On my recent trip to India, not everything went to plan.
Bad wiring in the hotel room meant things kept blowing up. We were trying to film videos like the one I posted last week, Have Camera Will Travel, and if I wasn’t being interrupted by noisy packs of wild dogs, I was being shit on by birds, or having to stop the filming because someone had walked into the frame behind me to relieve themselves. One day I spent the whole day on my bed dying. Turns out it was a kidney stone, and I lived. But while it was happening, I was definitely dying. The week we spent filming was a rough week.
I have yet to be on a trip where everything goes off without a hitch. And when I do, it kind of feels like I’m cheating. But you roll with it, you know? The best travelers are those who are flexible and willing to improvise, and the best photographers share those qualities. I’ve said it before: making photographs, especially in new places, can be tough. I wish it were as easy as just showing up in an amazing place with an amazing camera that resulted in amazing photographs. But it never is.
*Update – This post points to videos that are no longer live because they are part of the launch of my Traveling Lens course. I’d be happy to put you on the waitlist and let you know when these videos and The Traveling Lens course is available again. Just add your name here.
So here are three more ways you can approach your photography, no matter where you are, to make stronger photographs when you travel. More Than Snapshots and Postcards is a five-minute, to-the-point video. I filmed it between escapades and fiascos in India, on a boat in the middle of the Ganges River.
Watch More Than Snapshots and Postcards now.
If you missed the first video, Have Camera Will Travel, you can watch that here.
If you’ve been down this road with me before, you know these videos mean that in a week or so I’ll be introducing you to a new training resource—and that’s one of the reasons I was in India in the first place. I’ve been teaching my MentorSeries workshops for years in places like India, and I’ve wanted a way to make that teaching and some of that experience available for people who can’t go all that way or take the time (or the money) to do so. I wanted to create something to help you get deeper on your photographs of places, and all that entails.
It took a little longer than expected to create this new course, but in part, that’s because it just kept getting bigger and bigger. I’ll introduce it to you in a few days, but I’ve got another video for you first. I’ll drop you a quick note in a couple days when I post the next video, But What If I Bring The Wrong Gear?