Trip Like I Do

Photo Map of San Francisco. Click image for interactive map.

Who: You.

What: Photo trip.

Where: Now we’re having fun.

You can choose where you go based on what you want to shoot, or plan your shoot around a location you have chosen just because you want to go there. My trips are designed both ways, in about a 50/50 split.

Consider your entourage. My husband Jay is my travel companion, and he is also my security detail when I shoot. This is his trip too, and we have to consider not only his enjoyment, but his safety. He’s up for any destination, and he likes having an active role in the shoot. I’m not shooting 24/7 when we travel; I shoot for a while, then the camera goes in the bag and we are just travelers. We both love a quick city break, so that’s the form a lot of our trips take.

It’s ok to work up multiple trips. Pick a city you’ve always wanted to visit (Mexico City). Choose a theme and find a location to execute it (Nevada Ghost Towns). Go back to a favorite old haunt, and see it through your lens for the first time (Key West). Map them all. I’ve had a photo trip to Medellín sketched out for months, and still have yet to set foot in Colombia. But I’m ready. It’s not a bad project for a rainy day. Speaking of rain…

Nelson Ghost Town, Nevada

When: It’s tricky. It’s tricky. Tricky tricky tricky.

So about that Medellín trip I haven’t taken. I was all set to rock and roll in November of last year. Colombia had been at the top of both Jay’s and my list for a long time. A few days before we were set to travel, I checked the Medellín weather forecast and saw that thunderstorms were predicted for most of the three-day span we would have been there. Ok if that’s what you’re looking to shoot, not so much for riding cable cars up mountains and shooting in the streets of the city. Our particular travel setup dictates that we plan trips no more than a day or so before we go; this has been a blessing rather than a curse. We looked around, saw that the weather in San Francisco was going to be absolutely perfect, and went there instead.

Waiting to plan our trips close to our travel dates has saved us from rain-outs and flight cancellations, and we’ve never had any problem finding accommodations. Which we do on our phones, as we taxi in at our destination. Our travel style isn’t for everyone, but for us it beats the hell out of making a bunch of nonrefundable reservations months in advance, only for the weather to be rubbish when the trip finally rolls around. A lot of travelers consider the season, but not always the weather on the day. Most of us are constrained by various schedules in our lives to travel on certain dates. The timing may not be flexible, but the destination can be. Options, baby.

Not bad for a Plan B. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay.

Finally, How: This is where art meets science.

If I plan a trip somewhere I’ve never been, I start with an overview. Which areas contain promising photo spots? Where is a good central location to stay? What are my transit options between neighborhoods? As much as I hate to admit it, Googling “Most Instagrammable Spots in City X” can get the ball rolling. This will show you landmarks, street art, and famous touristic points of interest in the city. Then, I like to search hashtags and pages on various social media sites to dig a little deeper. I try to find blogs like this one, where other travel photographers have shared locations and tips relevant to my destination. The cherry on top is a visit to Atlas Obscura for the really interesting stuff. As I do this, I am plotting all of these points on Google My Maps, and a pattern starts to form. Once this happens, I search for a few interesting small hotels that are central to my shoot sites, as well as a few restaurants we might like to try. All of this goes onto the map, and now I have a customized guide for my trip.

Next I think about how my trip will be structured: where do I want to be for sunrise/sunset? What do I want to shoot at night? What types of shots am I looking to get? The weather comes back into play; will it be cloudy or sunny? I make a loose determination of which direction I want to go each morning/afternoon/evening, which of course is subject to change. I use two Google Keep Notes for each trip: one lists my creative ideas, shot list, and a link to my custom map; the other is my equipment checklist. Should inspiration strike while I am out and about, I can whip out my phone and add to my list anywhere.

Find a relaxing spot to sit and design your next adventure.

We are artists. So don’t plan; design. Trip planning implies a chore; trip design connotes creation. Set yourself up for a good time while you do it. Grab your laptop, sit in your comfiest chair with your favorite beverage, and send your imagination across an ocean. No less a luminary than Gloria Steinem agrees: “Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”