Traveling Paris & Amsterdam: The Photographers Dilemma
Having recently traveled around Paris and up to Amsterdam, I came to a few realizations. First I took to much camera gear! Now this is a problem that nearly all photographers at one point of another have struggled with or even still address. While this wasn't my first rodeo it did serve as a fantastic reminder.
The Gear included Canon 80D, Canon 10-22 USM, Sigma Art 18-35, Tamron 24-70 , Canon 70-200 IS II, GoPro Hero 5, GnarBox, LowePro Protactic 430aw, Ipad Pro, and every damn accessory known to man!
This trip after all was vacation and not a paid gig to get required shots. Almost immediately on the 1st day in Paris I realized my back was going to be hating life for the next week. I must preface that this was my first time in France and so with that comes all the tourist things. That being said, we headed to the Eiffel Tower like every good American Tourist would. As I started photographing the tower, I soon realized that two wide lenses would be all that I was using (10-22mm, 18-35mm).
While I could have very well used the 24-70 and 70-200, I wanted the whole scene in the shot and to do that required being a fair distance from the monuments as seen here.
There's no point in using a zoom to photograph just the base or just the top half of the tower. This was the case at every place we traveled to such as the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées, and all the historical cityscapes such as the Army Museum that housed Napoleon's tomb, shown below.
Luckily I had also brought along a small Oakley backpack that I was traveling with on the plane. This would be become my all day every day for the entire trip. I had brought 4 locks with me. These locks we your standard travel luggage locks. While the thought of leaving any sort of camera equipment in a hotel room is a nauseating experience, I was left to either break my back or chance it.
I CHANCED IT!! All gear except batteries, 18-35, and 10-22 would be locked in LowePro and that would be locked in my giant suitcase.
The picture below atop the Eiffel Tower, shows what my walk around bag was looking like for the most part. It's hard to make out great detail but you can see it's not a packed gear bag weighing me down. I carried the camera with 18-25 on it and the 10-22 in case I was indoors or the 18mm wasn't cutting it. Since it's a f1.8, the Sigma was my go to lense for it's sharp pics and low light capabilities.
Also I was using the neck strap as a stabilizer since tripods were not allowed. What's not seen in the picture below is the extreme wind and cold. Europe was getting some the coldest they had in years. Rome I believe had several inches the day prior.
We headed up to Amsterdam via train for 2 days and again everything was the same as described above in Paris. With all the beautiful canals and old world architecture it would be a waste to not include as much as possible. Granted there might a time you want that close up of something in particular but 95% of time that was not the case and I wasn't planning on carrying the 70-200 all day every day.
In the beginning as I stated, I came to a few realizations. I've clearly gotten side tracked. To sum it up, while I love photography and exploring now countries, looking for that perfect angle and perfect setting to get that sharpest picture, part of me feels like I missed out.
Much like the selfie culture, I feel as though I didn't experience the culture as much as I could've and I was vested in my viewfinder. Don't get me wrong I HAD A GREAT TIME!. I'm just saying that sometimes as a photographer learning the balance can be the hardest part. As I look through all 1200 pics I ultimately took, I can remember the moments clearly but that emotional connection was slightly missing.
Compartmentalizing vacations and family versus work and the perfect image will always be the struggle and honestly I don't have any answers.
MORAL OF THE STORY ----------------> THE PERFECT EXCUSE TO FLY BACK AND DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!!!
