Lest You Forget Where You’ve Been

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January 22, 2011

ByBarry & Monique Zander,

the Never-Bored RVers

Question: When does a picture-taker qualify as a photographer?

Pick the right answer:

1) When he/she spends over $2,000 for equipment.

2) When photographs are in focus and have an artistic quality.

3) When he/she is willing to carry tripods, lights baffles and other equipment and then wait for hours for the perfect moment to take 200 shots of the same scene.

4) When he/she wins a blue ribbon in a photography contest.

5) It doesn’t matter.

I have never seen a definitive answer, so #5 is probably the closest to correct.

You already have a camera, no doubt, whether it’s a point-and-shoot, a cellphone, Dad’s old Leica or a digital version with interchangeable lenses. Any of them can capture a scene, and nowadays, the picture they capture will be adequate for most uses.

And that’s the key issue. Far more important than the camera is the reason you are taking pictures. Recently we sat through a presentation by a very successful professional, who lectured us about taking photos. His slant on the subject was about taking magazine-quality photographs … until I interrupted to suggest that not everyone was on the same page. When members of the audience seemed to agree that they weren’t expecting to be pros, he changed his emphasis to basic rules for good pictures.

We travel full-time in our RV, and as of today, we have parked our trailer 361 times in 36 states and 3 provinces in four-and-a-half years. After the first two weeks on the road, it occurred to me that down the road a few years, we might not be able to remember every place we’ve been. Maybe there are a few places that we wish we could forget, but even those are adventures we will some day want to remember.

So shortly after hitting the road as an RVer, I began taking more pictures, and early-on prefaced each campsite with a picture of a sign showing where we were and a photo of our RV in relation to its surroundings.

Having a digital camera means I can take numerous shots at every stop, with the idea that I will delete ¾ of them after transferring them to my computer. And, this is a bit off the subject, but once a month, I transfer all the photos to an external hard-drive. Mine cost about $100 and has one terabyte of space, enough for 10 years of our travel photos.

I also put each different group of pictures into its own labeled computer folder with the date; e.g., “2010_09_21 Chicago River Boat Tour.”

I knew when we were in Chicago, so it only took a minute to find this photo

I knew when we were in Chicago, so it only took a minute to locate this photo file from among thousands

Through classes and experience, my photographic abilities have greatly improved (also, with Monique pointing me in directions I may have missed). Anyone who is conscientious about photography will improve, much like a baseball or guitar player. Practice is necessary to reach your higher potential.

MOST IMPORTANT, I still take pictures primarily to preserve memories of our travels and adventures. Everything else is secondary.

Varying shots between panoramas and close-ups is important. Once you review what you have taken, you can delete any that don’t add to the experience. Having people in the scene often increases the viewer’s interest and provides the element of scale.

Take a lot of pictures. When you get home, you may want to submit one to your hometown newspaper or you may get invited to talk at a Kiwanis Club meeting. You may want to have a favorite photo blown up to mount on the wall of your entrance hall. You may take up scrapbooking or finally find the time to put together a picture album. Or, maybe, you will want to print your own greeting cards for all occasions.

Please don’t allow yourself to have camera-envy. You can take excellent photos with your cellphone or deplorable ones with a $15,000 Hassleblad. I’ve seen both.

Snap away and let the picture tell the story.