Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Travel photography can be a real pain if you’re not prepared and organized.
Besides your essential camera gear, there are a few thing you might want to pack that may not be immediately obvious – but the best part is you can pick these items up for relatively low cost.
Based on a few of my past road trips, here are my recommendations for five essential gadgets for a travel photography on the road.
A few months back, I wrote a post about how to register photography & video equipment before USA departure. This post attempted to answer most of the questions regarding the forms and the procedures necessary to register your gear prior to an international flight.
On that same post, I wrote what I knew and could gather at that time on the subject, so it could serve other photographers and videographers traveling with their equipment oversees.
I was resolved to do this since, after returning from a photography tour in Argentina with a cornucopia of cameras and lenses, I was prompted to present equipment’s registration to a customs officer at MIA International.
Needless to say, I was totally clueless on the topic but determined to find some definite answers.
As photographers quite often the addiction we have to capturing that next special moment becomes one of the most dominant things in our lives. And while photography is generally a “healthy” addiction in comparison to many of the things we could be doing with our time and money, sometimes we can also be blinded by what is truly important in life and forget about those around us. While we are off chasing that magical sunrise or sunset in some faraway place, our partners in life may be left behind wondering when we are coming home, or where exactly we may be.
There’s no better feeling than having that special someone in our life who is supportive of your goals and dreams. But this works both ways – and while that endless journey and pursuit we like to call photography leads us all to some incredible experiences, it’s the experiences we have when not pointing the camera at pretty scenes that truly matter in life. Here are 5 tips for maintaining a healthy romantic relationship as a travelling photographer to ensure a healthy balance with the things that matter most in our lives.
After first trying out the WD My Passport Wireless Pro as a solution to backup photos and video while traveling (click here for the full review of the My Passport), I thought I would try the competition – the Seagate Wireless Plus.
The main issue that I had with the WD My Passport is that it could not effectively synchronize files with cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive) without the need for a laptop computer.
The Seagate Wireless Plus seems to have this issue solved with built-in synchronization apps for both Dropbox and Google Drive, but as you will see, it has its own issues…
On March 21, 2017, the United States implemented a ban on bringing certain electronic items in your carry-on luggage from 10 airports based in the MENA region. This affects direct flights to the US from these airports.
Shortly after the US announced their ban, the UK followed up with a ban of their own, affecting airports in 14 carriers flying into the UK.
If you enjoy traveling with photo gear, you know how annoying it is to manage all the chargers, cables and batteries. Even the cameras from the same manufacturer have different batteries and chargers, not to mention other electronics like smartphones, laptops and so on. This is why photographer David Bergman gives you a couple of great tips for managing these gear elements when you’re on the road. This is one of the most frustrating parts of packing for me as well, so I’ll also jump in with a couple of tips of my own.
Once I was expecting my bags, upon my return from a recent trip to Argentina, and I was ready to leave the terminal area at the Miami International Airport (MIA) I was requested, by a customs officer, to a manual and thorough search of all my belongings. I didn’t think twice and followed the agent into a small office next to the baggage claim area. Sure, I produced all my baggage claim tickets which were neatly arranged on my passport back jacket, but the officer’s attention was centered on just my luggage.
Granted, I had one piece of regular luggage, several hard cases and a monopod with me [Most customs abroad misidentify that as some hunting accessory! :P).
Travelling for photography or video is great fun. You’re seeing a location for the first time with a completely fresh pair of eyes. You want to capture it your way, so that people can see it the way you want it to be seen. But, travelling with gear isn’t always as straightforward as we like. We often either pack far too much or not enough. Or we don’t plan ahead.
This video from photographer, Peter McKinnon covers five great tips for travelling with gear. He talks about storage, security, backups, and what you need to do to try and ensure you have the right gear for the job. Even if you’re just going on vacation, you want to come home with good photographs, right?
If you’re a travel photographer or just someone who wants to keep your photographs safe and secure while you’re in the field, one of your biggest challenges is copying and backing up your travel photographs and travel video as it’s captured.
My top three travel photography backup challenges are:
To simplify this task, I decided to try out a 3TB WD My Passport Wireless Pro (more info here). In theory, the WD My Passport Wireless Pro, with a built-in USB port and SD card reader is perfectly suited for this task. However, in practice, it doesn’t quite manage to live up to it’s potential.
In this article, I will take you through my setup of the WD My Passport Wireless Pro for travel photography and travel video and my recommendations on the suitability of using this drive for backups while on the road.
Other than coming home with great photos, traveling enriches your soul and helps you learn more about yourself, the others, and the world. A young Swiss couple shares this point of view, and they have even quit their jobs so they can travel Asia for six months. And it wasn’t for nothing. Sylvain Botter and Jenny Gehrig visited nine Asian countries and returned home with thousands of photos. They used them to create an epic hyperlapse called “Share Your Dream”, to share their adventure and inspire others to travel.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
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