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| Cow & Calf Moose, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. |
You are a photo enthusiast or passionate photographer, no matter what level of experience you have nor how expensive or what kind of gear you own. You love the thought of combining a road trip with photography. You want to bring back some really good images from your upcoming road trip. You are excited and ready to go! Now, how do you ensure you are fully prepared to capture those images and what final preparations do you make so you aren't disappointed upon your return? Let's go through my process for my upcoming multi-week road trip that will take me from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and back.
Previously, I mentioned a number of questions to ask yourself during your preparation. Let's go through those with my answers for my upcoming trip.
What are my photographic goals for this trip?
In the case of my upcoming trip, the primary purpose is to explore the country, wander without too much route planning, travel historic Route 66 to better understand our past, and spend some quality time with a lifelong friend. The goal is the experience. Photography is secondary for this trip. Photography is important to me, but it is not the primary goal of the trip.
What will be my photographic style be for this trip? (all handheld, time for tripod work, etc.)
Mostly handheld, but I will bring a tripod and monopod. I shoot stock and fine art, so even though the primary goal of this trip is exploration, I always keep in mind that any image I find may be suitable for stock or fine art photography. I can envision two types of photography--a small camera for snapshot type of recording and, when appropriate, get the big guns out to make some serious, studied images.
I tend to use a tripod more now than in the past as I have gotten more meticulous in my technique over the years. I learned a lesson from a previous trip. I took a tripod on a two-week cruise/tour to Alaska and never once had the opportunity to use it. But I sure wished I had my monopod as that would have been useful and quick. Live and learn.
How long will I be gone?
About 3 weeks but we have no specific timetable. Both of us who are traveling together love travel and exploration.
How much time will I have to photograph?
As we see interesting images, we will stop and make the images. I suspect that the photographic aspect of this trip will dovetail easily with our travels. I don't have any expectation, at this point, that we will go anywhere just to photograph and spend hours doing it.
How will I feel if something goes wrong and I lose the photos through my own negligence or some external force?
I really want to bring back some good images as my ultimate photographic goals are a) create a self-published book for my friend and me for memories of the trip and, b) have some stock images to submit to the agency with which I have a contract. The answer to not losing images you may have taken is to plan for contingencies and have backups for certain gear and processes. I will discuss this more tomorrow when I detail what gear I will be taking and what my nightly routine for preserving my images will be.
Have I researched the areas I will be traveling to know what opportunities I will encounter?
Yes. I know that I will need an extremely wide-angle lens for some unique interior shots, rely mostly on mid-range focal lengths for the bulk of the images (as is my usual) but our return trip may take us through Yosemite, the Rockies, etc., so the grand landscape and subjects at a long distance will demand that I have a longer focal length.
When, generally, is sunrise and sunset each day?
I use The Photographer's Ephemeris. A wonderful program I can highly recommend that you can download for free on your PC or, for a small fee, or buy as an app for your mobile device. This allows me to see when sunrise and sunset, as well as moonrise and moonset is for any location and it gives me a Google map showing the direction of sunrise and sunset. I find it well worth acquiring this small program.
What weather and humidity can be expected?
I've researched the average daily high, low and average temperatures for most of the locations through which we will travel. I have also looked at the average number of days of rain and how much rain per month for the time period we will travel. Average only, you mileage may vary on any particular day.
What other considerations do I need to be aware, such as the number of bags, luggage, size, weight that might restrict what I can take?
Since the two of us will be traveling in a Subaru Outback, I want to keep the amount of items I take to a relative minimum. I plan on taking one large suitcase for clothes, toiletries, medicine, etc. We plan on visiting a laundromat at some time to wash clothes. That allows one to take fewer, rather than more, clothing items. Additionally, I will take one medium-sized camera bag, one laptop bag, a tripod and a monopod. I am trying to be a minimalist on this trip. Too often, I take way too much stuff and never use a lot of it. Again, learning from the past.
Is there anything I need to do before I go such as getting a permit or are there any restrictions on photography (usually with large DSLRs only) in the places I might visit?
Right now, I'm not aware of anywhere we will be going that I need to get a permit. I plan to take a smaller, mirrorless camera and lens with me as a back-up and casual snapshot camera. It can also serve as a "touristy" looking camera in anyplace where DSLR use is considered professional and frowned upon. The mirrorless is an Olympus OMD E-M5, a wonderful tool.Tomorrow I will let you know what gear I have decided to take. I finally made a decision after doing a dry run running some real world tests on some lenses and bags yesterday in Colonial Williamsburg. By the way, I'm still energized over that little inspirational excursion. I made 215 images (many are duplicates as I tend to shoot in short bursts to ensure quality) and my preliminary edit shows I have about 24 images are suitable to submit for stock. More importantly, the walkabout in Williamsburg gave me some good information about the lenses I have been considering taking.
Enjoy!
Dennis Mook
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