Shooting while travelling
Michael Wilson
@atikusphoto28 Sep
Shooting while travelling
I'm wondering how people fight the urge to just shoot everything while they are traveling? I'm in Singapore at the moment and because everything looks so different and new to me, I'm taking waaaaay more photos than I usually would. I keep asking myself if I'd shoot an equivalent scene in the UK? Does it even matter? 😂
I think it's normal in different environments. What is normal life to locals is far from it to you. I love documenting life in other countries
Yeah I have to stop myself sometimes when travelling but at the same time if it's something totally new to you then just fire away all day long!
If I notice myself getting carried away and spending too much time shooting, to the point where it starts taking me away from being present, I try to be a bit more selective about what I capture. I ask myself whether it’s genuinely a shot I like and that feels like me, or whether I’m taking it simply because I’m seeing something new and unfamiliar.
I also think shooting film helps with this. The cost of each shot is a good natural buffer against overshooting :D
Don't think about it and be inspired 😁
It's better to get a shot than regret missing a shot. React when shooting (digital) and thinking when editing. That's my perspecive. One day at Notting hill carnival I shoot almost 2000 photos (which is alot for me) got about 20 - 30 shoots I'm really happy with. Culling process took a long time. I bet you haven't been shooting that many :)
Thanks all, lots of great advice.
As @tori_berr said, I think the problem I've been having is that so much looks interesting to me, that I'm being far less selective. Looking back at the end of the day, I'd say the quality of the photos as a whole isn't what I would have liked.
That could also be put down to mad humidity and it feeling like 38°. So I'm too sweaty to slow down 🥵
For me it just feels fresh and inspiring when its somewhere new. I think that surge of excitement helps you take better photos.
My girlfriend and son usually keep me in check in these situations😂
Same, and I take ALL the pictures. When I travel things catch my attention for a reason, and often that reason is just personal to me. Other times it’s because it’s a peculiar/intriguing/coincidental/ decisive moment that drives me to take the photo. In my mind those are all the right reasons to take photos.
Also, be sure to go to Little India. Incredible area for photography.
Assuming your not using film, it costs nothing to shoot everything. However, if you miss a shot it costs everything to go back and get it.
Take all the shots, weed out the stuff that’s not worth keeping later.
I was in Iceland with my wife a few years back and we were on a group tour going to a bunch of their touristy hits.
We were at a waterfall and I was very snap happy and blasting away on my film camera. I look over and my wife is staring at the waterfall. I ask her what she was doing and she said, 'I'm making a mind movie'. She was processing how she was feeling, seeing and hearing and committing it to memory before she took a photo.
That has always stuck with me when we go abroad and I'm more thoughtful about what I'm photographing.
So, enjoy the moment and you'll have plenty of memories when you're back home perusing the photos you've taken.
