6. The traveling lens
Buongiorno ! Time for our Sunday coffee and photochats ! :)
While our coffee is getting ready, let me share something real quick: during the past week I have received very nice DMs on Instagram from some of you, new photofriends, who subscribed to this blog. I wanted to thank you so much, both for subscribing and for contacting me. This was exactly the reason why I started Coffee Break Snaps: connecting with real people who share my same passion for photography, beyond the (unfortunately) too common “follow for follow” trend on Instagram. GRAZIE MILLE!!!
And now, I have a question for you: if you had to pick one photography niche that you would like to improve and you do not know how, which one would that be?
For me, it is definitely TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY.
This is the thing:
I loooooove traveling and have explored so many beautiful places around the world that it would take several paragraphs now to mention all of them… but every time I looked at my photos once back home, I was never fully satisfied with the result.
Imagine: breathtaking places, unforgettable experiences, special colors… and the photos did not evoke the same feelings that I remembered and wanted to live again and again when looking at them. Can you relate? Has this ever happened to you?
It is so frustrating sometimes, because when I create street photos, I just express, no boundaries, no worries, and then I go on a beautiful travel, with the same usual gear, and what happens?!?
Tired of “meh” travel photos, last weekend I grabbed my Fuji and jumped on a train directed to Colmar, a beautiful little town in Alsace, just 30 min by train from where I live, determined to find the key to unlock my travel photography skills.
Dedicating a day to practice travel photography definitely made me realize many things that will help me to collect much better photos in my next long travel. Do you want to know them?
1. EVERY SINGLE SHOT SHOULD BE CURATED: being in a new place can be super inspiring, sometimes to the point of becoming overwhelming. Everything is new, different from the usual routine, that we feel we do not even need to approach it in a creative way. Typical outcome: quick stops pointing the camera here and there to capture EVERYTHING without wasting too much time (and possibly trying to give attention to family, partner or friends traveling with us, and maybe are not much into clicking every single tree, flower, stone, person, monument of the new place). Just reading this, creates me stress :D.
Something I did during my day in Colmar, was to take care of every single shot, and repeat to myself our Italian saying “pochi ma buoni!” (a few, but good!). I chose what really deserved to be part of my travel memories, composed the shot properly, with care, and then moved on and enjoyed my walk and exploration.
Fujifilm X-T5 + XF 16-80 mm f/4
2. CREATE A TRAVEL PHOTOJOURNAL: since I love journaling and for each of my travels I wrote a travel journal, I thought to apply my “journaling structure” to my travel photography. How would you write about your travel?
- Well, first of all we need to tell the location, right? For this, we need some establishing shots, some iconic places or something particular that shouts out the name of the place (“Today I spent my day in Colmar, Alsace!”).
Fujifilm X-T5 + XF 16-80 mm f/4
- Once our location has been established, it´s time for some descriptive shots: which season is it? Anything typical in that town? Buildings or food maybe? Are you alone or with someone? (“It was a beautiful Autumn day, and the orange-green-yellow foliage transformed the park of the town into a magical place. I would have stayed there the entire day, but I wanted to see if Autumn arrived also in the city center, where the typical Alsatian houses blend with bookstores, cozy cafés and markets”). In this descriptive part, I like mixing wide angle and close-up photos, in order to achieve a more dynamic photo-narrative.
Fujifilm X-T5 + XF 16-80 mm f/4
- Now, time to take the “reader” into the vibe of the place, and what’s better than the everyday life of locals to remember the atmosphere? From my perspective and own style, there is no need to intrude into the day of people, pointing the camera directly to their face. People in my photos are usually unrecognizable, and often not the primary subject of my composition (colors and lights are), but I think that a couple of photos of how locals spend their day are nice to have in a travel photojournal. “Everyone looked relaxed today, and it was warm enough to sit outside, have lunch in the sun, and why not, a city train ride or a boat tour in Little Venice”.
- One of the parts I prefer, is what I call “the discovery of hidden gems”: both traveling alone or with someone, exploring hidden streets and getting lost in non-touristic areas of the new place gives an unforgettable memory and fun even to non-photographers (and to us photographers, it offers the opportunity to get unique, non-clique’ shots that will give our travel journal a very unique “paragraph”). “I started exploring narrow streets and discovered so many places unknown to tourists. These must be the residential areas… not many people around… I enjoyed a bit of silence…”
Fujifilm X-T5 + XF 16-80 mm f/4
- Of course, a travel journal should “exude personality”, it should have your watermark without having a watermark. Time for your signature shots! If you have a favorite technique, style, way to compose, use it at least in some of the shots. In my case, you may know that I love multiple exposures, but I feel that an entire travel photojournal of multiple exposure shots would be certainly original but maybe a bit “too much”. However, multiple exposure is how I see, imagine and create, so those shots were definitely part of my travel! “Colorful, beautiful flowers have invaded the town and seem to not want to give up to the arrival of Autumn.”
In-camera multiple exposures; Fujifilm X-T5 + XF 16-80 mm f/4
I have realized that following this structure and mindset I felt much more relaxed and creative and did not end up with an SD card full of boring photos. I think I will apply this technique in my next long travel to South-East Asia: I will go there with my boyfriend, and I want to be able to spend most time with him and have a relaxed, creative and efficient travel photography. In the end, it is about choosing the memories to bring home, exactly as we chose the souvenirs.
PRACTICAL TIPS:
TRAVEL LIGHT: the most creative ideas come when the mind is not occupied to think hard of something else, such “is this lens appropriate for this shot or should I change it?” “this bag is soooo heavy… why did I bring stones with me?”. What I bring for long travels is: my Fuji camera (either X-T4 or 5), the 16-80 zoom for the day, and the 23 f/1.4 LM WR for the night. Stop. The temptation of bringing my favorite 56 mm f/1.2 WR or the 90 mm f/2 LM WR is always huge, but restrictive conditions make you find creative solutions (and save your shoulders).
MIND THE LIGHT: if possible, shooting in different hours of the day allows obtaining a large variety of vibes, situations, shadows and colors. Sometimes though, we are in a place for only a few hours: it´s useful to change position depending on the direction of the light (take some shots with back lighting to have for example some silhouettes and some with side lighting to have the best balance between shadows and textures… front lighting is not easy because it makes everything flat, but maybe it works for some shots).
HAVE FUN: travel photography should not be a stressful homework, should be a fun and creative part of your travel. Don’t search for the instagrammable shot, don’t waste energy wondering if it will be successful on social media. Shoot what you like, what will help you and your family to remember your travel, and you will get your authentic and original travel photojournal.
Practice makes us better photographers, experience makes us better travelers, the right creative mindset makes us better travel photographers!
Happy Sunday everyone, and if you are traveling, I hope this blog will give you some inspiration!
Chat soon again!
Very