Through the Gadling Lens: photo gifts for Mother’s Day

by Karen Walrond on

Last week, my friend Willy pinged me via instant message: “Hey, do you have any ideas on how I can share photos? I have a ton of them sitting on my hard drive doing nothing.” I know the problem: if it weren’t for the fact that I had a photoblog, I’m sure most of my photographs would never see the light of day. But since we’re approaching Mother’s Day here in the United States, it occurs to me that using your photographs for some great Mother’s Day gifts might be a cool way to share some of your best travel photos. And so this week, I thought I’d share some of the best ideas I could find for Mother’s Day. So read up and take note: time is running out.
Gifts for the Mom Who Doesn’t Understand Why, If You’re Traveling All the Time, You Can’t Stop In and See Your Mother Once In a While

Both my husband and I aren’t from the United States, and therefore, we have family all over the world. And as you can imagine, if we take a trip to somewhere other than where our family is located, they Aren’t Always Happy. So sometimes, it helps to send them lovely photographs of their children and grandchildren having Lovely Happy Family Time in far-off places, so that they can think, “Ah, well, our children are happy, that’s all that matters.”

Or something.

Anyway, here are some gifts we’ve given in the past that seem to have scored pretty high:

a) Photo books: Everywhere you turn these days, you can upload your photographs to a website or a software application, a few clicks here and there, and badda-bing, a credit card number later and a bound volume of your photographs appears at your (or your mom’s) doorstep. Most of these services even let you customize your own photo captions, with things like “Mom, as we were sitting here staring at this beautiful sunset, I was overcome with emotion thinking about the love you have shown me all these years,” or something equally heartfelt and sincere. Ahem.

Some of my favourite services:

Qoop — an online service where you can upload your photographs, or even better, simply suck them out of your Flickr account. Softbound books start from as little as US$ 12.99, and hardbound books at US$ 29.99, each of them 20 pages long. Very simple to use, and books are of decent quality.

Blurb — another online service that helps you create “bookstore quality books.” Browsing through some of their “staff picks,” and you’ll see the beautiful work that’s possible to be created using their service. Mom will definitely be impressed.

iPhoto — If you have a Mac, don’t forget the iPhoto software that came free with your computer — the software comes with free templates that help you customize your photos into softbound or hardbound books, which you can then order online.

b) Digital Photo Frames: I actually purchased one of these for my dad on a Father’s Day gone by, and this might actually be his favourite gift from me ever. This wireless photo frame has its own e-mail address, and I merely email photographs to this frame, and the photograph magically appears on his desk. This is a particularly effective if your parents also happen to be grandparents — trust me, once they receive pictures of your little cherub having the time of their life in some beautiful paradise, they’ll forgive you for traveling so much. Just Google “digital picture frame” to find the thousands available for purchase (remember, your Mom is going to have to have an internet connection to make this work).

Gifts for the Mom You’re Married To, But Now That The Baby Is Here, Who Knows When Your Next Trip Is Going to Happen

Ah, remember that wonderful trip you took — the safari, perhaps, or the mountain climbing expedition — as your last hurrah before the baby came? Nowadays, as your little bundle of joy keeps you awake at obscene hours of the morning, it might look like you may never travel like that again. Mother’s Day is a great opportunity to have some prints made and featured for when the baby finally naps, and Mom has a few moments to reminisce about the intrepid old days. So in addition to the photobooks above, here are some of my favourite ideas.

a) Create a photo wall — Have a wall in your home that you’ve been wondering what to do with? Create a photo memory wall: pick some of your favourite shots from one of your previous trips, and have them printed to a similar size. Then buy some matching frames (IKEA has some great inexpensive ones, as do most hobby or craft supply stores), and arrange accordingly. For inspiration, be sure to check out some of the images on Flickr.

b) Create a photo lantern — Feeling handy? Then check out this great little do-it-yourself project courtesy of the amazing design site, decor8. The entire project takes relatively few supplies, and with the help of battery operated tea lights, your photographs will be highlighted with a warm romantic glow — a great way to feature those lovely shots you took in the back streets of Rome or from a balcony in Santorini. And with warm weather just around the corner, Mom will love sitting outside with these memories all around her. Full instructions can be found here.


Gifts for the Mom Who Is Morally Opposed to Email

Finally, perhaps the mom in your life is like mine: email’s cute and all, but nothing beats a lovely, thoughtful, handwritten note. So why not use your photographs to create stationery for your mom? There are really great services which will allow you to upload your images and create custom stationery: tiny*prints is one, for example. However, my favourite way of creating stationary is to simply print 4″x6″ prints of my favourite shots, and then purchase some blank 5″x7″ folded notecards (available at most arts & crafts stores). Then I simply adhere 8 prints on 8 notecards with 8 envelopes, tie the stack with a pretty ribbon and voila — totally personalized stationery for my mom, featuring my favourite images, from places all over the world. And trust me on this — when you give you mom this gift, and she realizes her baby made it especially for her, just like he did when he was in kindergarten? Dude, you’ll be rolling in maternal goodwill for months.

Hopefully this helped provide a few great ideas for using your travel shots for some Mother’s Day gifts. Now get out there and get your presents together — Mother’s Day is only 3 days away. And next week, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled Through the Gadling Lens.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: self-portraits!

by Karen Walrond on

A confession:

I hate having my picture taken. Hate it. When someone offers to take my photograph, I immediately respond, “Oh, no. No, no, no. I was designed to be behind the camera, not in front of it.”

You can imagine what a joy I am to travel with.

The result, of course, is that I rarely, if ever, end up in any holiday photographs. So this week, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about taking your own self portraits while on holiday. That way, you never have to worry about someone getting your “bad side.” Besides, earlier this week, Heather Poole mentioned she’d like me to lay down some tips on how to take your portrait in an airplane lavatory. Far be it from me not to rise to the occasion.
The time-honoured Stretch-Your-Arm-Out Method

Probably the most common way of taking a self portrait is to put your camera in your shooting hand, take your arm, stretch it out in front of you, and aim and shoot at yourself. It sounds pretty simple, right? What techniques could possibly be needed for this?

I didn’t used to think that there were any tricks to taking your portrait this way, but when I visited my friend Susannah Conway in Bath, England this past fall, I learned that, in fact, there’s a whole process to taking a photo in this way.

First of all, this really only works well with a point-and-shoot. It is possible to do this with a single lens reflex camera, of course, but SLRs tend to be somewhat heavy and bulky, and it can be a bit cumbersome to stretch one arm out and hold the camera steady to take the shot.

Secondly, it turns out, there’s sort of a sweet spot to holding the camera. “Let me take the shot,” said Susannah. “There’s a particular way I have to hold my camera.” She immediately put one arm around me, and held her camera up and to the left.

“Really? There?”

“Yup, trust me,” she said. And then she smiled and took the shot.

As it turns out, when looking at the self portraits of others taken this way, most of the really good ones have been taken using this method: camera held slightly to one side and slightly upward. I think there are a couple of reasons for this:

a) By holding the camera somewhat elevated, you minimize the possibility of any double chins, and your face and neck look leaner; and

b) By holding the camera slightly off centre, you’re more likely to minimize any distortion that can be cause by a camera with a lens angle that might be too wide for portraiture. Also, holding the camera slightly off centre maximizes the possibility that you’ll get some of the background into the shot (which is always good for remembering where you took the shot years from now).

A couple of additional examples:

What makes this great shot by Joshua Yetman so fantastic is the emotion that’s displayed: Josh and his wife Avi were celebrating their first anniversary, and their affection for each other is palpable. In addition, by having the camera just slightly off centre, you can see Grenada behind them — there’ll be no question where this shot was taken years from now.

And under the heading “Don’t try this at home, folks”:

This photograph was taken by my crazy husband, while on a cycling trip in the Canadian Rockies a few years ago. While I would HARDLY recommend taking a photograph of yourself while moving at about 17 miles an hour down the road, I have to admit this is a pretty cool shot: you can see the intensity on his face as he concentrates on the road, but he also manages to capture the beautiful mountains behind. Great shot.

The Shoot-Into-A-Mirror Method

This is probably the second most common way to take a self portrait: aiming at your reflection in a mirror. In this case, the main thing to remember is to turn off your flash. Think about it — you’re shooting into a mirror. If you take a picture with your flash on, 9 times out of 10 you’re going to get a picture of … your flash. The other time you might get lucky, but why take that chance?

Turning off your flash necessarily means that to get a decent shot, you’re going to have to be mindful of the available light around you (and for the purposes of those of you who will be taking your shot in an airplane toilet, that might not be a whole lot). For this reason, you’re going to want to check your ISO to make sure that it’s adequate for the ambient light — then aim, and shoot.

For a few other tips, let’s take a look at some examples:

Now normally, I would tell you to move the camera from your face when you take a photograph of your reflection — but in this case, I love this shot by Josh. Taken in an elevator when he and his wife were vacationing in Antigua, the shot works because while his face his hidden, he managed to catch his wife checking her look in the mirror — which, after all, is what a mirror is designed to do. A fun shot.


In this shot by my friend Andrea Scher, she capture herself in the rear view mirror of a bright orange VW van, while visiting her friend in Seattle. She also managed to get a little bit of the surroundings in the shot, as well, which helps place her in context. Another fun self portrait.

And incidentally, when taking a self portrait, keep in mind that your reflection doesn’t necessarily need to take up the majority of the frame of the shot — in fact, oftentimes a small reflection can make a much more intriguing image. Case in point: the following shot, also by Andrea:

Andrea says one of her favourite things to do when visiting someone’s home is to take a self portrait in their bathroom — and this is a very cool portrait which clearly brings your focus on the surroundings (helped by the fact that Andrea wasn’t looking into the mirror at the time she took the shot, so she directs your attention away from the mirror). I love this idea — and it might prompt me to start taking photographs in bathrooms of places in all of my future travels (or even in the lav, as suggested by Heather!).

Finally, one more mirror shot, this time by Susannah:


Another great example of how minimizing your reflecti
on and maximizing the surroundings can help create amazing context — this was pretty obviously shot at an open air market in London. Great image.

And finally, there’s one more way you can take your self portrait:

The Just-Give-A-Hint-That-I-Was-There Method

In this case, you don’t actually concentrate on capturing a nice crisp focused shot of your face; instead, you simply try to capture the ambiance of your surroundings, with a more subtle indication of your presence there. As it turns out, Susannah is a master at this type of self portrait, as shown in the following shots:

Similar to the mirror shot, Susannah took this shot of her reflection in a window — and therefore the focus is on the street behind her, and she appears as merely a prop on the resulting image.

And finally, the above shot of Susannah’s feet: in this case, Susannah wasn’t trying to capture her feet, per se, but the memories of what she was feeling and experiencing right at that very moment on that cold, rocky English beach. In this case, the photograph is a tool to record emotion, rather than to document scenery.

Hopefully, this will give you a few ideas for capturing your own self portraits, whether in airplane bathrooms or beyond. And as always, if you have any questions, you can always contact me directly at karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom – and I’m happy to address them in upcoming Through the Gadling Lens posts.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: the most overrated photography-related items take on a trip

by Karen Walrond on

Every now and then, while I’m out in public, I’ll see someone who clearly was seduced by the “coolness” of a camera-related item or gadget, but who clearly has no idea what it does. (A most recent case in point: at my daughter’s Christmas recital, a man with an expensive SLR camera, a 300mm lens and a flash that was worth more than my car. Umm, excuse me, sir? You’re focusing on something that is about a GYMNASIUM LENGTH AWAY. Your flash is doing absolutely nothing to help you with that shot. Really. It’s not.) Similarly, while on a trip, I’ll occasionally notice fellow tourists traveling with items that seem … well, let’s just say … overkill for the purposes of a leisurely family vacation. So lest you get seduced by all the bells and whistles of various photography gadgets out there, I thought I’d share with you some of the items which, in my opinion, are completely useless when coming to photography when traveling on leisure (although, admittedly, there might be some uses for them in other photography applications. MIGHT be.)
1. A photographer’s vest. I know, I know — when you watch a television adventure reality show, and you see the intrepid traveler on safari wearing his elaborate photographer’s vest, there is just something about him that looks tragically hip and incredibly cool, right? And perhaps, if you happen to be a photographer for National Geographic, you’ll be able to pull it off that look with aplomb. The thing is? Very few of us are National Geographic photographers. Furthermore, if you’re walking around the beach at the resort in your laden photographer’s vest, while the rest of us are sitting in our swimsuits drinking fruity drinks with little paper umbrellas floating in them, no one is going to believe you’re a National Geographic photographer. Besides, those vests are heavy and sweaty. And often unintentionally broadcast the message “Mug me — I’m carrying expensive camera gear, and God knows what else.” Go ahead and leave them at home.

“But, Karen!” I hear some of you protesting, “I have to carry … things! I need those pockets!”

Really, you don’t. You can take a daypack like the rest of us. Or better still, just stick the lens cap in your swimsuit, shorts or cover-up pocket while you shoot. It’ll be fine. Trust me.

2. A full-size tripod. I know I’ve mentioned in the past that there are some great uses for a tripod: particularly if you’re shooting in low light, and don’t want to pull out a flash. But have you ever looked at the size of a tripod? They’re big. And they’re somewhat heavy. And while they might actually fit under the seat in front of you (or in the overhead bin above your seat), they may not actually fit in your carry-on, and then you’ll be over the carry-on-bag-number limit, and then where would you be? They’re bulky, and annoying, and really, best left at home. You’re not going to want to pull it out when you’re on site, trust me.

Still, I will admit that there may be an occasion or two where you’d like to have the support of a tripod — like, for example, if you’re taking a photograph in a cave. In this case, I would strongly recommend grabbing a Gorillapod and throwing it into your carry-on bag. They’re light, flexible, and can be used pretty much anywhere. It will definitely be all you need.

3. A GPS adapter for your camera. I’d never actually heard of these little gadgets until my husband clued me in: apparently these handy little systems allow you to “to ‘geotag’ your images with valuable information such as latitude, longitude, altitude and time information.” Which, you know, sounds kind of cool until you look at the price: anywhere from US$ 150-220.

Um… excuse me?

Okay, pardon me for asking, but why would I possibly want to spend this kind of money on a gadget that, in theory, tells me exactly where I was and what time it was when I took the photograph? Wouldn’t I already know that? And besides, most cameras — both SLRs and point-and-shoots — will already time stamp images. All I’d need to do when I got back in front of my computer is pull up Google Earth and input my location, and the application will spit out the associated latitude and longitude … for free.

Again, I suppose it is possible that there are some professional photographers which will find this little tool invaluable — the photographer assistant to Indiana Jones or some other archeologist or geologist, say — but for those of us who are just taking beautiful pictures of picturesque places or stunning faces to remember, I’d say we should just save our money for a cool new lens, instead.

4. A removable flash. An admission before I begin: I am not particularly big on flash photography. I find that, in general, using a flash creates a clearly artificial light effect on the resulting image (undesirable unless you’re sitting in a studio, or shooting a wedding); in addition, in most instances, a comfortable knowledge of ISO, shutter speed and aperture setting obviates the need for a flash altogether, anyway. I own quite a fancy flash, thanks to a generous husband who gave it to me as a Christmas gift several years ago, but the truth is that I can count the number of times on one hand that I ever actually used the thing. And I have never, ever taken it with me on a trip. Ever.

That is not to say, of course, that I haven’t used the flash that is built-in on my camera — in a pinch, I have resorted to popping that baby out. But I’m far more likely to just adjust the settings of my camera. The final result, in my opinion, is far more authentic.

So, there you have it. This of course, is not to say that there aren’t valid reasons why certain specialized photographers wouldn’t find the above gadgets and items useful — or even invaluable — but I do maintain that for the serious amateur who simply likes to take photographs when they travel, all of the above are rather ineffective, or, at the very least, noncritical. Greater minds may differ; and in fact, if you do, I’d love to hear it in the comments below. And as always, if you have any questions, you can always contact me directly at karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom – and I’m happy to address them in upcoming Through the Gadling Lens posts.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadli
ng Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: taking photographs of strangers

by Karen Walrond on

Yesterday afternoon, I received a message from my friend, Jennifer:

“Okay, this may be way off base, but what about the etiquette of photographing interesting looking strangers while traveling? Do you ask permission first? (What if you don’t speak the language?) Do you take stealth photos? Only shoot strangers from behind?”

I have to say that this is quite possibly one of the most common questions I get as a photographer — usually from people who are planning their own vacations, and are concerned about stranger-portrait-taking protocol. So this week, I thought we would talk about some of the issues to take into consideration when taking photographs of total strangers (however, when it comes to taking photographs of uncooperative travel companions, you’re on your own).

1. Consider privacy laws.

Usually, the primary concern when taking photographs of strangers is whether consent is required in order to take the photograph. If you’re in the United States, the current laws are generally simple: if you’re in public, and the subject of your photograph doesn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy, then you can legally shoot away without getting their consent.

In other words, say you’re at a park. Or at the beach. Or the farmer’s market. Or just on a busy street. In these cases, the people that you encounter (and who end up getting captured by your camera) have no reasonable expectation of privacy, and there is therefore no legal reason you need to get their consent to take their picture.

If, however, you’re in the restroom of a public park, all bets are off: even though it might be argued that a public restroom in a public park is public property, the fact is that people who are going to the bathroom have a reasonable expectation of privacy — therefore, you need to put your camera away.

Keep in mind, of course, there are certain public places where you are expressly prohibited from taking photographs — some museums, for example, request that you do not take photographs; similarly, military establishments may ask, for the purpose of security, that you do not take photographs. In these cases, it’s always a good idea to go ahead and stow your camera.

For a great quick summary of the rules when taking photographs in public places in America, check out this article printed last year on USAToday.com. It’s a pretty good cheat sheet of the general rules on public photography as they exist today — however, keep in mind that laws are liable to change at any time.

And finally, a word of caution on taking photographs outside of the United States: please note that privacy laws vary from country to country; furthermore, new laws are being enacted all the time. For example, in the United Kingdom, a new law was recently enacted which prohibits the taking of any photographs of police officers or military personnel, even accidentally. Therefore, before going overseas, it’s a good idea to research the laws affecting the taking of public photographs, lest you find yourself in more trouble than you bargained for.

All of this said, say, however, you’ve found yourself on vacation, and you’ve forgotten to do any research on the local laws regarding photography. How do you make sure that you get proper consent to take any photographs?


2. You can feel relatively comfortable taking photographs of street performers.

Since street performers or buskers are, after all, performing their craft ostensibly for the tourist trade, you can feel pretty comfortable that you have their implied consent to take their photographs. Even so, it is always a good idea to have some spare change to tip them for the privilege of taking their photographs. Often, busking is a large percentage of the performer’s income, and so if you’ve enjoyed his performance, it’s polite to offer him a bit of cash.

Even if they clearly posed for your photograph.


3. Smile, and ask politely for consent.

Of course, the safest thing to do is to simply ask the person if you can take his or her picture. I’ve found saying something like the following works best for me:

“Hi, I’m Karen, and I’m on vacation from Houston/Texas/America. Would you mind if I took your photograph? I’m a photographer, and you have a great face. I hope that would be okay?”

In my experience, if I’m warm, sincere, and I pay a compliment (generally made to avoid the misconception that I’m asking for a photograph because I think the subject is a freak show), people are more than happy to allow you to take their photograph.

The trick is, however (a) to be friendly and sincere, and (b) don’t leer, no matter how completely hot you think the person is. In addition, I generally show the person the image I’ve taken on the screen on the back of my camera — it’s a simple gesture that generally allows them to see that the photograph doesn’t look weird or inappropriate. If the person seems to really like the photograph, I will sometimes offer to email the image to them (because really, how often do we get a photograph we’re happy with taken of us?), but I’ll only do so if I don’t think the person will be weirded out by the offer (I recently took a photograph of a man with his infant son on a deserted beach one early morning, and he was thrilled to have a copy of the photo e-mailed to him. We never spoke again.) And then I thank the person again for allowing me to take the photograph.

Furthermore, if you’re visiting a country where you don’t speak the language (but you know that you’re going to want to take photographs of the locals), I would strongly recommend that you at least learn the phrase, “Would mind if I take your photograph?” in the local language. It is my experience that any attempt to connect through learning the local language is always greatly appreciated — and while smiling and pointing to your camera may convey what you’re trying to accomplish, any additional (and sincere) attempt to connect is a good thing.

Finally, it should be noted that in some cultures, it will be expected that you pay for the privilege of snapping a photograph, regardless of whether the subject of your photo is a street performer, busker, or not. For this reason, it’s never a bad idea to have the equivalent of a couple of dollars in your pocket, if asked.

I’m sure there are lots of other tips and tricks to taking photographs of strangers, and I’d love if you’d share them in the comments, below. In the meantime, happy snapping.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: what’s in my day pack?

by Karen Walrond on

Reader Nancy e-mailed me this week:

Hi Karen!

I was just looking at the ‘in my camera bag‘ sidebar on Chookooloonks, and wondered how you go about things when you‘re out taking photos…particularly when you‘re traveling. Say you‘re in a new city and decide to walk about and shoot for a while. Do you take your bag with ALL your lenses, etc? Assuming you don‘t, lol, how do you decide what to take with you? I thought that might be something you could cover on the Gadling Lens, but if not I‘d love to hear about it…the physicality of toting your camera gear. Thanks!

Nancy

As you might remember, late last year, I wrote a post about what I pack with me to go on a trip — and even then, commenters were stunned at the amount of stuff I took with me (and generally crammed into my carry-on roller bag, or on shorter trips, my Crumpler backpack). This week, I thought I’d share everything that I take in my daypack on a particular trip. Feel free to adjust for personal comfort and need.
1. My day-pack.

First of all, it might surprise you that while I’m a fan of large, roomy padded camera bags, I tend not to use them on day trips. Why? Because, in general, they’re heavy. And if I’m going to be out all day carrying a large single-lens-reflex camera with associated lenses, the last thing I want to do is carry a bag that’s going to add to the weight.

So, for day trips, I tend to forego the Crumpler backpack (and certainly the roller bag) for a Kipling bag. I am embarrassed to admit that I have a considerable number of Kipling bags — and none of the girly ones you see on their website, either. When I’m out for the day, depending on the number of lenses I’m going to take with me, I either take my Kipling Lancelot shoulder bag (worn across my chest) or my Kipling Firefly backpack (which, in an abundance of clarity, I own in black). The reason I love Kipling? I love the fabric they’re made from, which I’m not entirely sure is of this planet. Because of the way Kipling makes their bags:

  • since the fabric’s so thin, it allows me to fold each of those bags to surprisingly small dimensions, which can be easily stowed in tight corners in my suitcase;
  • the fabric is astoundingly lightweight, so they don’t add to the weight of what I’m carrying. And when I’m out for 8 hours or more, every ounce counts;
  • the bags don’t look like camera bags, so they don’t advertise that I’m carrying expensive equipment;
  • the fabric is somewhat water-resistant, so the contents of my bag stay relatively dry — at least until I can make it into the nearest wine bar in the event of sudden inclement weather.

Just sayin’.

Anyway, the upshot is that I would recommend you take into account the weight of your daypack prior to purchasing, especially if you’re going to be out for hours at a time. Your back will thank you for it. And as far as the lack of padding — I honestly don’t worry about it. I’m just careful not to swing my bag into any hard walls, or drop it on concrete. I haven’t lost a camera yet.

Then, once I pull out my Kipling bag for the day, I fill it with the following (all fully-charged, as applicable):

2. My camera body.

These days, this means my Nikon D300, although I also own an older Nikon D200. If I’m traveling to a location which (a) is known for pick-pockets, or (b) is likely to be somewhat dirty (like, say, the beach, or the desert), I take the D200. But otherwise, I always default to the D200.

3. My camera lens(es).

I do own a variety of lenses, but one lens that always accompanies me, no matter the trip, is my 24-85mm automatic zoom lens. I love this lens because it is wide enough that I can get a pretty decent scenery shot, but telephoto enough that I can get a decent portrait as well. It’s a very good, all-purpose lens.

In addition to the 24-85mm, and depending on where I’ll be spending my day, I might add my 60mm micro lens. This lens is really beautiful if I want to take extreme up-close detail shots — so if I’m going to be spending the day in a place with really beautiful foliage and flowers, or any other place where there are small details, I’m sure to take this with me.

In the alternative, if I’m going somewhere where I’m going to want to take some intimate portraits of people in a crowded place — say, for example, some sort of festival, like Trinidad Carnival or La Tomatina — the only lens I might take with me that day (even to the exclusion of the 24-85mm) is my 70-200mm lens. This sucker is huge and SO heavy (which is why I don’t take any other lenses), but it takes beautifully intimate shots from relatively far away. And trust me, when you’re taking photographs of people hurling tomatoes at each other, you want to be far away.


4. A small point-and-shoot.

Chances are I won’t ever pull out my Nikon Coolpix, but I throw it in the bottom of the bag as a spare camera, just in case.

As far as camera equipment, that’s pretty much it! The rest of my bag likely has:


5. A Popout map

I discovered these awesome little maps when I lived in London — and there’s one available for almost every major city. They’re great for the major streets of the central part of the city, and they fold very small and tiny — so you don’t scream “TOURIST!” every time you’re looking up an address.

6. A small wallet with cash, one credit card and a cash card. ‘Nuff said.

7. My passport. I’m always torn whether to carry this around with me, or leave it in the safe. Sometimes I leave it in the safe, and take my driver’s license. Either way, I always have a copy in my suitcase.

8. My cellphone. Just in case. Also handy when I’m supposed to meet someone, and I’m running late (or he is).

9. Lip balm or gloss, and powder brush. Because, after all, I am a girl.

And that’s about it — and despite what it might look like, since I usually only have one lens (at most, two), it’s not as much stuff as you might think. Obviously, as I plan my itinerary for each day’s travel, the choice of lens changes, but must of the rest of the daypack stays the same.

Any questions? As always, please feel free to email them to me directly at karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom, and I’m happy to address them in upcoming posts!

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.