Go2Go2Go2
^{Travel Exhortations by Ric Carter}

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY-VIDEOGRAPHY:
  Take The Pictures And Run

You're going somewhere. You have eyes. They work. And ears too, maybe. You want to record what you see and maybe what you hear. So you probably need some equipment for recording images and sounds. You are in luck. Such devices exist. They can be purchased for various amounts of money. How much money? It all depends, but most likely you'll spend about everything you have, or more. That's how it works.

(You probably have a nose and fingers too, but recording scent and feel and texture is a lot trickier than just images and sounds. See GRAPHIC TRAVEL for suggestions of other techniques.)

The hardware is the easy part. Using it is harder. We'll get to that soon. For now, let's look at your options. Basically, you can capture still and/or moving pictures, with or without sound. There are (as I said) many devices available for such purposes. You probably want one or two of each of everything, which will endear you to manufacturers and dealers. But that approach is rather expensive and cumbersome. If you can afford this, you'll travel with a train of bearers-porters who will breathlessly run up when you snap your fingers, to hand you the appropriate tool as you call for it. You will have difficulties remaining inconspicuous. If you are wealthy (or have a large grant) and wish to be noticed, this approach is for you — by all means, take everything.

Assuming that you need to select only certain pieces of equipment, because your budget and staff are limited, you'll need to ask yourself, "What the hell am I going to do with this shit?" There are many possible answers, which will suggest your hardware selections.

I just want a record of where I've been, for my own satisfaction, and to show off to my friends and associates and family and other victims. (This record may consist of flashy color prints, slideshows, home movies-videos with or without soundtracks and ambiance sounds, etc.)

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I am a journalist or other writer and I need images that illustrate the stories I will write and sell. OR, I am a professional photojournalist and I need to record and sell images that tell their own stories.

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I am a filmmaker-videographer and I record moving images and sounds to create a story (factual or fictional or whatever) set in places I visit. I may or may not have a crew of assistants to handle the technical crap.

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I am an ARTISTE and I want to capture images (still and/or moving) and/or sounds to use as raw materials, to be manipulated and trans­formed for ineffable but significant artistic purposes. Take your piggy hands OFF me!

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I am a spy and I need to acquire images and sounds and documents, sensitive information about people and places and things and stuff that my masters have decreed are vital to our national interest. If I tell you any more, I'll have to kill you. Aw, what the hell, I'll kill you anyway.

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I am a terrorist and I need pictures and plans of possible targets, and of various access and escape routes, as well as records of schedules and routines of victims and guardians and possible interlopers.

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I am a snoop and I want to take candid pictures of people unawares, in places they think are private, doing things they don't want recorded. I also like to take pictures up skirts, down blouses and backsides, etc.

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I take lots of pictures and home movies of the kids as they're growing up. I always send copies to my ex-spouse in Nova Scotia. S/he cries about everything that s/he's missing. Tough. Ruin someone else's life.

In many cases, your interest and purpose will dictate your equipment. If you make movies or videos, use one or more movie and/or video cameras, and possibly some external sound recorder(s). If you want to take pictures of far-away things, use a camera with a telephoto lens. If you want to grab stealthy, grainy images of people as they are, put a tiny wireless video camera in your lapel and carry the receiver and video recorder in a tote bag. If you are an artist, use whatever you can get your tender hands on.

You may already possess some specialized gear: a pinhole camera made from an oatmeal box; an aerial-survey camera (4-inch roll film producing 4x5" or 4x7" frames); a 16mm cine camera; a microscope with a digital image link; a fluoroscope for doing moving X-rays; a huge group portrait camera with an elephantine tripod; whatever. Learn to make the most of your existing tools in various situations, especially when traveling. For instance, point that microscope out the window, or mount your 8x10" view camera on your bicycle handlebars.

I am an obsessive-compulsive and I need to record everything I see and hear and do.

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I am terribly shy and I need to hold a large camera in front of my face as a social shield

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I am a psychopathic killer and I like to record the butchered remains of my many victims.

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I am an architectural student and I must photograph boring buildings to study and imitate.

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I am a pornographer; I produce pictures of sex. Hey, have you ever acted or modeled before?

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I run surveillance and I need photos of all the assholes suspects visiting a person or place.

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I am an ethnographer-anthropologist and I need to record peoples, cultures, locations.

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I am in a group of travelers; we always take many pictures of each other wherever we go.

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I am a sports photographer; I grab fast-action images of sweating athletes at some distance.

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I am a tech geek and I need to try every piece of exotic gear I can lay my greasy hands on.

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I am an amateur astronomer and I like colorful pictures of stars and planets and space shit.

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I am a plastic surgeon and I take before-and-after pictures of my satisfied clients.

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I am a Kirlian photographer. I record images of people and things subject to high voltages.

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I am Jonah. I was swallowed by a whale or great fish. I want to take some inside shots.

FILM vs DIGITAL

The film vs digital conflict boils down to convenience and flexibility, not price. (You can spend vast amounts in either direction.) Using film, there are may different formats and formulations available. Film is always trouble to deal with and expensive to buy and process, but for resolution and flexibility it can't be beat. Digital always gives faster and easier-to-transmit results, and usually offers more features in one package, and you don't have to fuck around with film.

But with digital, the camera IS the film — you're stuck with whatever options come with that one device. And, except for wireless camera-phones where you immediately send the images off somewhere, you need some place to PUT your images — a laptop computer, disc burner, digital tape, etc. Digital always sucks batteries dry. Using digital means that you are tethered to power sources; and the more devices you have, the more power adapters you need to carry along. Of course, movie (film) cameras need power too, except the wind-up or hand-c rank models. So just figure out how much weight you want to canoe-bike-hike with or otherwise schlep around.

Modern PNS (Point-N-Shoot) digital cameras and camcorders can put a lot into a small package. Most camcorders can take stills (low resolution); most still cameras can take video (no zoom, limited time) with sound. Digital single-lens-reflex cameras (DSLRs) don't do video. Yet. PNS cameras usually have limited lens ranges; DSLRs offer complete lens systems, with all the attendant weight and bulk. If you don't need a specialized tool, some PNS camera may suit you just fine. Any travel or camera or techie magazine will show you the latest over-designed over-priced bleeding-edge offerings.

If you like to carry lots of gear around, by all means you should get one or more digital or film cameras with large lens systems, or a large format film camera (4x5" view camera or larger) with a heavy, solid tripod. When traveling, you can always fill your back pack with these, or hire porters to carry them for you. Otherwise, you might want something you can slip into a pocket and hold unobtrusively in one hand. Resolution in camera phones is improving — that may be all you need.

You might also want or need a tape or disc sound recorder, to pick up the audio environment when you shoot pictures. Lots of PNS digital cameras (still and video) will record sound with the pictures. That might be enough for you. Or maybe you should get a sound recorder with omnidirectional and/or shotgun microphones. Whatever.

I work in a zoo. I photograph animals watching people and vice-versa. They're all nutz.

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I need a tiny video camera to tie onto my skateboard to record my awesome jumps & crashes.

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I want to strap a camera on my cats' backs so I can see where they go and what they do.

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I worry about my diet. I want a camera I can swallow, to see what my guts look like inside.

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I need an underwater camera to photograph people in public plunges, especially skinny-dippers.

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I want a cheap camera in a fancy case so when I use it, people don't laugh at my cheap camera.

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I'm a new-release movie pirate. I want a high-quality camcorder that theatre staff can't see.

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I go to may different places and I take pictures of my feet and my shadow there, nothing more.

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I shoot pictures of ghosts, demons, angels, UFOs. I need a very sensitive camera.

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I am a Zen photographer. I shoot nothingness. Nothingness shoots me. We are content.

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I have a trained-flea circus. I use video to help them reherse their acts. Really.

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I need a full panorama camera to take 360° views of the horrible little rooms I'm stuck in.

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I am a Lomographer and I drop cameras and trigger shutters at random to see what results.

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I am a US Civil War re-enactor and I want to make tintypes photos of my fellow troops.

HOW and WHY to USE STUFF

So you've acquired some gear, and now you're going to use it. You're going somewhere, or you're already there. You see something or someone whose image and/or sound needs capturing. You pull out your device, aim it, push the shutter or switch. Your security guards keep bystanders from interfering with you.

Or maybe you're being stealthy — you sneak in, palm your unnoticable tool, aim it in the right direction but look off some other way to distract attention. Or you just pig your way in, shove the lens and.or mike into your target's face, and just DO IT, no excuses.

Whatever you do, you've worked out an approach. Your approach is an extension of your character. Your approach is YOU.

When you travel, or at home, HOW you capture sounds and images stems from your personality and attitudes (see TRAVEL ATTITUDES). And your attitudes determine everything you percieve and react to.

Are you happy with the images and sounds you capture? Are you happy with yourself, your character, your attitudes? Do you even notice your attitudes? Are your attitudes determined by alien implants, mind-control rays, hypnosis, weevils eating your brain? Did you learn your attitudes and approaches from TV or your family or friends or ETs or demons or angels or robots? Have you changed lately? How? Why?

I am an amateur proctologist and I take anal pictures. Please pull your pants down and bend over.

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I am a paparazzo and I need quality candid pictures of overweight, underdressed, neurotic celebs.

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I steal things and I take photos to help me "case the joint" I'm going to hit.

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I am a blackmailer and I take stealthy pictures of rich people in compromising situations.

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I'm a nature photographer; I take pictures of natural crap that people have already seen 8000 times.

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I am a grizzly bear. I eat hikers (preferably with cameras) and nature photographers. They're crunchy.

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I am a stamp/map collector. I take close-up photos of all my stamps/maps. Every damn one of them.

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I am a conqueror and I need to photograph everybody I've conquered so I can control them..

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I am a big fan of [performer] and I go to all their shows and I film and tape EVERYTHING they do.

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I inherited a large fortune and I can take whatever pictures I want of anything I damn well please.

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I like garbage cans. I always take pictures of old garbage cans. Is yours old and messy? Good.

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I am a Gourmet Molluscophage. I make time lapse movies of snails running, then I eat them.

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I have X-Ray vision. I need an X-Ray camera to record what's under people's clothes.

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I am damned. I will go to Hell. I want a camcorder that can withstand heat and sulphur.

But I digress. Travel affords excellent opportunities to experiment with new gear, new approaches, new attitudes. You can fuck up endclessly, and nobody knows you. Mix in with a tour group or a cruise-ship-in-port crowd or any other bunch of camera-totong fools, and you can act as moronic or pigheaded or shitty as you want, because NOBODY KNOWS YOU and THEY'LL NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN! Travel gives you TOTAL FREEDOM! ("Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.")

And that's the real point of travel — not just to see new things, meet new people, gather new experiences, but to RE-INVENT YOURSELF in multitudinous ways. You are anonymous and free. You're away from home, away from family and friends and enemies and bosses and cow-orkers and anybody who knows you and suspects you. Your camera-camcorder are just props, flags that identify you as a TOURIST and thus an OTHER — a ferengi, auslander, stranger, loonie.

People everywhere EXPECT tourists to be pushy, nosy, tasteless and uncultured, loud, ignorant, foolish-idiotic, smelly, and otherwise repulsive and exploitable. Locals who think they can take money from you may act polite and friendly. Everyone else will just get out of you way as best they can. Your camera can help shepherd them to their destinations, or evoke some intense expressions on their faces, and reinforce stereotypes.

So, create a new YOU. Wear funny-absurd clothes, dangle outrageous gear all over yourself, speak incomprehensibly, poke into private places, squint and grimace and laugh incongruously, and do everything you wouldn't do at home, or that you're practicing for when you return as a different person. You'll be glad you did, and you just might get some great pictures in the process. Just be sure to destroy any incriminating evidence before you cross a border, eh?

For more on photography, see my PHOTO-PENSEÉS series.