
I
And I don't need a whole bunch of lenses.
And that's kind of one of the reasons I started Snap Lens is I wanted people to
realize that you don't have to create images using some of the best equipment,
the best lights.
It just, you know what?
When you go to create images, you're creating images to tell the story that you
are experiencing.
And that is really interesting in that aspect because when I go now, I said, OK,
well, for example, I'm getting ready to go to Europe for 15 days in the end of June.
And I know I'm going to do portraits.
So I did break down.
And I'm thinking maybe I'll take a flash with me so I can do.
some Rembrandt -style portraits.
But then I'm also thinking, I need to learn how to go back to being a purist
photojournalist.
Here's my camera.
I'm going to use this camera, this lens, and that's all I'm going to take.
Well, it's a scary thought as a photographer to go around and not
necessarily have all the tools in your toolbox, but at the same time,
I'm a realist and realize that not all the camera gear that you take, you're gonna
wanna use on a regular basis.
So I wanna definitely think about how much weight I wanna carry.
So I think for this trip to Europe, I'm gonna take a, well, the hardest thing is
to find the right travel lens.
A 70 to 200 is I think too much lens.
Because if you're trying to get stuff that's a little bit close then you have
issues You know you got to back up and I think this trip I'm going to use the 24
-70mm and That way I can get Definitely get a wider angle and a whole bunch of
different things but at the same time that 70 millimeter Lens will allow me to get
the compression out
It's going to be a little bit heavier than I would like for a camera kit, but I think
it's going to offer the best versatility of just taking one lens, one camera, and
that's it.
And then I am going to look at how that does for that trip because I am going to
go to Greece in August and that's going to be a, that's going to have some models to
it and we're going to, and we're definitely going to have some lights, but.
If I'm just going to go on a family trip to Europe, I want to make sure that I'm
not carrying tons of equipment.
I want to carry something that's versatile.
I'm not switching the lenses every five minutes.
And that's important because as my wife will tell you, I spend way too much time
taking pictures and working out all the issues.
So, um,
that's something that I think is really important when you're traveling is you
have to take into consideration who you're traveling with.
Now if I was traveling with a group of photographers, definitely I gotta have a
million lenses and flashes and whiz bangs and but the smart thing about traveling
with a bunch of photographers is saying, hey, we should all carry the same
equipment and you carry this, you carry this.
Kind of like when I was in the military and we had to carry a lot of stuff.
We kind of distributed the items that we needed and everybody used.
So I think that's a pretty interesting concept.
But when it comes to just basic photography, I use an iPhone.
Sometimes just taking photos with an iPhone is enough and it's not a lot.
You can pop it in your pocket.
The cameras are really good.
If I know that I'm just going to have something that's going to be on my...
uh...
computer and i'm not really looking to do stock photography and just want to go have
a good time i'm gonna take my cell phone and there's times that i will even take
out the camera take pictures uh...
because you know there's there's a a balance between family time and
photography time and that's something that i think uh...
you know us photographers have to realize uh...
and be mindful of other people when they come and uh...
take a look yet
walk in our world for a day or two.
So 14 days in Europe, definitely I'm going to take a large full -frame camera and by
taking a full -frame camera I'm going to be able to do portraits with the 70
millimeter.
I'm going to be able to do landscaping with that also, but also I'm going to be
able to go inside and take portraits and photographs, not portraits, but
photographs of inside of churches, take building photography photographs.
I love going to farmers markets and photographing different kinds of fruits
and things like that.
So I think having that kind of lens and camera is very important.
I don't carry a flash very often.
When I do carry flashes, I think about, hey, I want to bring a studio flash
because I want to be able to overpower the sun.
But a lot of times to save on space,
I'll find something white and I'll just push light into it and I won't worry about
a flash.
I'll just adjust my camera and I'll make the best guess and then I'll just push
light into it using something white.
It's as simple as a t -shirt.
So anyway, so those are my thoughts on travel photography, why I do some of the
things that I do and I think it's really interesting to think about that as we're
moving forward with our photography learning and our talks.
I definitely want to hear your feedback and your thoughts on what you like to take
on a trip with you.
And really, it doesn't matter if you use a Nikon, a Sony, a Canon, as long as you are
creating images that create memories for you and you have those stories.
So again, I am Ty Schwartz with Snap Lens and I want to thank you for listening.
Again, you can check us out on YouTube, Snap Lens.
and you can also check out snaplens .blog which is where all the podcasts are housed
and also if you definitely are interested in learning more about Photoshop Lightroom
and other items that we're teaching in a photography course you can always go to
snaplens .com get more information but again leave a comment talk about something
that you'd want to learn about or just give me suggestions maybe I'm just way off
base and I need somebody to help calibrate
my thought process.
Anyway, you have a great day and I want to thank you for taking the time to listen.