Ready to Shoot

Traveling with cameras and lenses brings about several logistical problems, not least just getting the equipment from one country to another. I've seen the way airport baggage handlers throw cases around so I always use a hard one, it may be heavier but it has also lasted many trips around the world on what must be at least 100 flights or more.

Lighter though they are, I consider a soft case too easy to slit open with a knife, the contents are too vulnerable when out of sight for my liking. Battered and bruised my suitcase may be, but it has never failed to get all my belongings at my destination intact and survived planes, road, trains and boat transport everywhere.

SAFETY NET

I split my kit in a simple way. In the carry-on camera bag goes enough to keep me shooting if the main suitcase should not turn up for several days, the primary gear. In the stowed suitcase goes all the ancillary and back-up gear that I find useful, such as a micro lens, other long lenses, filters etc. I could live without this stuff but always use everything sometime on my trips, which have lasted eight months but usually two or three. Mailing bags made of bubble wrap are a boon to survival of camera kit in transit; the lenses etc. in the case are always put in them. I use old ones mailed to me so the cost is zero.

MY ARRIVAL

For when I get wherever I'm going, I know that most photographers develop their own ways of shooting which works for them, and I'm no exception.

Firstly I check the camera then put the settings on what is appropriate should anything present itself and keep adjusting them if the weather conditions change. My usual way is to put the camera metering to A (aperture priority) then set the aperture to f5.6 with 100ISO on a normal day. In sunshine this will give a 500 to 250 shutter speed, in cloudy a 125 to 30 speed. If there is no particular subject I have in mind, I also use the AF (auto focus) setting. This effectively turns a highly complex camera into little more than a point-and-shoot one, exactly when I need a lot of the time.

When a subject presents itself, I can frame and shoot within seconds of seeing it, then try for a better shot if the subject is still right, maybe with aperture stop compensation if I reason the metering might not read correctly, the eye is far more sensitive and can interpret which cameras cannot.

OUT OF SIGHT

One method I use a lot while traveling to remain unobtrusive is simplicity itself. This is to keep the camera not slung around my neck where it shouts 'photographer', but on the shoulder although with a subtle difference. The camera itself is turned inward not outward, so it will almost hide behind my body with the lens well out of sight. The strap is visible but the idea is to be able to shoot very fast without being conspicuous. I can grab the camera with my right hand and in one sweep bring it to my eye easily and quickly, then after shooting put it back so that sometimes people are not sure if they saw me take a picture or not. It also protects the camera from knocking into things I walk past, which with a long lens is good. Try it for yourself, it is not difficult.