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Canyons, red rocks, juniper in the breeze, and wide open skies– I didn’t know I would find all of these things and more in West Texas. Passing businesses like the “It’ll Do Motel” and “This n That (Mostly That),” we found an abundance of charm during the day and glittering stars at night. Comanche and Kiowa people have stewarded this land for centuries with reverence for its many species of plants and animals.

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to Texas for a stargazing road trip across three State Parks. I’d never been to this part of Texas before, and apart from what I’d seen online during my research, I wasn’t too sure what to expect! I crossed my fingers for clear nights as we boarded our flight from LA to Amarillo.
We arrived at Palo Duro State Park after grabbing enchiladas for dinner at El Manantial in Amarillo. We stayed at one of the cozy cabins along the rim of the canyon built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s. Ours was the Sorensen cabin, which had plenty of space outside to set up a tripod (just make sure to bring a tall one, or plan to put it on the picnic table to see over the chain link fence).

Even though it was partly cloudy, I set up a timelapse just in case. The canyon was peaceful and completely silent, except for an occasional owl call. The clouds cleared just as the galactic core of the Milky Way started to rise, giving me my first real view of the stars in this part of the country.

After watching the sunrise paint the rocks orange and red, we took a nap for a few hours before heading onward to our next destination. We stopped for lunch at Crush Wine Bar in Amarillo, which had great food and service with vegetarian options (not always easy to find)!

My next destination for stargazing and astrophotography was 2.5 hours away in Copper Breaks State Park. We pulled up in the afternoon to scout the location, and checked in with the Visitor’s Center where a friendly ranger answered all of my questions, giving us recommendations on the best spots to view the stars from. Copper Breaks is registered as an International Dark Sky Park, and they host astronomy and stargazing programs throughout the year. During our daytime visit, I positioned a few photos with my tracking app (I use PhotoPills), and planned to come back around 4am when the galactic core was visible.

The closest town to Copper Breaks is Quanah. We stayed in the historic part of the town, which felt a bit eerie as we pulled in. We were shocked to walk into the Dixie Star Boarding House, which was fully equipped for a comfortable stay, and completely updated– a sharp contrast to its surroundings.

We arrived back at the park at 4:15am, and I began setting up to photograph the core above some of the campsites. We were treated to the calls and howls of coyotes from somewhere across the park, a special soundtrack for such a gorgeous early morning. Eventually we headed down to the lake, which I was hoping would be still so that I could photograph reflections. To my delight, it was! I set up my camera to capture the Milky Way and its reflection in the water, decorated with reeds. The images were exactly what I had hoped to create. I’m grateful for the grounding and connection I feel in moments like this.

Through our time at Copper Breaks, we learned about Quanah Parker (who the nearby town of Quanah is named after), a Comanche chief known for peacekeeping and advocating for Native American rights. The Comanche and Kiowa people took care of this land for centuries, and still do.

Feeling satisfied with the images I created, we drove back to the boarding house to take a nap (crucial for night shoots). Mid-morning, we started the drive to Quitaque, a TINY (really tiny) Texas town just outside Caprock Canyons State Park. We stopped into the shops in town (all next to each other on the same street) and had some lovely chats with locals, who were so curious what we were doing there all the way from LA.

Caprock Canyons State Park was my favorite place we’d been to so far. It was reminiscent of Sedona in terms of the colors and textures of the land, and felt remote and well cared for. We saw bison (the official herd that roams free), prairie dogs, a coyote, deer, and lots of birds. In the afternoon, we hiked a bit of the trail from the south prong parking lot at sunset, the heat of the day starting to cool off. I felt totally engulfed in the landscape. This place is really special.

It was overcast throughout the night, so I didn’t have the chance to do any astrophotography here. I did hear that the park is working on their dark sky certification though, and they lead ranger programs for stargazing. Astrophotography here would be great, given the many rock formations that could be used as foreground elements.

In the morning, we drove back to our favorite shop, The Coffee Mill and Mercantile, for bagels and coffee. A local gentleman struck up a conversation with us, offering lots of recommendations for us for viewpoints and interesting places to photograph nearby. We had a few extra hours to enjoy before heading to our next location, so we drove down some of the roads he suggested to admire the views.

Next it was time to head back to Palo Duro Canyon for our final night. We had planned to get there early, but about 20 minutes from the canyon we passed a large yellow sign advertising a western hat store. I swung a swift 180 to go check it out– getting a hat seems like something you should do in West Texas!

West Texas Western Store in Canyon made all of our hat dreams come true, with the owner custom creasing and steaming our new straw hats (after we tried on the entire store with two very patient and hospitable sales girls). I had mine creased in a “west Texas punch”, a style specific to this area. We’ll be wearing our cowboy hats with pride back in California.

We grabbed a late lunch at Pondaseta Brewery and had a few tasters of their beers (I had the oreo stout and the kiwi IPA)– all really good! Then it was back to Palo Duro Canyon to scout the next photo spot, which we luckily found right away. Outside the visitor’s center, there is a beautiful view of the canyon, and the galactic core was going to be right above it. Sure enough, at 4:30am the stars were shining bright above the canyon and I was able to create this photo.

After our morning nap and a great breakfast sandwich at the Palo Duro Trading Post, we headed to the airport for our flight back to LA. I have so much gratitude for the people we met along the way for showing us warm hospitality. Regarding the rugged beauty of these places, I’m reminded of what the man told me in Quitaque – “nobody knows this is here!”. I admit that I didn’t, but I’m thankful for the opportunity to see and experience these beautiful places in person.

This blog post is sponsored by Travel Texas. As always, views are my own.

Toward the end of last summer on a warm August afternoon, I was sitting in front of a fan at my desk catching up on emails. I was in-between trips, taking care of some admin work before getting ready to leave for Greece the next week. I opened my inbox mid-morning to see a new message pop up with the Subject line: “TED Invitation”.

I read the email with eyes wide in disbelief. I’d learned by this point in my freelance creative career to not get too excited about anything– you really don’t know the outcome of things— but just being invited to speak on such a prestigious stage, to me, was a huge affirmation.

I accepted the invitation, and had just under 3 months to prepare. As discussed with the TED team on an initial phone call, my talk would be about the way photography informs the ways we experience the world. But though I knew the overall gist of my talk, getting it out of my brain and onto paper was harder than I thought it would be.

I didn’t expect to learn so much from the process of writing and delivering my TED Talk. I thought it was mostly an opportunity to get my idea out there. It turned out to be just as much of a learning opportunity for me, personally and professionally. Whether you are developing your own talk or just curious, here are my three biggest takeaways from the experience.

FYI, these are all my own opinions, and this blog post doesn’t reflect the opinions or views of TED. 🙂

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CENTRAL IDEA

A TED Talk is not the place to tell your whole life story. A TED Talk is an Idea Worth Spreading. ONE. IDEA. You have to figure out what that idea is, and eliminate anything in the talk that does not point back to that. From what I learned throughout the process, a TED Talk must have a crystal clear central idea for it to really land with the audience.

It took me weeks to arrive at my central idea. I wrote and wrote and wrote, hoping that a brain dump (i.e. getting it all out of my head and into a Google Doc) would eventually point me to one definitive concept. This was a challenge for me, as I needed to be as specific as possible, and my thoughts pointed to many ideas around an overall theme. At first, they were simply too broad. I needed to whittle my talk down so that I was actually providing somewhat of a fresh perspective, not just repeating a chorus that already existed. That’s not the point of TED!

TED Talks these days are not as long as they used to be. I had a maximum of 12 minutes to work with, which is roughly 1,500 words… not much longer than this blog post. And considering we don’t exactly have the longest attention spans these days, my goal was to cut whatever was not absolutely essential. And even then, there was about a minute of my talk that didn’t make it into the final video edit. Did I mention that a TED Talk should also be memorized, word for word? 🤯 No teleprompter or anything. So you better make every word count.

Make deliberate decisions on what you are saying and not saying. Do not be vague and do not generalize. Speak about your experience. Speak to the point. Speak to your idea– it’s the reason you’re on the stage in the first place.

PERFECTION IS A MYTH ON ANY STAGE

Though it looks like I gave my TED Talk seamlessly, I didn’t. There were multiple lines I stumbled on, and a few parts that I re-did.

I remember messing up my very first line because I was speaking too fast. I felt heat rise in my chest as my anxiety spiked. I then took a deep breath, smiled at the audience, and started over. I had to put aside knowing that I had built this talk up in my mind for months, how important I felt it was to me and my career, and how well I wanted to do. Now it was showtime, and I had to try my best.

Throughout the months leading up to the talk, I followed TED’s recommendations on the timeline for writing and practicing, and was working with a speaking coach. My talk was memorized, and I knew exactly when to press the button to change my slides. The time and energy-intensive preparation for something like this is truly key, and nothing replaces it; you really do have to prepare for this to the best of your ability, and there’s no way around that. But once you’re on that stage, you have to breathe, smile, and have fun.

None of the speakers I shared the stage with came back into the green room after delivering their talk and said that they nailed it. None of us got through our talks seamlessly without having to repeat at least one line. We were all nervous, even the speaker who had already spoken on the TED stage (twice!). We all required encouragement (and wine. or maybe that was just me.).

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It probably won’t be. If you miss a line or forget something, take a deep breath. Be flexible & personable. Remember that the audience is human, too.

EVERYONE AT TED IS ON YOUR TEAM (INCLUDING THE AUDIENCE)

I found everyone I interacted with at TED to be immensely supportive and helpful. Whether you’ve been invited to speak, nominated by someone, or applied and got accepted to a TED event or conference, remember that they want you to be there, and they want to help you succeed. A TED Talk is delivered to a live audience, but the bigger (arguably more important) audience is online. Your talk will be professionally edited to make you look and sound your best.

It’s also helpful to know that the audience is made up of people like you. I was not expecting such an interesting and engaged audience, and enjoyed speaking with people after my talk in person, and via email afterward. They are genuinely curious about your idea, and want to hear what you have to say.

Meeting the other speakers at the event and sharing our experiences was also highlight for me. I found it so encouraging to hear from the other individuals who went through the very same process I did, and to then watch them communicate their idea on the stage. Your fellow speakers are fascinating people who do important work in this world. Get to know them!

Overall, TED is a community, one that you’re now a part of.

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I learned so much going through the process of writing and delivering my first TED Talk. It was weeks of writing, deliberation, focus, feedback, stress and excitement. And if given the opportunity to do it again, I absolutely would!

I have gotten feedback that I look so comfortable on the stage, and I really appreciate that! In truth, by the time the time came to deliver my talk, I was comfortable… but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t tremendously nervous. Of course I was nervous– who wouldn’t be?!

I walked off stage feeling my heart beating fast and loud, and was full of adrenaline for days afterward. It was a big moment in my career and life, and is something I’m proud of. Who knows if everyone will agree with my talk, or relate to it, or find it impressive or moving or totally pretentious. None of that is what matters at all. I just hope it makes people think about what it means to be intentional. That’s a big reason why I’m here.

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My TED Talk, Does photographing a moment steal the experience from you?, was delivered at TEDSalon: Crossover, in partnership with Brightline at TED World Theater, on November 14, 2019 in New York, NY. You can watch it on the TED site here.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means that if you click through and make a purchase, I may make a commission at no cost to you. Thanks for reading.

Travel is a big part of my life (and my career), but I didn’t always travel with a camera or lenses. Packing has always been something I enjoy trying to optimize, but adding camera gear into the mix can add some more challenge. How do you pack your camera for travel? How do you know if it’s safe, or if it’s accessible enough? What do you have to worry about when it comes to security?

In this post, I’m sharing my most practical tips for packing your camera for travel. There are many ways to do it. Let’s jump in!

CHOOSING WHAT TO BRING

There are so many great lightweight cameras on the market now, it can be hard to know what to choose! I shoot on exclusively Sony cameras, so that is what I am most familiar with and will be recommending here.

First, you need to consider what kind of trip you are going on. Are you heading on a trip to a resort and staying there for a few weeks? Going on safari? Are you backpacking around Europe for a few weeks, or even months? Or maybe you’re headed into the wilderness? There are so many factors that will help you decide what kind of camera (and what lenses!) will be best for you on your trip.

Weight and size need to be considered, especially if you know you will be carrying your gear on your back (it adds up!). I started shooting with Sony because mirrorless cameras are smaller and weigh less than a traditional DSLR. Sony has been in the mirrorless game longer than other camera manufacturers, and I trust them for the best gear.

When it comes to lenses, consider what you will be shooting. Since weight is a factor, I would recommend bringing zoom lenses, unless you know you are wanting to bring a prime (I sometimes do). For many people, a 16-35mm or 24-70mm lens is all you need. These lenses are wide enough to shoot city scenes and sweeping mountain vistas, are great for the *classic* self-timer You-Looking-At-A-Thing photo. Additionally, they offer a bit of zoom in case you want to get closer to your subject.

Here are a few of my picks:

Best just-the-basics budget combo for travel: Sony a6000 with 16-50mm Lens (kit lens)

$548 • SHOP ON AMAZON • SHOP AT B&H

This is the starter camera that I recommend. It’s excellent as a first “real” camera for those wanting to experiment and gain a better understanding on just what all those numbers DO, exactly. This lens is equivalent to a 24-70mm, which is a great range to start out with. This combination weighs a pound. As in, one pound. So… you can definitely fit this in your bag!

Best all-around crop sensor combo for travel: Sony a6500 with 18-105mm Lens

$1,796 • SHOP ON AMAZON • SHOP AT B&H

This combination is a step up–– with the a6500, you get updates like built-in image stabilization, a touch screen, more focus points, a microphone port and better viewfinder resolution. The lens gives you more range, so you will have the opportunity for more zoomed-in shots. This camera + lens weighs 1.94lbs, still great for traveling light.

Best all-around full-frame combo for travel: Sony a7III with 24-105mm Lens

$3,296 • SHOP ON AMAZON (CAMERA / LENS) • SHOP AT B&H

I love this combination for travel! The Sony a7III is one of my favorite pieces of gear right now. It is a powerful camera at an excellent price, and paired with the 24-105mm f4 G-master lens, you have a seriously incredible combination. I can’t recommend a better combo for travelers looking to step up their photo game. The total weight here is 2.89lbs, about half of what a DSLR with a comparable lens would weigh.

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If you are planning to take more than one lens, think about what you will be shooting most of the time. I often travel with a 24-70mm f2.8 and a 70-200mm f2.8 because this gives me a wide range of options for focal length. If I know I am going into the backcountry, or if I am wanting to shoot big city scenes or mountains, I will swap out the 24-70mm for something wider, usually my 16-35mm f2.8. And if I know I will be shooting portraits, I will bring a prime lens, my favorite being the Sony 85mm f1.4. Overall, this comes down to your personal preference and the subject matter you will be photographing.

Note for safari: A safari (or any trip where photographing wildlife is a priority) requires some unique lenses, and I’ll do a separate blog post on that. You need to be looking at telephoto lenses starting at 200mm, but preferably more like 400-600mm.

HOW TO PACK

Now that you’ve chosen what you are going to bring, you have to figure out how to pack it safely and efficiently. Here are some options…

USE AN INTERNAL CAMERA UNIT OR CAMERA CASE

An Internal Camera Unit is essentially a padded case for your camera/lens. It allows you to protect your camera gear without having to get an entirely different bag or backpack. These come in different sizes from different manufacturers.

Pictured: f-stop – Shallow Small ICU, $89 on Amazon. Think Tank Photo Digital Holster, $89.75 at B&H.

This is how I carry my camera gear when I go wilderness backpacking. I keep my camera and lenses accessible at the top of my pack, unless I am wanting to shoot while walking.

The downside of using an ICU or case is that this creates one more layer you have to unzip to get to your camera, which can be annoying for some. However, it also creates a barrier against pick-pockets (unless they steal the whole thing… in which case… insurance, my friends). It’s up to you if you think it’d be annoying to have another layer of protection to get to your camera or not.

I have also traveled with photographers who literally store their cameras and lenses in a sock or a beanie at the top of their daypack. I am personally way too clumsy for that, but hey, if it works for some, it’s probably worth mentioning!

Overall, using an ICU or a camera case allows you to stash your camera in whatever bag you are currently comfortable using, whether that is a backpack, an expedition pack, or a purse. It’s a convenient way to make sure your camera is protected and safe.

USE A CAMERA BACKPACK

This is what I do on most of my adventure travel style trips. Since I know I will be bringing my camera (and multiple lenses) with me on most days during my trips, I choose to invest in camera backpacks that I love. I like to have a backpack that also fits a layer, my laptop, and a book or journal.

My two most-used backpacks: Manfrotto Advanced Travel Backpack, $99.99 at B&H. Peak Design Everyday Backpack 20L, $259.95 at B&H.

Traveling with a camera backpack allows you to prioritize your camera gear and makes it super accessible to you, since most of these bags have accessibility in mind. When I travel with a camera bag, I know that my gear is safe because the product is made specifically for it.

USE A SHOULDER BAG OR MESSENGER BAG

There are some really great shoulder & messenger bags out there made specifically for camera gear. This option works especially well if you only plan to travel with one camera/lens and would like something a bit lighter or just more discreet.

         

Pictured: ONA Bowery Camera Bag, $249 at B&H. Peak Design Everyday Messenger, $249.95 at B&H. ONA Bond Street Waxed Canvas Camera Bag, $139 at B&H.

These bags are great for easy access, as you’re carrying them on your side instead of your back. They’re easier to keep an eye on if you happen to be on a busy train or out sightseeing, anywhere pickpockets are likely to target tourists. Lastly, you can usually use a bag this size as a “personal item” on flights and they easily fit under the seat in front of you (be sure to check the airline, especially low-cost carriers!).

TRAVEL WITH A PELICAN CASE

If you are traveling with a significant amount of gear, it can be worth it to travel with a pelican case as your carry-on. This means you don’t have to carry all that heavy camera gear on your back, and ensures the gear’s safety, as these cases are very padded and you can lock them. I bring a Pelican 1510 case with me when I know I will need multiple camera bodies and lenses.

        

Pictured: Pelican 1510 case, $169.95 at B&H. TrekPak Divider Kit for Pelican 1510 Case, $115 at B&H. 

The standard case typically comes with foam that you can remove according to the size and shape of the items you would like to carry. Alternatively, you can purchase a set of dividers to maximize the space in your case.

Though this is arguably the most secure way to travel with camera gear, it is not the most practical for international trips, unless you are specifically on a photography trip! That said, I like using these cases on road trips to keep my gear secure and free of the dust/debris that might sneak in if they were in my backpack all the time.

CAMERA STRAPS & ACCESSORIES

Traveling with the right camera accessories can make a difference! I am a fan of Peak Design’s camera straps because their anchor system makes it easy to detach the straps from my camera bodies for storage or flights. Here is a list of the accessories I bring with me for most trips:

• Peak Design SlideLITE Camera Strap
• Peak Design Leash Camera Strap
• ZEISS Lens Wipes (typically just a few, but depends where I’m going)
• Giottos Rocket Blaster Dust-Removal Tool
• Lens Cleaning Cloth
• LaCie 4TB Rugged Mini Portable Hard Drive

WHAT ABOUT A TRIPOD?

If you are wanting to take photos of yourself while traveling solo, or if you intend on taking photos at night, it’s a good idea to travel with a small tripod. I would look into something that weighs 4 pounds or less. Personally I prefer to shoot hand-held, and will only pack a tripod if I know I’m going on a trip where I will use it!

Left to right: Prima Photo Big Travel Tripod, $149.95 at B&H. Manfrotto Befree Advanced Tripod, $189.88 at B&H. MeFOTO GlobeTrotter Carbon Fiber Tripod, $299 at B&H.

PACKING CHECKLIST

• Back up your stuff! Travel with a hard drive or plan to back up important files to the Cloud.
• Pack your camera in your carry-on bag ONLY–– never checked, if you can help it! If you have to check your camera, make sure it’s insured.
• Pack batteries in your carry-on; lithium batteries are not allowed in check-in baggage.
• Get travel insurance! Travel insurance has saved me thousands of dollars over the years. I recommend World Nomads or Allianz. Not all plans will cover property damage or theft, so go over your exact plan with your insurance provider. You can also insure specific products from home. If you make money from your photography gear, you can (and should!) get your stuff insured as a business to protect yourself from loss or theft.
• Pack lens wipes and/or a rocket blower for dust (links above).
• Don’t forget your charger and extra batteries!
• If you are USA-based, look into getting TSA Pre-check so you don’t have to take out all your gear when going through airport security on domestic flights.

Travel offers so many opportunities for photography! I hope this post gave you some more insight and ideas on how to pack your camera for the type of travel that you do. If you pack in a way I haven’t covered here, or have any tips to share, I’d love for you to comment with your suggestion so everyone can see. I’ll wrap this up by saying I hope you use your adventures to get creative and photograph some of the moments from your trip. There are so many opportunities out there!

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Was this helpful? Have feedback for me? Let me know in the comments, or shoot me an email at info@erinoutdoors.com. Photos taken by Renee Hahnel & Stevin Tuchiwsky.

This post was written in partnership with Adobe and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

A couple of weeks ago, I joined the Adobe team and a handful of other photographers in the Caribbean to experience and document the US Virgin Islands. It was a wonderful experience, and I am grateful that the Adobe team chose the USVI for this trip. The Virgin Islands are stunning, with gorgeous nature and vibrant culture. The hurricanes last year devastated much of the area, and many are still rebuilding. It was a privilege to visit and to see the resiliency and strength of the people here first-hand.

For this blog post, I wanted to look at the parts of my workflow and the ways that I edit in Lightroom that are pretty consistent across images. Below you will find my basic workflow and editing tips, broken down in simple terms, using my images from this trip to illustrate my points.

I have been to the Virgin Islands before–– I went to Saint Thomas on a few family vacations growing up. But I had never visited any of the islands with a purposeful interest in culture and the outdoors. Having the opportunity to visit with a lens on these things was something I wanted to make the most of.

Lightroom is my most-used application for photo editing, and I used it to process all of my images from this trip. I get a lot of questions about how I edit, and I want to start this off by saying that there is often not a “right” way to create. I know how intimidating the technical side of photography (or any craft) can feel. I have only been using Lightroom for a few years myself, but the more I use it, the more comfortable I get with it, and the more confident I feel using it.

There are two versions of Lightroom currently available–– Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC. I mostly use Lightroom Classic CC, which is the desktop-only product previously known as Lightroom. Lightroom CC, on the other hand, is a cloud-based software that works across desktop, mobile and web. I use Lightroom CC for mobile (available for download as an app) on my iPhone X to edit photos on the go if I don’t have access to my desktop, or if I simply want to do a quick mobile edit.

To start, here is what my Develop module in Lightroom Classic CC looks like after I edited the feature photo in this post:

The Develop module is where I spend most of my time in Lightroom. You can see what some of my edits were on the right. Before I jump into editing tips, let’s talk about organization. It helps if you open up Lightroom so you can follow along throughout the post.

GETTING ORGANIZED

I shoot in RAW on a Sony a7Riii. RAW is a file format that allows you to capture the maximum amount of data from the sensor so you have more to work with in Lightroom. I import my photos from my memory cards by selecting “Copy” Lightroom’s Import dialog, designating my external hard drive as the import location. I will then manually copy a backup to a second hard drive. I carry two external HDD’s when I travel (I prefer these), and back up my photo/video from my cards daily. I make sure to have at least two copies of the RAW files at all times. Within my hard drives, I organize my images by date, and then by location or trip.

Once photos are imported to my Library, I will go through and pick my favorite images by flagging them with “p” (you can use “u” to remove a flag), or marking them with stars by using numbers 0-5. Once I’ve done that, I’ll go back to the Library and view only the Flagged images by using the Library Filter.

 

I’ll pick the image I want to edit and double-click it to head into the Develop module, where I spend most of my time in Lightroom.

CROP & PROFILE CORRECTION

The first thing I do is usually hit “r” to crop, or click the square grid icon directly below the histogram. You can rotate the image using your cursor, or click the Straighten Tool (looks like ruler next to where it says “Angle”) to draw a horizon line and make sure your image is exactly straight. If I am cropping for Instagram, I crop 1×1 (square) or 4×5 (vertical).

 

Profile correction is used to correct distortion and vignetting, specific to the lens used. To use it, scroll down until you see the Lens Corrections panel on the right, check “Enable Profile Corrections”, and select your camera and lens from the dropdown.

HISTOGRAM

The histogram is found in the upper-right corner of your Develop module. It is a tool that acts as a second pair of eyes–– the histogram is a graphical representation of the tones in your images. By reading the histogram, you can see what is going on with the blacks, whites, shadows and highlights of your image without you having to even look at the photo. This is valuable because sometimes we can’t trust our eyes to tell us exactly when the highlights are blown out, or when the shadows are too dark.

Here’s an image from Sapphire Bay with the corresponding histogram.

Dark tones are on the left side of the graph, while light tones are on the right. A “perfectly exposed” image will have a perfect bell curve that just barely touches the left and right side. That being said, not all images will look good just because the histogram indicates that they are “perfectly exposed”… sometimes you want to purposefully under or over-expose an image. There is no such thing as a “good” or “bad” histogram. It’s simply a tool for you to use when you make your creative decisions.

According to the histogram above, you can see that this image is mostly made up of midtones, because you can see a lot of action in the middle of the graph. By hitting “j”, you can see if any areas are “clipping” which means either your lights are TOO light, or if your darks are TOO dark. You can also see if clipping is occurring if part of the histogram is touching the right or left side. In the histogram above, you can see that no clipping is occurring, but that the histogram is just barely touching the left and right sides.

I want to note that I enable the histogram starting from when I’m shooting. On a Sony camera, this is one of your display options. With the exception of photos that are intended to be very dark or very bright, I pay attention to the histogram when I am shooting to try to center the midtones in my frame.

BASICS: WHITE BALANCE & TONE

Lightroom gives you two sliders for adjusting White Balance: Temperature and Tint. The Temperature slider makes your image warmer or cooler, while the Tint slider balances out the magenta and green in your image.

I use the white balance selector (looks like a temperature dropper) to select the most neutral (i.e., grey) part of my image. Sometimes our eyes deceive us and tell us that an area is neutral, when it really has color in it. You can tell if an area is really neutral if the R (red), G (green) and B (blue) values are similar. Once you select a target neutral, Lightroom will adjust the image accordingly based on the grey you selected. I find the white balance selector to be an easy way to get a good base for further adjustments.

 

White balance is subjective. Sometimes I change it really dramatically on purpose, and other times I want to get as close to true colors as possible.

If manually adjusting the tones feels overwhelming or too complicated, I would recommend just hitting the Auto button in your Basic panel to see what Adobe thinks your image’s tones should look like. Then you can work from there.

Another way you can adjust your tones is by using the tone curve. The tone curve: what the heck is it and why should you care? The tone curve is a tool that represents all the tones in your image. The shadows, midtones, and highlights are along the bottom axis. Moving any point along the curve up or down will make it brighter or darker, respectively. For example, to create contrast, create an S curve, which darkens the shadows and lifts the brights. Again, use “j” to check that you’re not overdoing it.

Here’s the before and after of an image where I adjusted the Tone Curve. You can see that I brought up the shadows a bit to create a slight fade, then increased the contrast by pulling down the darks and increasing the lights.

Whether or not you use the Tone Curve is up to you. Do you need to use it? No. Personally, I find that I mostly use the Basic panel, and then fine tune using the Tone Curve.

HSL & COLOR MANIPULATION

The HSL Panel (Hue, Saturation & Luminance) is a fun place to be in Lightroom. By adjusting the tones in your image, you are also affecting the appearance of the colors. The HSL panel is the place where you can precisely manipulate and adjust all the colors in your image.

You can choose which colors to adjust by specific hue, or use the targeted adjustment tool for more precision. This tool is something I use on almost every photo! To use it, click on the circle in the upper left-hand corner of the HSL menu. Then find the color you want to adjust in your image, click and drag your cursor while holding down. This is a great way to adjust specific colors without having to guess how much of each hue is in the selection.

 

Some of my images are more altered than others with regard to specific colors. Here’s the before & after of an image where I adjusted almost every single slider. Hopefully you can see why I chose to edit this one so heavily!

 

Here is the final image next to the HSL panel so you can see the adjustments I made:

 

How much or how little you use the HSL panel is up to you. I find it to be extremely helpful, and this is probably the place I spend most of my time.

SELECTIVE EDITS

I typically do some selective adjustments on every image–– by that I mean spot removal, or adding a gradient or radial filter, or applying adjustments to a specific area with a brush. Spot removal is great for any minor imperfections, or if I want to clean up an area of the image a bit. If you aren’t sure what each of the tools does, hover over it for a moment until the name of the tool pops up.

I use often gradient and radial filters to adjust for any over or under exposed areas. I also use a radial filter on wildlife photography, specifically on eyes and faces, to bring out the detail. The brush tool is great if you have an area that isn’t a uniform shape, so that you can be more specific with the area you’d like to adjust. There is a point at which I will bring an image into Photoshop for more precision with these types of adjustments.

Here’s an example of using a Radial Filter to bring up the exposure in a specific area:

COPYING, PASTING AND SAVING YOUR EDITS (CREATING PRESETS)

If I am editing photos from a set, I copy/paste the edit from the first image to the rest of the set. You can see the “Copy…” option in your Develop Module on the lower left, just above the film strip that runs along the bottom of your screen. Here is what I usually copy from an edit I like:

After copying these settings, go to the image you would like to edit and click “Paste…”. Voila!

I still go through each image individually to adjust exposure and other minor things, but copy/pasting an edit you like onto an image is way easier and faster than starting from scratch. I sometimes will save these edits as a preset so I can use it in the future for other images. To create a custom preset, once you finish editing an image, go into your Preset tab on the left and hit the “+” sign.

Do I use presets? Sometimes! I tend to experiment with presets if I feel stuck on an image and want to see if I can do something different. I will never just slap a preset on an image and call it a day, but sometimes I use them as a tool for experimentation or learning something. I have a couple of VSCO preset packs that I like to play with.

Once you’re at a good place with your image, you can hit “l” twice to see it uninterrupted with a plain background. Hit “l” again to exit.

EXPORTING YOUR IMAGES

My three most-used export settings are:

1. For web (blog/Facebook). Width of the image at 2048px; resolution at 72 pixels per inch.
2. For Instagram/Instagram stories. Short edge at 2048px; resolution at 72 pixels per inch.
3. For print. Do not resize; resolution at 300 pixels per inch.

The main differences between these are size and resolution. Here is what it looks like when I export something for web:

If you have file size limitations, you can check the box that says “Limit File Size To:”, but this may reduce quality. For print, I change the resolution to 300 pixels per inch, and uncheck Resize. Files exported for print will obviously be a much larger size than those exported for web.

In general, the go-to resolution settings for web and print are 72 ppi & 300 ppi, respectively. Anything below 72 will appear pixelated for web, and anything above it might be overkill (though some screens can display more ppi).

You can save your export settings as a preset by clicking “Add” under the preset panel on the left.

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Lightroom is a powerful program and by no means did I cover it comprehensively here–– but I wanted to give you an idea of the steps I take from import to export. I hope that taking you through this process has helped your understanding of Lightroom, and given you some more confidence to try new things on your own images.

I hope you allow yourself the freedom to experiment. Sometimes I spend hours on one image and feel like I just can’t get it right. Other times, I love the end result after just a few simple tweaks. Figuring out what you like takes time, and a personal style can only come from hours of practice. Give yourself enough grace to try, day after day. Lightroom is a tool that helps you do that.

Finally, here are my favorite edits/images from our trip to the Virgin Islands.  Thanks for reading!

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GALLERY: CLICK IMAGES TO VIEW IN SLIDESHOW

To give you an overview of the trip, we based ourselves on Saint Thomas, where we explored the city of Charlotte Amalie and photographed sunrise and sunset on several of the island’s beaches. From there we spent a day on Saint John, stopping at a few spectacular viewpoints and gorgeous beaches. Our last day of exploring took us to the BVI for quick stops on Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke, giving us a broader view of the area as our boat cruised between islands. Click on any image to read more.

Over the years, there is one question, no matter what direction my career seems to be heading at any particular moment, that remains the biggest and most common.

How do you do what you do?

I figured it would make sense to put my whole story in one place. This post won’t be advice. It’s just my life as it happened, and what I’ve learned so far.

What, exactly, do I do? Today, I am a freelance photographer and blogger focusing on travel, adventure, wildlife and culture. I am concerned with issues of conservation, social issues, and overall encouraging a greater sense of empathy for people, places, and other living things on our planet. In addition to my photography and writing work, I lead adventure trips and workshops that focus on many of these areas.

The main things I get hired for:

• Photography
• Social media posts or campaigns on behalf of a brand
• Blogging
• Marketing campaigns
• Trip leading, workshops, speaking and teaching

Who are my clients? They can be brands, hotels, tour providers, non-profit organizations, travel boards and destination-based services. Usually, the companies or organizations I work with are aiming to go deep into their story or a message they hope to communicate through their product/service. My job is to either tell that story through my work, or to appropriately figure out how to do so effectively and creatively on their preferred medium or platform.

My job also includes my custom trips, and will evolve from there I’m sure. The direction my work has taken has developed organically, led by a desire to connect people to whatever is outside their comfort zones.

Currently, when confronted with the question, “What do you do?” I would answer that with “travel photographer.” But if you asked me this a couple of years ago, I would have said I was a blogger. If you look at my older photos on social media, most of them were of me, not by me. This is just one example of how creative careers evolve, shift, and change. There is no right answer, and there is no blueprint for how to do it.

Before starting this blog, I worked in outdoor education as a guide and trip leader. And before that, I was a student wondering what I was going to do with the rest of my life like many of my peers.

STARTING AT THE BEGINNING

I first found my love for photography in high school. My first camera was my dad’s old Nikon F camera. I shot mostly on black and white film, and loved the creativity and experimentation photography allowed me. I applied for art schools with my photography portfolio, and was accepted to the School of Art + Design at Purchase College. I got there and felt really intimidated. I come from a town where careers in art were not encouraged, and people told me I couldn’t make a living doing photography. I told myself the same. I changed my major to graphic design, thinking it was a more “employable” option.

 

I got a job at a summer camp after my freshman year. I saw it as an opportunity to do something different, meet new people, and make a positive difference in the life of kids or teenagers. That summer, I found out I loved being outside. I loved hiking, camping and nature. And I loved connecting with young people. I was also working at a mom & pop camping supply store during the school year, which helped me acquire the gear I needed.

The following fall, I got the idea to take my outdoor knowledge to another level entirely by doing a course with NOLS. I got my butt kicked on my 30-day program in Wyoming’s Wind River Range. But the course also challenged me in a big way, and gave me a deep appreciation for the outdoors and everything that getting outside of your comfort zone can teach you. You can read more about my NOLS experience here.

Spending 30 days in the wilderness impacted me so deeply that I got back to college and decided I wanted to study science. This was rather dynamic since I had already taken two years of visual arts classes. I talked with one of my advisors about drafting up a proposal for an unconventional interdisciplinary major that combined art and science. I proposed a course of study that allowed me to focus on both art and environmental studies, specifically in the area of marine ecology. It was approved. For that, I am incredibly grateful to my two advisors, one each in art and science, who advocated for me and believed I could pull it off.

The next summer, I got a job as a canoe guide for the Boy Scouts of America in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. It was my first time canoeing at this level, but I was fresh from my NOLS course, and loved learning the new skill set required. I had also come to enjoy spending my summers outside and challenging myself both physically and in my facilitation skills.

 

Coming back to school, I wanted more hands-on experience in the field with science. I had also never left the country, and was determined to do so. I asked my advisor in the sciences, a marine ecologist, if he had any colleagues abroad who might be interested in mentoring me in an internship. He did–– in Portugal. After significant logistics and planning, I took a leave of absence and spent a semester living in Portugal learning a whole lot about seaweed. You can read about my experience going to Portugal solo here.

LIVING OUT OF A BACKPACK

I got back from Portugal and wrapped up my college career with my interdisciplinary major. That winter, I started thinking about what I wanted to do after graduation. I thought I’d probably work as a guide again, and then apply for advanced programs in marine science.

I had built up enough outdoor experience that I was able to get a job leading adventure trips for teenagers in Europe. It was a step up from my previous guiding job, but had a lot of similarities in terms of leadership and group dynamics. I spent that summer leading trips in Spain, Italy and Greece, and I didn’t make much money, but I realized that this job could be a way for me to travel and do something positive with my time while I figured out the next step.

That summer turned into two years. I met my ex-partner and we traveled and worked as guides together in China, then moved to Australia, where we lived for 11 months. My partner’s goal for our year there was to take advantage of the strong Australian dollar and make a solid amount of money. Over the course of that year, I had many jobs. First I worked as a salesperson in a camping supply store full-time. Next, I worked at an iron ore mine site doing catering–– flying to the site and working 12 hours a day for 14 days straight, then flying home for a week off. My last job in Australia was my favorite one, finally doing something I was passionate about. I led wilderness trips for a company in Southeast Queensland for students from Hong Kong. This was one of my favorite outdoor education jobs to date.

 

After Australia, we spent four months in New Zealand. We worked on farms and lived outside most of the time. I learned how to budget wisely, and just how far a dollar can stretch if you prioritize your spending and value experiences over things. In Australia, we had each saved a significant 5-digit amount of money, so we were able to enjoy our time (without spending wildly) in New Zealand with that savings and still go home with a decent amount.

 

By the end of our time in NZ, we both felt it was time to go home. I took a summer job guiding in Alaska, and my partner went home to the UK. I spent a few weeks at my parents’ house before starting my summer gig, and during that time, I bought my first ever smartphone–– a $200 Motorola Moto G. Before that, I was the proud owner of many old Nokias (the kind that required T9). After spending over two years on the road, I had tons of photos (just from a point+ shoot camera) and stories to share. My friends and family asked me all the time about my job, about how I traveled for so long, and about my advice for making it possible financially. I had been feeling like starting a blog would be a smart choice, just to put all my thoughts in one place. Instagram seemed like a good place to start. I brainstormed names and landed on Erin Outdoors because it was catchy and available. I wasn’t sure if my Instagram or blog would ever become something, and I didn’t intend on it or expect it from the start, but I wanted to have a memorable name just in case I decided to pursue it on a larger scale.

I started posting photos on Instagram, and bought ErinOutdoors.com. Though I owned the domain name, it was six months before I did anything with it. After Alaska, I headed to Guatemala to visit a friend and work for a volcano hike company. After a couple of months in Antigua, I realized I was ready to set up a home base, and that I wanted to be in the States. I lined up a job working in the Colorado office of one of the teen adventure companies I had previously guided for. It was going to be my first office job and for once, I was really excited to be in one place.

I got to Colorado, found a place to live, and bought a car with the rest of the money I had saved from Australia. I had a few weeks of free time before my job started, and flew back to my parents’ house to visit for the holidays. I felt very strongly that I needed to start the blog then. I figured out how to install WordPress (you can learn pretty much anything from YouTube videos), got a free theme, and wrote a couple of posts. I didn’t really share that the blog existed far and wide at first. I wasn’t trying to make it big, I just wanted an outlet for my ideas.

I started at my new job and really enjoyed the structure of it. Having a full-time office job (my first) gave me the space and time to have an actual life outside of work. I made friends, I went on hikes by my house, I bought plants and a blender. I was blogging on the side, trying to stay disciplined with it, with the exception of the summer months.

Though I worked in the office, during the summer I led trips for the company. That summer, I led a couple of back-to-back trips in Costa Rica. When I got back to the office in Colorado, I was unexpectedly let go.

BECOMING A “BLOGGER”

Getting fired isn’t really something you plan for. At 25, I felt invincible, and it was a big surprise. In retrospect, it was one of the best things to happen to me, and I was naive to think that it wouldn’t. I had a couple of options: get another full-time job, or try to see if blogging was a potential income source. This was not the start of the blogging world–– there were well-known travel bloggers already making it. I would read and re-read their websites trying to figure out just how they made it possible for themselves. I wanted to know everything. I was reading so many blog posts from the same bloggers that I felt like I knew them in person.

With a few thousand dollars saved, I decided to take my newfound unemployment as an opportunity to go on a road trip both for personal and professional reasons. I had done a good amount of traveling internationally, but hadn’t seen much of the USA. I wanted to explore the National Parks, and had an idea to install a platform bed in my car. Here’s the set-up I ended up building. I put my room on Airbnb and left for about two months. I had bought an iPhone, borrowed a camera from a friend, and tried to take photos and write as much as I could along the way. This was also the first time I started meeting people from Instagram in real life, which still felt a little strange to me.

 

The experiences I had and the connections I made on that trip were a solid foundation for what my career would become. I didn’t know what I was going to do for work exactly, but I knew what kind of lifestyle I wanted, and I knew what I cared about. I knew I wanted to follow a sense of purpose in my work, and that I wanted to figure out how to make that possible.

When I got home to Colorado, I needed to find a job ASAP. I didn’t just get one job… I got several. I never stopped blogging, but I still wasn’t really sure how to monetize it, so it remained something I did on the side. At the time, I knew I wanted more experience with social media, and I already knew I had some skill in that area from growing my own Instagram account (to about 10k at that point).

I got a job as an intern for filmmaker Aly Nicklas in Boulder, and picked up a few social media accounts to manage for my friend Tiffiny Costello, who is a digital marketer. I was also house-sitting, dog-sitting and babysitting whenever I could. In addition, I picked up a part-time restaurant job, which ended up being the hardest of my jobs to quit when it came time. You can read about my restaurant job here.

While balancing my jobs, I started getting emails from brands inquiring about working with me. They wanted to send me products in exchange for a blog or Instagram post, and I was excited about the opportunity. Outdoor gear is expensive, and it was a huge win for me to get it on a trade basis. Through working with Aly, I was able to see what it was like to be on photo and video shoots for outdoor brands. I started to feel very limited by my camera set-up of my iPhone and a GoPro, so I bought my first Sony camera (Sony a5100). I helped run social media for the Born Wild Project and worked on various photo shoots for brands as a model or blogger. Meanwhile I started getting more inquiries from brands. I was experimenting with vlogging on YouTube and starting to take photography more seriously.

 

Over time, more emails were coming in and I started spending more of my time on paid blog content. Eventually, I had to quit most of my freelance jobs to focus on my blog and social media channels. I bought my first full-frame camera (Sony a7R ii), and started being more bold in my trip planning. I learned from trial-and-error how to pitch potential trips to brands and how to put together my package offerings. I even developed an trip that my followers could join me on–– a seven day custom adventure in Greece.

I started doing more photography. It felt like coming home. I started learning Lightroom & Photoshop and getting more comfortable with my camera. As my skill set expanded, I looked for jobs that were photography specific. I made more connections, I refined my proposals, I deepened my relationship with my existing clients, and I found a community of incredible people who were pursuing their own creative endeavors in ways I really admire.

I’m not sure if you ever get to a point where you really feel comfortable when you do what I do. If that does happen, then I’m not there yet. It’s still as much of a journey as it has always been.

MY BIGGEST STRUGGLES

UNCERTAINTY

With the exception of my 7 months at the 9-5 office job, I never had all of my income coming from one place. I have had extended projects and campaigns, but I always have to figure out what the next project is. I also don’t really know what the next year or five years will look like because I’m creating that future for myself. The uncertainty of all of that can be unnerving at times.

SELF DOUBT

There have been times when I felt completely unqualified. I felt like I didn’t really know what I was doing, or that I was not as knowledgeable as my peers. If I didn’t know how to do something, I’d feel self-conscious. I would compare myself to other people and wonder if I was doing things right. I even caught myself feeling guilty for getting certain jobs because I felt I was too much of a newcomer in the space. I now know that all of this is normal, but none of it is true–– doubt and imposter syndrome are both very real, especially for those who are trying to do their own thing or start something new.

FEAR OF FAILURE

Once I actually committed to trying to be a blogger and photographer, my fear of failure got loud. I am grateful that I’ve always been able to give myself a reality check that my personal worst-case scenario is not that bad, but fear still shows up. For me, it has revolved around what people will think of me if/when I fail, and that I won’t accomplish the things I want to. I have had to re-frame my fears and assure myself that no failure is worse than not trying in the first place. Every failure I’ve experienced has taught me something valuable.

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MY BIGGEST LEARNINGS

IT’S A PROCESS

A career is not something that is given to you in a complete package. It doesn’t appear out of thin air. A career is something that is built slowly and refined over time. It is made up of all the things you learn and re-learn, the mistakes you make, the failures you earn and each moment you get up afterward. Though sometimes I took an indirect route to each point on my journey, it all had a purpose. I think that is true for everyone, no matter how much things make sense (or how much they don’t) at any given point. My journey was not a straight road from point A to point B. It was about following my curiosity where it led me, and continuing to move in the direction that felt most purposeful.

IT’S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE

Another important point that I am always reminded of is that I could never have done this alone, nor would I have wanted to. There were moments early on where I would catch myself being cynical and acting like I could do it all by myself. But there is no way. You need help. Personally I had a lot of it. People shared their expertise and experience with me. They helped me through complicated times. They gave me their time, their advice, their attention, their connections, their support. Along the way, I have met some of the most inspirational people who constantly push me to be the best version of myself. The importance of networking is huge, but prioritizing nourishing and genuine relationships is what is really important. Never get so caught up in the business of it that you forget this!

DON’T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY

You can never take anything too seriously. When I was living in Australia working odd jobs, I stressed out so much because I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. I was so self-critical, and it prevented me from enjoying the moment. I now know that a tremendous amount of trust is required on this road if you want to, you know, actually enjoy your life. Remember to have friends, make time for them often, get outside, breathe, treat your body well, read, go to the movies, go to concerts, ride a bike. Just make sure you’ve got a life outside of work, and that you do things that have absolutely nothing to do with figuring out your life’s purpose from a career perspective. 😉

To some extent with my life/career-related posts, I feel like they all end the same way. Let go, be open to what happens, learn from your failures and enjoy the ride.

I hope this was helpful.

If you’re looking for practical tips or advice, check out the following posts, as themes are similar:

• How to Become an Adventure Photographer
• Getting Started with Photography
• How to Monetize your Passion
• 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Pursuing my Dream Job
• How to Start a Blog (Or Do Anything)

FULL BLOG ARCHIVE

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Feature photo taken by Renee Hahnel.

When is it OK to take a photo? When is it not OK?

I ask myself these questions on every trip. More specific questions include:

Should you ask? Will asking someone permission ruin the candid nature of the photo? Is it OK to not ask? Is it OK to take photos of someone’s property? Of someone’s children? Is it OK to take pictures of poverty? When is it exploitative? Is it OK for me to be in the photo myself? If I got inspiration from a particular photo, is it OK for me to take a photo of the same spot? Is it OK for me to imitate a concept? Is it OK for me to take a photo of a remote, beautiful or environmentally fragile place and post it on my social media channels with a geotag?

I could keep going, but you get the point. There are endless questions you can ask yourself when it comes to the ethics of travel photography.

There are no hard and fast rules for ethics when it comes to taking pictures when you travel, but just because you bought a plane ticket doesn’t mean you bought the rights to photograph every person and thing you see on your trip. There is so much to consider when taking photos while traveling, no matter what your subject is.

CONTEXT

As a traveler, you need to consider the context of your presence. Many lives have been and will be disrupted by tourism. Wherever you are, do the people actually want you to be there? Are you a welcomed visitor? This question is applicable for any situation you find yourself in with a camera. Be aware of the climate you are walking into (literally and figuratively), and understand that you are in someone else’s space, and that it is not a space you are inherently entitled to be in. Do not make yourself an intruder by acting entitled to anything, photos included.

Showing respect comes in many forms. Learn some of the language. Learn what kind of behavior is accepted, and do some research on what is found to be disrespectful in each place. Tune in to your intuition when it comes to feeling out a place or situation. Smile. Be considerate and pay attention to your surroundings.

Be careful about your language, before, during and after you travel. Many adventure photographers might describe the places they travel to as “unexplored”, “uncharted territory”, or “undiscovered”–– but these words invalidate the experience and history of indigenous groups who may have been living in the place for a very long time. I have certainly been guilty of using these words, and I am sure I’ll be checking myself on stuff like this forever. We need to remember that we are just guests passing through someone else’s home, and that should be greatly respected.

Something I think about often is the phrase “take a photo.” In many places Westerners travel, white Europeans have a violent and brutal history of taking things already: land, resources, and people. Knowing that you will be taking something away from your travels in the form of your experiences and images, ask yourself what you plan to give back. I am not necessarily talking about money or physical gifts, nor am I referring to temporary help in the form of voluntourism. I’m talking about being a net positive during your travels if at all possible, by thoroughly considering the context of every place you travel to and acting from the foundation of that knowledge.

PERMISSION

Should you ask permission to take someone’s photo? My answer to this question is yes, in a perfect world, you should. But do I always follow that rule? No, honestly I don’t.

Here’s an example: If I am shooting on a telephoto lens at a market and see a lady selling fruit and want to document that scene, I’d argue it is the right thing to do for me to walk over to her, ask if I can take her photo, then go back to my spot and get the photo once I have her permission. However, this might change her pose, or she might get confused at why I am going so far away, or the right moment may have passed by the time I go ask her and get back to the spot. So in these scenarios, I usually take the photo and ask for forgiveness afterward. In full honesty, sometimes I don’t ask for forgiveness. If they don’t notice me at all, sometimes I leave it at that. Some photographers would never do this. Some do this all the time. There are no clear rules.

 

If you’re looking to photograph a candid moment, it’s not really possible to find out if someone is OK with it until after the fact. This is a decision and viewpoint every individual photographer has to develop for themselves. My personal opinion is that if I am generally welcome in the space (with my camera), not being obtrusive, and not exploiting someone or their property, I usually feel comfortable taking the photo.

If you do get someone’s attention, you can usually tell if they do or do not want their photo taken.

“It is always important to respect others boundaries. The other person always does something that tells me it is okay for me to take their photo. A smile goes a long way in street photography. If you show openness and just overall friendliness, it makes the other person somewhat comfortable if that makes sense. If they show any sign of aggression or “no photo!” I simply walk away respectfully.” –Travel & street photographer Paola Franqui, aka monaris

When I am interacting with someone, that interaction is more important to me than the photo I might get. Be more interested in the person than you are in the photo you might take of them. The photo is just a bonus.

I might say hello or sit down with someone if it doesn’t feel awkward. I might buy something from them if they are selling crafts. If they continue talking with me, I might point at my camera and ask if is is OK to take their photo. If they say yes, I will show them the photos after, and we might continue talking. I’ll stick around for a while if we are having a good time. And sometimes, the camera can be a conversation starter once you are acquainted–– sometimes people want to show their friends and have you take more photos of them. It all just depends on the situation.

 

People are not museum exhibits, so don’t treat them like they are. It’s so important to be open. Talk to people. Learn some of their language. Learn their name. Learn how to say it correctly. Sit with them if they welcome you to. Be willing to laugh at yourself. And consider doing all of this before reaching for your camera.

When it comes to photographing children, I personally very rarely will ever photograph a child without the explicit permission of their parent or guardian. Sometimes that permission is a nod or a smile. Consider what you’d do in your home country and go from there.

Sometimes when we travel, our excitement clouds our judgment and we do things we would never find appropriate at home. Take a moment and filter yourself. You want your photography to be an act of respect, not an act of exploitation. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. If you look at a photo you took and it makes you feel uncomfortable, well, it probably feels that way for a reason.

For me personally, taking photos of people on my travels felt awkward at first. I learned what is and is not OK because I learned to form a relationship with the people I am photographing. When you form a relationship with someone, even if it is a brief interaction, you learn a bit of their story and you can tell relatively quickly if it is appropriate or not for you to document it.

INTENT

Why are you taking the photo? What is the story you want to tell? It helps to get clear on this.

As you know, travel photography does not exist for the photographer to brag about all the cool places they have gone, so if your reason has something to do with showing off your travels, I urge you to re-consider your intention. Most locals don’t care about being a part of your “authentic” travel experience. 😉 So if you are photographing another human being, ask yourself why. What are you hoping to convey with the images you are taking?

The reason I bring up this subject is that images are powerful, and storytelling is a skill. My hope is that photography does not contribute to the exploitation of (often poor) people around the world, but the fact is, I would not be writing this saga of a post if it did not carry that possibility.

Speaking for myself personally, I hope to communicate the beauty of a person, but not oversimplify their situation. I hope to show the complexity of their culture, not exotify it. I hope to make my viewers think deeper, not gloss over images of the planet they live on. I hope to show what is real and true, and never sugarcoat things for my own benefit or the comfort of my audience. And I always hope to preserve dignity.

What you intend to communicate is up to you as the artist. Make it a deliberate choice, then do everything you can to bring that intention to life.

COMPENSATION

Should you pay someone to take their photo? When would this kind of thing be appropriate? This can be a complex issue, and may or may not be appropriate depending on context and where in the world you are.

If you took a photo of the guy selling onions at a market, then buy a couple onions. Yeah, I know you probably have no use for onions, but it’s the right thing to do, in my opinion. If you took a photo of a woman selling bracelets she made, buy something. It is a pretty simple thing and creates a relationship with them besides just you taking their photo and leaving like many other tourists might.

In some areas of the world, posing for photos can be a way for people to make money. Recently I spent some time on Inle Lake in Myanmar, where many fishermen do not actually fish–– instead they pose in traditional outfits for tourist boats. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? On one hand, posing for tourists may be preferred work and/or easier physically, depending on the individual. On another hand, an income earned in this way is dependent on foreigners… often of the same race as the people who make decisions that harm the country/location in question. This is a rich and deep issue, and I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all answer.

Another question: from a journalistic standpoint, if you pay someone to pose for you, is that photo really true and authentic? If it is set up, is it warping the fundamentals of photography? Is staging OK if done outside of the context of documentary-based work?

I hope that by asking yourself these questions, you can form your own opinion.

RESPECT

So far, a lot of what I talked about here has a lot to do with respecting people and culture, and I think that is obvious. But this can and should be stretched to more specific things–– as travelers, I believe we should be respecting rules, regulations, guidelines, laws, traditions, private property, privacy, and wildlife.

Just logistically speaking, not abiding by rules in certain countries could get you in trouble or even land you in jail. But in terms of basic empathic and considerate behavior, it’s important to think about whether or not it is appropriate to photograph certain things. Religious structures, sensitive ceremonies, and certain celebrations or traditions, for example. You are representing not only yourself, but foreigners as a whole, and your behavior (positive or negative) reflects on other visitors as well.

Within this topic is respecting Leave No Trace principles if you’re outside or camping, and abiding by regulations that prohibit drones in certain areas (US & Canadian National Parks, for example).

For wildlife photography, feeding animals is never OK in my opinion. I believe you should pay attention to an animal’s cues–– they will show you how they feel about your presence. If you are scaring or threatening them, their body language will tell you that.

 

Sometimes, the respectful thing to do is to put your camera away.

VISITING A TRIBE

Because we are talking about travel photography, I think it is worth talking about tribal visits. Visiting with a tribe is something travelers might seek out to learn about a culture different than theirs and expand their travel experience. If you are visiting with a tribe, make sure you are doing it in a way that the tribal members have approved, and that your visit actually benefits them (read: you are paying them directly). I have heard stories and can certainly imagine that it is easy for tribal members to get ripped off here, so do the necessary research that your money is actually getting to them, and that it is not being pocketed by your tour guide or driver.

Tribal visits are one way for tribes (common in Africa, but also Asia) to make money, especially as the lasting impact of colonialism and climate change has drastically changed their way of life. Some tribal visits can be booked through tour companies, or you might try to get a word-of-mouth recommendation for a guide once you’re on the ground. Unfortunately, not all visits are positive experiences for the tribe, or for the visitor.

Being respectful does not come easily for all travelers. I watched a carload of tourists unload in a Thai hill-tribe village, distribute candy and whistles to the village kids along with flags from their home country, take photos like they were at a zoo, and take off again loudly in their 4×4’s. I asked a local woman I was sitting with what she thought of this. She said, “not so good.” I can’t even imagine what an understatement that must have been for her, and how ironic it was that she was saying it to a western tourist (me).

 

In another scenario, I watched tourists pull over at the entrance gate of a luxury resort where tribal members were selling jewelry. They got out of their vehicle, took photos of these people, and got right back in to check in to their chalet… a resort built on ancestral homeland, from which the indigenous group receives little to no money. Can you see why these behaviors are completely inappropriate?

I am willing to bet if you are reading this that you are not looking to treat people like this, but you should know that it happens, because you will see it happening all around you especially if you are aware of it. So please be intentional with your actions, and ask your fellow travelers thoughtful questions about their behavior when they take photos on their trip.

If you want to bring a gift to a tribe, make it something that the people actually want or need, not just candy or a noisemaking toy because that’s what you think they’d want. Do not go if you are sick. People living in remote areas often do not have access to the same healthcare that you do. Ask permission if you are not sure: permission to take photos, permission to pick up a toddler, permission to enter an area of the village. Don’t assume you are entitled to anything. The terms of your visit should be agreed upon, or you should not be there. If you are considerate and the group welcomes you, visiting with a tribe or local indigenous group can be a great experience, and one I would recommend.

SELFIES

It is no secret that social media puts the focus on the individual. People are now personal brands. I would also argue that it has become cool to show photos of yourself doing altruistic things. Did you really volunteer if there’s no picture of you surrounded by 5-10 smiling (non-white) children, who are just so “happy even though they have nothing”? I am not only referring to the do-good stuff, but also just fun and out-of-the-ordinary travel experiences. Did you really eat a fried bug if there isn’t a video of you to prove it? Did you really saunter through the market if your friends and family don’t have visual proof? I am not saying this type of imagery is inherently negative, but I want to encourage us to think more about it.

Be careful what you pose with, and how you pose with it. Be respectful of religious sites, family businesses, statues and the like. The same goes for people. If you want a photo of yourself with local kids, ask yourself why. What is the photo about? If you’re in it, then well, at least partly, the photo is about you. I know you probably don’t view other human beings as accessories, so make sure that isn’t what you are accidentally communicating photographically.

I don’t think there is a hard line that says all of this type of imagery is problematic, I just think it is important to consider it. Having a photo of yourself in a place can be a wonderful reminder of your time there. I have lots of photos like this of myself. But I know looking back which ones were in good integrity, and which ones I took so I could later post them on Facebook. At the time, I might have told myself I was taking those photos with clean and clear intentions, but when I reflect back, I know it was just because I wanted to look cool and worldly. The only person who will really be able to tell is you, and you will know in your gut what feels right and what feels icky.

POST-PROCESSING

With powerful editing tools, we are able to easily change many things about a photo, from the color of the sky, to the scale of just about anything. A photographer’s editing decisions can transform an image to something much more impressive than it was as a RAW file. However, extreme editing of images can be misleading in certain scenarios. It is up to the photographer to decide what is acceptable.

When it comes to respectfully displaying culture through your photography, the amount of editing you do matters. Whereas I might get super creative with colors and lights/darks in my landscape images, I would never make any huge changes in a photo of a person where it mattered to their story. I don’t want to tell a story that was not true to how I saw it. Alternatively, I might edit an image heavily if the edit lends itself to the way I felt when I took the image.

One recent example of a choice I personally made in post-processing is in my images from visiting a Himba village in Namibia. I didn’t want to evoke a possible feeling of pity from the viewer, so I chose to Photoshop out a couple of flies and some stray stuff from my subject’s face and hair. Was it the right choice to make these edits? I’m not sure there is one. Here’s the before and after:

 

In another case, I changed the colors in the sky drastically. I liked this change stylistically, and I felt that the edit was consistent with how the scene felt in the moment. I posted this image on social media, and it’s likely that my audience assumed that these were the natural colors of the sunset that night. They weren’t.

 

Editing is a stylistic choice. Personally, I usually do not like to stretch my images too far from the reality of how it felt being there, but “too far” is completely relative. Some photographers are digital artists too, and create mind-blowing fantastical composites of their images. I think these are completely valid (and beautiful) too. What are the limits of photo manipulation? Should an image only be allowed to portray 100% reality?

You may completely disagree with my post-processing choices here, and that’s OK. These decisions are up to the individual to make.

POSTING & PUBLISHING

Most of us want to share our work, but with the ease of sharing online, you don’t always know where your photo will end up, or what the ramifications of that might be. Here’s an example: the featured photo of this article. I had this woman’s permission to take her photo, but did she know it would be used in a blog post and that thousands of people would see it? I can’t be sure. And yet, I am making a conscious decision to use her photo because her pose and expression communicates discernment, something I want to convey in this blog post. Some people might not agree with my choice to use this picture of her here, and I would understand that.

In the outdoor community, it is common for people to get upset, and rightfully so, if someone posts a photo of a tent at the edge of a pristine alpine lake, or a photo of a hammock set up across fragile trees. Not only might these activities be harmful to the environment and prohibited, but the act of posting images like this on social media could mean that more people go to these areas and engage in these activities, which then creates a domino effect. Monkey see, monkey do.

 

Once you post a photo, it departs the confines of your camera, computer and imagination and gets given to the viewer… and to the internet. You don’t have control over an image anymore after posting it on social media. Ask yourself what that photo will mean when it stands alone, without your words or experience or defense.

Think twice before posting a photo that oversimplifies a complicated issue or displays something out of context. I’m not saying it’s always wrong–– I am just saying it is worthy of your consideration.

If you have taken photos of an endangered species, especially one that faces a poaching threat, be sure to wipe your metadata. Poachers have been known to take advantage of the ignorance of tourists by using their geotags and metadata from their images to locate individual animals. Here is an excellent resource on removing metadata, compiled by photographer Olwen Evans and shared with me by Rob Moffett from Ongava Game Reserve.

It’s entirely possible that someone could unknowingly publish a photo that could identify someone breaking the law or doing something that could be seen as such by their government. Sometimes as the photographer, we get swept up in the moment and in our own excitement of documenting and creating, but something that seems arbitrary to us could heavily impact someone else.

INSPIRATION VS. COPYING

There are so many photographers that inspire me, and I follow most of them on social media. As with any art form, as artists, we’ll always be inspiring each other and drawing our inspiration from the community at least some of the time. Everyone does it, and it’s not like there are that many truly original thoughts, concepts or ideas in the world.

When is it OK to get inspired by someone, and when does that turn into straight up copying them? Where is the line? I think it is usually clear to see when an image is an exact copy, versus cases where someone may have been inspired by another photographer and shot the same location, or a different scene in a similar style.

I am all for inspiration, but much like plagiarism in writing, exact copying is never OK.

Personally speaking, there have been cases where I have noticed people taking my writing word-for-word, or certain phrases that I always use, and putting them in their Instagram bios or on their blogs. Usually these are folks who are aspiring bloggers or photographers themselves… and I do notice. If you copy another photographer, especially one you look up to, it does not reflect well on you.

Getting inspiration from someone else is fine… we all do it! And it is totally expected that we experiment with different styles, especially when starting out. But there is a line between inspiration and stealing.

SELLING & LICENSING

If you end up with the opportunity to sell your images, either as prints or by licensing the rights, congrats! It is exciting that people want to purchase your work.

If the photo in question is a portrait, and you do not have a signed model release, you will have to ask yourself if it’s in your integrity to license or sell a print of that photo, knowing the person in the photo will never see any of the money you made. They might never know you did it, but that doesn’t make it right.

On the other hand, selling a print of a portrait might mean your work is displayed in someone’s home or office. Maybe it’s a conversation starter. Maybe it touches someone and encourages them to see the world or research conservation issues. Maybe this is a stretch… but maybe it’s not.

If you plan to sell your photos from the beginning, I recommend making sure you can legally (and ethically) shoot at your proposed location, and that your models, if applicable, are fully informed and have signed something confirming their understanding.

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There are photographers I greatly respect with a wide range of opinions on everything I have discussed above. My opinions are not unique, but there are plenty of folks who oppose them, too. These can be incredibly controversial issues and are questions every individual photographer should ask themselves.

Any photographer can tell you that they have taken photos they should not have taken. Our stances on issues change over time. I am sure I have invaded privacy, and even exploited people for the sake of a photo, and that is both selfish and self-involved. If this happens to you and you feel as though you have overstepped a boundary, learn from it and apply that moving forward.

Photography is powerful. I have always believed that. As the photographer, you have moral and ethical responsibilities. By taking a photo, and by sharing it, you have the responsibility to preserve and communicate your subject’s dignity. Do not take this responsibility lightly. Like so much else in photography, travel photography requires being in tune with your intuition–– paying attention to what feels right and wrong, and using your intellect on top of that to question the implications of the photograph you are taking.

There is a lot to think about here, but it is all in the interest of being the best and most responsible photographers we can be. Hopefully by thinking through these topics, we can create impactful images that catalyze and promote positive change in the world.

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This is a hefty topic, and I’m sure I left some things out that should be discussed. Let me know in the comments.

Feature photo of a Himba woman in Namibia in her village outside of Opuwo, taken with permission.

Travel: it’s magical, life-changing, soul shifting, beautiful, fun, and freeing. At least that’s what it’s supposed to be, right? That’s how it looks from the outside. All highlight reel and no struggle. All mountaintops and no sweaty climb. All peaceful sailing trips and no violent puking off the side of the boat.

There are countless lists on why we should “just go”, and it totally makes sense for these things to be inspirational and aspirational. Travel is all of those things. But nobody tells you about the doubt, anxiety, or depression– and loudest of all, guilt– that comes with the amazing stuff.

It’s easier to talk about what’s easy, and it’s more fun to share what’s beautiful. But you have permission to struggle.

On my first big solo trip, I felt like I was failing. I was drowning in doubt, and I felt so guilty about it. It was hard and I was surprised. I didn’t expect it to be hard. I was going down and I was bringing my dreams with me.

I wondered what I was doing wrong. I had it all planned out: a place to live, an internship, cheap flights to neighboring cities on the weekends. But I didn’t factor in my own loneliness and inexperience. It didn’t occur to me that it was at all possible that a wide range of emotions and challenges would still exist in this new, more photogenic setting.

Nothing was wrong with me. Nothing is wrong with you either.

We are human. It’s unfair to assume that all of our challenges will evaporate just because of a change in location. In fact, the stuff we’re working on at home will often get a lot louder for us when we travel. When we’re in a new place, when we’re living in circumstances that are different than what we are used to, all of our self-critique, bad habits, and anxieties are magnified. And travel is the zoom lens. It’s the microscope.

You are not doing anything wrong.

A few places I have had a bad time: Portugal, Spain, Australia, China, New Zealand, Costa Rica. Mountains, beaches, waterfalls. Postcard-worthy locations where my anxiety drowned everything else out. Add in the acute awareness that travel is a massive and wonderful privilege in the first place, and guilt will follow you around like a cartoon raincloud. After all, you chose to be here, so why are you whining? I’ve often asked myself that.

Look. You are allowed to have a bad time. It is normal, and it is most likely temporary. And if it isn’t, you can go home. Going is just as much of a choice as staying is.

For most people, including me, travel is hard. Especially solo travel. There are a lot of logistics. Unknowns. Language barriers. Lost luggage. Questions within yourself that you thought you’d addressed. Feelings you thought you dealt with but surprise, here they are again.

Things will go wrong. You’ll look around like, “daaaang, who is gonna deal with this shit right now?” and realize… oh, it’s me. Yep. I am going to deal with it.

You will stress out about making friends, and you’ll wonder how everyone else in the hostel already knows each other. You will rehearse openers and practice them in your head. And maybe you’ll try convince yourself that you don’t need to make any friends– at least then you wouldn’t have to put yourself out there. You wouldn’t have to take the risk.

Travel is full of risk. And at times, you’ll feel inadequate, you’ll get lost, you’ll wonder why you put yourself in this situation to begin with. So let the guilt go– it’s not serving you. Feel what you’re feeling. There is no shame in admitting that you’re having a bad time. Let the shame go too.

Maybe you’re reading this because your trip isn’t seamless. Know that it’s normal, and perfectly so. It’s part of the process. It’s not supposed to be easy, and there isn’t one quick fix, because these matters are complicated. They are matters of the heart. They are matters of the self. They are woven within our identities and our connection to the world. It’s no surprise– we are just trying to find our place here.

It’s OK to have a bad time. It’s OK to wonder why. Be kind to yourself. See it, own it, and get on with the show.

As a result of seeking an adventurous life through travel, I have met many people.

Amazing people. People who have changed me and the maze of my life forever.

But the really interesting thing– perhaps a simple idea– is that I also met myself.

Being alone in the unknown is never comfortable, and discomfort does things to us that ease and routine cannot. It pushes our buttons, forces us to confront ugly things we’d rather ignore, and teaches us about beauty and truth.

When I replay the montage of all the random and hard and gorgeous fleeting moments of my life, I see all the ways in which I got to know myself. All the scenes where I looked into my heart, and proclaimed that I’d see it for what it was.

I see the loneliness standing on the roof of my apartment in Portugal, my anxiety loud as sirens. And I remember doubting very much, at 21, that I had any idea of who I was.

I see meeting one of the loves of my life at a campsite in Belgium, and knowing he was important. And I see us two years later in Christchurch, crying in our hotel room, not knowing if we would ever hold each other that way again.

I see myself in the eyes of every ex-lover, the ones I knew for a night in cities I did not know well. The ones I never even touched physically, but who shared a conversation through broken English or Spanish, and in doing that, shared a part of themselves.

I see myself under a beat up old red barn, covered in hay, shoveling bags of sheep shit.

I see myself walking through caves of glow worms and thinking they looked like the whole universe.

I see dusty motorcycle rides and boats that made me seasick. I see the faces of all the people who were and are all on their own grand adventure, and it’s beautiful to me to know that I shared a brief moment in time with them. Just knowing that is so powerful. And it’s naïve. But it’s enough.

I have never been able to afford nice hotels or nice restaurants, and sometimes I think it might be nice to travel that way, but for me it’s never been about the comfort, and it might never be.

It’s about the deep brown in the eyes of the woman you met on the streets of Budapest; the way her hair smelled like jasmine and dust.

It’s about the whiskey you did not need to drink, the moon bright on the jagged peaks and pine trees, the wobble in your steps on the walk back to your cabin on icy roads.

It’s about the loneliness, the beauty, the glow worms– all the places you meet yourself over and over again, deeply, profoundly.

The depth and variety within the flip book of your life is easy to forget about. We get sucked in to our daily mundane. We forget about all of these moments we have lived.

When you remember all the places you met yourself– the places you can put on a map and the places you could never even name– you remember that it is all so, so worth watching. And worth experiencing in the first place.