When I travel - Do the Pictures Qualify as my real Photography?
In times of the Corona virus and traveling bans, this may be an odd theme. But hey, when it’s not possible to travel at least I like to think about it, about the next trip. For me it’s a constant question how to approach a holiday trip photographically: Follow my current concept and leave the travel stuff aside? Forget the photography concepts for a couple of days and just take pictures, pictures as reminders of some nice moments and scenes? Or better think about a new concept for the region/country/people I’m exploring?
The tailored Concept
Let’s start with the last option, the pre-set concept: I’ve tried a couple of times, but in the end I felt it stood against the essence of what travelling is: opening your mind and body for new experiences, see and feel and taste and hear what life can be like elsewhere. If it’s your first or second trip, the pre-set concept is destined to be made up of all the expectations and clichés you’ve read beforehand. IMHO it’s not worth a concept if it doesn’t originate from my firsthand view. Sure: If it’s the n-th trip and if I’ve got an informed view of it, then I’m ready to set up my concept and see if it works.
Pictures as Reminders - No Concept
Just take “nice” pictures, reminders of nice moments and scenes? Sure, no objections. I stopped doing that on film because I’ve never printed those pictures with great satisfaction. But I like doing it with the smartphone camera. Those results have become so good that they perfectly suit me for capturing the “nice” scenes and moments.
The current Concept or Style
Currently I’ve ended up here. Perhaps because vacations leave me some room for exploring my concepts. The regular job makes me a weekend photog and weekends are short and full of other stuff. On vacation, I’ve got many days to pursue my goal. So it’s the perfect time to dive deep and apply my current approach to whatever comes in view. Over the years, I press the shutter less and less. Therefore the Leica, formerly the #1 companion for days and nights, often gets replaced in the bag by bigger and more special cameras that just suit my current concept or style. With that approach, one or two winners a day make my day. However, sometimes I see a beautiful scene and the concept gear just doesn’t do it. Yep, sh*t happens, but currently I nonetheless prefer that approach to the I-can-take-it-all one. Which doesn’t mean that the Leica doesn’t do the job for most of my concepts. But that will be another story and it’s more for the gear heads…
The Concept for the Picture above
The picture above was taken in the ongoing phase of trying to use wide angles (very difficult for me) and shifting for straight lines while at the same time working without a tripod. The Cambo 580 with that amazing Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 58 XL has been my companion for this concept. For the above picture, it was shifted to the max, the upper corners already being out of the image circle. But hey, it works and it’s fun, with many let-downs on the road to success.