Safariwise Australia - Advice on your photography excursions

I have been fortunate enough to travel to many destinations since leaving the confines of school back in 1978. It started as an adventure and led to my first job as a photographer on Norfolk Island in 1980. Years later I still look at each trip as an adventure! The year 2000 had me on the road for some 114 days and one month alone driving 10,000km through Queensland and the Northern Territory. (Yes, I have an understanding wife and my boys at times say “daddy who?”.)

The following article will help you to get the most from your next trip no matter what your interest.

Starting Point - Travel Homework
Your holiday can be expensive depending on the style of trip, destination and your resources. With this in mind, finding out as much as possible about the destination can help you to a more productive photographic expedition.

That’s one way of thinking. Another is to study little and have no expectations. This is my preferred method. I have a good basic understanding of opportunities but I leave the rest to being “johnny on the spot”. Local people and their knowledge are by far better than a text book or visitor information centre. However, basic information like seasons to visit are important to the results you hope to achieve.

Another important travel tip is quality time in quality locations. Visiting 10 countries in 12 days will not offer the same results as 2-3 countries in 12 days. If you can afford it, stay longer or see a little less. Your results will be better for that decision. I often spend around one week in just one region. Most of my tours are 7 to 21 with 13 days in the Kimberley region as a good example. Any less time and you would not be able to appreciate the opportunities around you.

Equipment
Budget, weight, flexibility, durability, quality are but a few of the topics to think about. It is good to listen to other suggestions and I often get asked about specific problems. However, at the end of the day, what fixes my problem may not solve yours. Travel is very much a personal endeavour (even if you are with a group) so treat what you hear as a suggestion and adjust to your own needs. e.g. I always recommend a backpack for your camera gear. You might not like backpacks.

When I'm travelling (it must be remembered that I am thinking of making money from my results), I take all of my equipment. Even for destinations like Argentina, I would have the following: one camera body (1:1 sensor size.) with a good compact camera as second body, 17-40mm lens, 24-105mm lens, 100mm macro lens, 100-400mm lens, tripod, flash unit with off camera cord and storage - 2 x 160GB drives plus a 15" MAC laptop. You may want a second body but over the last 10 years, one body has served me well. (I update my camera every 2-3 years.) Filters include a polarising and ND.

All of this equipment fits into a backpack and is compact enough to be carried on to a plane as hand luggage. This might sound a lot but in fact it is compact enough for me to undertake full day shoots with a tour group. (I sleep well at night.)

Cameras
Some bodies are very light. This is something you need to weigh up. The positive of heavier cameras is that they are rugged so they take a few more knocks. But if you look after your gear, a lighter (and cheaper) camera will do fine. Another difference with cheaper cameras is that you might lose a couple of features. You get what you pay for. If you buy a compact camera for a few hundred dollars, it will have limitations. Speed is one and you would miss a lot of action images in say Africa. The SLR type camera will offer much faster focusing and working speed. So I use an SLR for most of my work and a good compact for standard tourist shots. Any camera 10MP or more will suit most photographers without specialised needs.

Lenses
Lenses are changing every day it would seem. Each brand has its own lenses. You need to look at what your interests are and budget. But what is the use of buying the wrong lens just to save a few dollars? Need help - just email me.

Are your lenses “slow”? Yes, but for someone who used Kodachrome 64 and now uses 100ISO most of the time, f5.6 is not a problem. A f2.8 lens is often larger, heavier and more expensive so again you need to balance out a formula to reach your goal.

Why are you taking so many lenses? My 17-40mm lens is fantastic for landscape and people/ environment portraits. It’s inherent large depth of field means that at f11, I get from .6 of a metre to infinity in sharp focus. Great for adding flowers or running streams in the foreground with full sharp detail in the background.

The 100mm macro lens is probably the lens that makes the most money for me. It is amazing how, over the years, I have used it for everything from the smallest insect (life size reproduction) to birds nesting, to the sealions on Kangaroo Island back in 1982.

More affordable equipment is now available, like the Tamron and Sigma 28-200mm lenses. Tamron and Sigma have even gone one step further with a 28-300mm lens and Image Stabilization! They offer great results for the enthusiast. I know of some pro’s who also use this type of lens but it is a compromise compared to a top quality, far more expensive lens. Again, you need to make this decision. On recent tours I had two ladies who were more than happy with their “cheaper” lens.

Lets Shoot
For most photographic subjects, “get it while you can!” is a good maxim. With travel photography it’s even more applicable. How often have you been on holidays or at a unique event and either not taken a photo or taken only a few images. Later that night or perhaps a week later, you regret this decision.

Candid photography can be a rewarding and challenging art while travelling. Markets come to mind where you can have so many opportunities that you nearly miss them all. Concentrate on one opportunity at a time, then move on to the next photo and at the end of the day you will have some rewarding results. The ability to be able to judge an opportunity before it occurs will also help.

Events offer good travel images. Sometimes on New Zealand tours we visit a Maori dance in Rotorua. Apart from the historical interest of the stories told by the dances, it also offers unique images. On my first visit I asked permission to take photographs stating that I might use them in magazines. The head dancer and storyteller was a great guy who was happy to allow my group to take images of the evening.

Like many photographers, I started the same way, with little confidence to go up to someone in another country and say, “do you mind if I take your photo”. However, time and experience has shown me that usually the best people images are obtained by asking permission. This of course, is the polite thing to do and, while it is one method, another is to use telephoto lenses, 200mm or longer.

It is at this time we should talk about a model release. What are you going to use the image for? For viewing at a camera club event, it would be very unlikely for someone to even know it occurred and so very rarely a problem. However, for commercial gain, say on a bill board ad., then you are looking at a totally different situation. The person involved will want to benefit also from your financial gain.

Does the image show the person in such a way that they could find it offensive? This has a broad personal brush but one example is that indigenous peoples often do not like a photo of a deceased person shown in public. This is very offensive and today could cause legal problems for you.

Should You Get A Model Release?
This can be a complicated question and one that is a “worry” for most serious photographers. However, my experience has shown that it is rare if ever that it will cause a problem when you think of the images use and you do the right thing by the person in the image.

When I shoot people I generally have them in a public place and small. This usually illuminates the ability to positively identify someone. They are just a small facet of the scene. However, if someone is a prominent facet or on private property (and in particular their own) then you will need to seriously consider a model release. Even if it is a mate, situations can change.

If unsure, ask and get a release. At shooting time, be fair and offer some form of payment if you know you will gain from this image at sometime in the future.

Have your gear ready. Each night I check that it is clean, I download my cards. I check that my EV override system is to zero, batteries are OK and then I know I can handle the next days adventures.

Groups Or By Yourself?
I started travelling by myself and in my younger days this offered a very rewarding way to experience life. In 1989 I led my first photo tour group. Although I had by now led a dozen general interest tour groups to as far afield as Argentina, this style of tour was very enjoyable for me as not only did I get to travel but I also took photo’s and could pass on my experience to help others enjoy their hobby.

Virtually every trip I take has a new client who has never been with a group. They are apprehensive at first but always end up having the best trip of everyone. Groups are great for pooling information and experience and at the end of a days shoot, there is nothing better than to sit around and tell tall stories. An experienced guide will also get you to the right place at the right time.

However, some travellers are simply not cut out to join a group. We are all different so all I can suggest is that you try to maximise your opportunities weather you are with a group or by yourself. Get up early, stay out till after last light and look for those unique subjects.

Weekend Adventures
This is the most popular form of photography as most of us need to work during the week. Australia is blessed with fantastic opportunities for weekend adventures.

Sydney - Blue Mountains
Melbourne - Great Ocean Road
Brisbane - Lamington National Park
Hobart - Mt. Field National Park
Adelaide - Flinders Rangers
Perth - SW corner
Darwin - Kakadu National Park

and they are just one example with many other opportunities per city and sometimes even more per country town. The key is to make an effort and get out to shoot.

At my recent Blue Mountains workshop, we shot great landscapes including the Three Sisters, Grand Canyon, flowers and a stunning orange/red crayfish. While three days was a good time, we could have all spent a month. So, get up and out shooting as often as you can and over a year you could have enough images to produce your own book!

Need more help, contact me ...

What To Do With Your Images
You have an amazing broad brush of opportunities to use your images today. Always archive the original image to disc or hard drive. I personally use 2 hard drives with one as my day to day back up and the second as my back up of the back up.

I shoot RAW so I have the best quality file. I use LightRoom for cataloguing and PhotoShop for artistic applications. I use KIS - keep it simple - for everything else!

Once you have your archived images and you can find them easily via LightRoom, I then process them - from which I have a very high quality, high resolution file. I get then down size it for emails, print, add to audio visuals or even make my own book.

PhotoShop Elements 5 and on will offer you a great leather bound book for under $100 of your special holiday!

The “Red Alert” Factor
Ten different photographers can shoot the same subject in ten different ways. Even a single subject like a flower. This is the great adventure of photography and part of the formula that most interests us as human beings.

With this in mind, it is up to you to take hold of all opportunities. On tours we go to stunning locations that offer stunning photo opportunities but not everyone maximises those opportunities. The example I give to participants is that we are driving in the south island of New Zealand. We stop to shoot the Southern Alps. A well warn track takes us to a lookout, we shoot, turn around and pile back in the van happy with our “picture postcard” image.

Or, we could undertake the same walk, spend a little more time and look further afield for subjects to add to the beautiful scene. Perhaps a group of flowers, a small running stream or even to add a person. This can be the difference between a great image and a “nice” image! I call these opportunities the red alert factor (too much Star Trek) as they are the times when I work even harder for a great result. I get my first image and then ask myself, how can I improve? Who wants a similar image as everyone else!

My final tip. How often have you been on a holiday, hey, I forgot myself! This is not an uncommon event and one that happened to me in my earlier days as well. Now on tour, I will either set up a self timed image and run into a scene or more often ask someone in the group or someone nearby to take a photo for me. The result is, in ten years’ time, I have a better memory of that trip and my wife can see that, I do work after all.

Want to see Darran's work?
Visit WildVisions for fine art photography by Darran Leal.