12/1/12 2:58 PM5 Critical Tips for Travel Photographers | Joey L.

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5 Critical Tips for Travel PhotographersI’ve read too many lists online of “traveling photographer tips” that don’t actually appear to be written by actualphotographers. Some things work in the real world, others simply do not. Here’s some collected tips shaped from7 years of travel experience on the road. I don’t think you’ll find most of these anywhere else:

Travel Tip 1) Make your camera look like a heap of trash

My first tip for traveling photographers is to protect your gear from theft. There are theives in every part of theworld, not just developing countries. They know how much your pretty camera can fetch for on a black market,and they will risk a lot to steal your gear. When traveling, I make it a point to make my camera look crappy andold. I cover it with duct tape, carry it in a normal, dirty backpack, and make sure all recognizable logos such as“Canon” or “Phase One” are hidden. A nice looking camera case is also a red flag. I prefer typical “consumer”travel packs or using older weathered bags that have seen better days.

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When I travel with ugly photography equipment, attention is diverted away from my stuff. A potential theif maydetermine that stealing my camera is not worth the risk of being caught. After all, they can’t sell an old hunk ofjunk for the price of a “new camera.” Let the theif go after the next unlucky traveler.

Other than theives, there are other people looking to give you a hard time for your nice looking camera- I’m talk-ing about airport customs officers in foreign countries. In fact, I have a lot more problems with these often unin-formed, egomanical workers than theives. This is even more true for developing countries who are not used toliving around this kind of expensive looking photography gear.

I’ve been to many countries where the customs officer at the airport takes one look at my photography gear andgets very suspicious, even if I have a legal work permit for a shoot or letter from whom I’m working for. Is thisguy working in the country illegally? Is this guy a spy or photojournalist with bad intentions? Is this guy going to sell theequipment here for profit? A trashy looking camera in a old dirty bag doesn’t look valuable, so it’s easier to get it bywith less hastle.

Thinking of customs officers sends a shiver down my spine, which brings me to my next tip for travel photogra-phers…

Travel Tip 2) Don’t Put “Photographer” On Customs Forms

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Disclaimer: When traveling for jobs, I always have the right working permits and carnets in order and I write“photographer” as my occupation on customs forms. I don’t mess around with this because it could jepardize theshoot and a large production. Getting a carnet (a temporary passport for your equpiment) is easier than youthink, this website is a great resource. However, for personal trips creating my own photo series without a clientother than myself, I don’t bother. I often won’t say I’m a photographer on my customs forms.

Okay, I may be suggesting you break the law here, however, I don’t feel bad in doing so. In my experience, cus-toms officers waste their time singling out professional photographers above many actual potential threats totheir counties. They are often uninformed, and uneducated about what we do. Unfortunately, they lump everyphotographer into one category- “EVIL-DOER”. If you are respectful and educated about your subjects and do-ing good in the world with your work… great, follow my advice. If you are not, then my advice is not for you.

Instead of “photographer”, I often write something more specific like “advertising retoucher” or “graphic artist.”That way, the conversations at customs can be more focused on what happens after the photographs are taken. Ifthey do inspect your gear, then finding a bunch of cameras isn’t so surprising for them. The worst scenario would

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be for you to say you are a vegetable salesman, then the customs officer finds a bunch of cameras in your bags.What’s a vegetable salesman doing with all this stuff, huh? Hmm, suspicous… You need a story that can flow togetherwith what you are traveling with, should your bags be inspected.

When things are more fair for us photographers in immigration lines, I will tell the truth. Until then, I will bendthe truth.

Travel tip 3) Keep at least two hard drives safe

When I travel for photography, I know that the most valuable things I have are not my cameras or equipment.The most valuable thing I carry are the images I am creating. Gear can be replaced, (get it insured worldwide),but the photographs can not.

I have a very simple formula. I travel with a laptop, and dump my images to two different hard drives. Each dri-ve is an exact replica of the other. I then always keep those two hard drives in different places. For example, oneis in my pocket at all times and the other is left at the Indian guesthouse. Or, perhaps one drive is in a piece of

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checked baggage being chucked in the bottom of the plane, and the other is safe with me in a carry-on bag. Withthis system, it is very hard for both drives to go missing.

On more rugged trips or journeys into dangerous areas, I can take as many as 4 drives with me. That way, I canmail one home half way through the trip, and another at the end of the trip before I fly, while still carrying twohard drives home with me. Call me paranoid, but I do not take any risks about losing images.

I strongly recommend the external Lacie Rugged Hard Disk, (pictured above). FTP or “drag and drop” online im-age storage systems like Dropbox are also great in some places, but often times there is no way I can upload thelarge amount of images I am creating. Many places I travel to often have slow internet connections, or no internetat all. If you have time to make image selections while on the road, you could always upload only your favoritesto Dropbox, and take a risk on losing the rest. However, I still prefer carrying the physical drives containingevery one of my photographs.

Travel Tip 4) Stay in touch with the people you photograph

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For all the countries and places I’ve traveled to in the world, I could have actually gone to triple the amount of lo-cations. But to me, that’s not as important as maintaining an in-depth relationship with the select places I chooseto visit, and re-visit again and again. You can have more “authentic” cultural experiences as people warm to youand share their knowledge and lifestyle with you, and also create much better photographs when people trustyou.

An example is Ethiopia’s Omo Valley. I’ve met several photographers who had a frustrating experience in thearea with the tribes. “They are spoiled! All they want is money!” One man said. “I can’t get any good shots, theyall stop what they are doing and bother me for photos when I’m trying to get intimate candid moments!” Said an-other. I ask them- “Well, how long did you stay?” “Which village exactly did you go to? The first one off the roadthat has been spoiled by mass amounts of uninformed tourists?” And most importantly- “Do the people careabout your photography?”

Okay, so what if someone you didn’t know walked in your back yard, took photographs of you and your chil-dren, and then exchanged money for the interaction. Over time and countless repetition of this, you’d probablyact the same way, right?

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If you don’t genuinely care about your subjects and respect them, it’s very difficult for them to care about youand your stupid camera. Do things that show you care. Stay in touch when you leave (exchange mailing address-es or e-mail), send copies of the photographs you created together back, and revisit the area if possible.

In the future, if/when the Hamer tribe of Ethiopia gets the internet and Google themselves, I want them to findmy images. I want them to find photographs from someone who knew their names, who respected their culture,and told their story to the outside world as best as he could understand. I don’t want to be another looky-looker,like in the photo above.

Travel Tip 5) Hire Locals

I can’t stress enough how important it is for photographer’s to hire locals when traveling.

I realize that not everyone has months to spend when traveling getting to know people, so I always suggest in-volving the locals as much as you can in your work. Hire a local guide and fixer from the same area or culture asyou are photographing. (I wrote an entire blog post about finding a local guide here, which falls under this prin-

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cipal.) If you require a crew or a little extra help, hire locals as workers and involve them in your productions.You might even want to hire the people you plan on photographing, so they can always be with you and under-stand your work. When your team is local, it is easier for the rest of the people you come across to develop asense of trust and respect for your photography.

Other Random Do-dads & Gadgets I Find Useful When Traveling

Wifi Signal Boosting Antenna: I use this little gadget in places with dodgy wifi, such as a hotel or guesthouse. Af-ter plugging this antenna into my laptop, I can often get a much stronger signal, or I can punk someone else’s bet-ter signal far away. “Hey- I’m not stealing your wifi… Your wifi signal is trespassing into my room.”

Hyperjuice 100Wh Battery: Flights and long car rides are where I get a lot of my work done, but my Macbook Airbattery only lasts a couple hours… Plugging your laptop into one of these external batteries can extend its life upto 26 hours.

220 Voltage Converter with Fuse: Most standard travel converters don’t have a fuse, and simply just re-route thepower from a foreign plug. For those of us North Americans using electronics with 110V plugs, this can be dan-gerous. If you plug a North American electronic rated at 110V into a foreign outlet rated at 220/240V, there’s agood chance you’ll blow it up. This little box converts the power.

Credit Card Sock: While this is extremely dorky, I find this is the perfect size to hide compact flash cards, money,or my passport.

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Enjoy your own trips, and remember: you don’t have to travel across the globe to experience new things. Yourown backyard is the farthest place away to someone else on the other side of the world.

JL