Frame by Frame

By Suzette Cook-Mankins

Photos on the Go: Documenting your travels


Grab your ID or passport, throw in a swimsuit, flip flops, some maps, a handful of clothes and snacks for the plane ride. WE ARE ON SPRING BREAK! Oh, wait. Don't forget your camera and these easy to follow tips on how to make the best travel photos ever.

Tone it down

You don't want to worry about technical stuff when you're on vacation, so don't bring all of your fancy gear. One camera body plus an automatic wide to telephoto zoom lens is enough. Better yet, your point-and-shoot digital camera and a couple of extra batteries with a recharging device will fit in a waist pouch and really be hassle free.

Travel photo topics

If you truly want to reveal all about the places you visit, make sure your photographs represent each of these subjects: architecture, natives at play, natives at work, details, faces, food, local news and events, Norman Rockwell moments (aka humor), scenery, transportation and self-portraits.

Architecture

The structures that house citizens, national treasures or government branches say it all about a country or a city. Whether it be the ancient ruins of Pompei, the newly constructed shingled roofs of Assisi or the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., each of these buildings defines the culture that built them. Take full building photos and detail or close-up shots of parts of the buildings you find interesting.

Natives at Play

What do the locals do for fun? Once you locate them, photograph their hobbies or activities and then do as the Romans do and join them! If you're in Italy, it's bocce, in Bermuda, it's cricket. Figure out a way to get a good angle of locals at leisure.

Natives at Work

It's so interesting to see how other countries and cities function in day-to-day life. In Venice, all traffic comes in the form of water transportation, so when they make postal deliveries or taxi you to your hotel, it's from a boat. In a train station in Assisi, the sweeper passes by a regular commuter who lifts his feet just in time for the maintenance man to do his job. Take the picture!
Details

This means getting up close and personal with people, objects, animals, anything you choose. Look at textures of linens hanging on a clothesline, the pointed tips of gondolas, a furry coconut that has just landed on the beach. Take a quick photo and closely look at your close-ups when you've returned home as a reminder of the subtle details that you might want to remember.

Faces

Meeting and connecting with people are why we travel as much as we like to say it's the scenery. Photograph the young and old at their best and worst. Close-ups of faces reveal character. Candids (unaware of the camera) are best and most honest. Be sure they are comfortable being photographed. You can grab a candid but if you're spotted, you are obliged to say hello and ask for permission to continue.

Food

Baked apples in brown sugar surrounded by fresh cut fruits all strategically placed over a hand-woven linen table cloth. Breakfast in Italy, please document this delicious sight so you can brag to your friends about eating on an open, sunlit terrace each morning. Will they believe you when you describe how different pizza is in Italy where it was invented? Bring back the proof.

Local Events and News

Try to attend an event that is planned for locals, not necessarily for tourists. Like the inauguration of a new mayor in Cozumel or the championship soccer match between Roma and Parma. In Italy, a championship soccer game means closed streets and thousands of fans circling the Coliseum with flags waving from car windows. It also means carabinieri (swat team) all about, so know your rules and local language and stay safe.

Norman Rockwell Moments aka Humor

For sixty years this artist chronicled the American scene. He painted common people in common, relatable situations and the drawings ended up in the Saturday Evening Post. He captured humans beings human. Now it's your turn. Try to capture a moment in your vacation spot that anyone can relate to. Two teen-agers wringing out their shirts after running around a water fountain on a hot day in Roma. Youngsters having trouble deciding on which flavor of gelato to order. Been there, done that. Moments that make you chuckle when you witness them make for great images that you can show to friends and co-workers and pass the chuckle on.

Scenery

These are hard to mess up because we usually travel to destinations that are off-the-charts amazing. When you finally settle down and decide to photograph a scene, try putting the horizon line in the bottom or top third of the image to avoid cutting the frame in half. Photograph as the traditional horizontal and then shoot the same scene vertically. Now comes the depth part. If you make sure there is an object in the foreground and middle ground and let the scene go out in the distance, it will put the viewer right where you were when you made the photograph. Try framing your scene by shooting through a window or let vines or other foliage wrap around the landscape like a photo frame.

Transportation

How you get around once you reach your destination is a story in itself. In Cozumel it's VW Bugs with fabric convertible tops you roll back. In Italy it's trains, subways, ferries, bicycles and gondolas. Each system has distinct characteristics and distinct photo opportunities. Capture the mechanical and aesthetic nature of your rides. Shoot them coming and going, interiors and exteriors. Keep safe while you shoot, don't try anything crazy from those mopeds in Bermuda.

Self-portraits

It's ok to be a tourist and be in front of the camera, not always behind it. So if the guys dressed like gladiators at the Coliseum in Roma drag you into a photo to hail Caesar, laugh it up and have fun. Then run to the nearest photo lab, print out a dozen copies and mail them home as postcards. If you're traveling alone remember to take photos of yourself on a timer, by turning the camera back at yourself or by finding abstracts like reflections or shadows of yourself.

Buy a Postcard

It's okay to purchase postcards featuring your favorite sites. You don't have to feel guilty about it, really. That lit up image of the Statue of Liberty took a pro photog 50 lights and a crew of five to capture, so it's fine to spend a quarter for it. Take the pressure off of yourself and focus on capturing memories that only you have access to and know you'll appreciate later. Bringing back brochures, pamphlets, and postcards with photos as souveniers will only enhance your scrapbook and give you details to spark your memory later.

Memories and Memory and Tech advice

If you're shooting film be sure to pack a variety of ASA's and lots of it. Bulk packs are a smart buy. If you travel overseas, it's best to have your film developed locally and bring negatives and prints back. If you're digital you'll want to make sure you have plenty of memory, 2 gigabytes ought to do it or the ability to download to a laptop or external drive and burn backup CDs before erasing your memory cards and starting over. Always shoot at your largest file size if you're digital camera is rated at 5 megapixels or less. It's safe to shoot at medium quality with digital cameras rated at 6.0 megapixels or higher. Always shoot in color knowing that you can convert images to black and white later. You might want to try capturing a digital movie or two by setting your digital camera to the movie setting. This will create moving images and capture sound.

Local Ain't So Bad

If you're not leaving the country or leaving the state or leaving the county or even leaving town, take a day to explore where you live through the eyes of a travel photographer. Try applying all of this advice to photographing your home town. We choose to live in gorgeous Mendocino County for a reason. Try to remember why you landed here. Happy Trails!

Suzette Cook-Mankins is 20 year veteran of photojournalism. Send comments, questions, requests to mizdigital.com