Leaving the camera at home?

Having read this BBC article:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-23490926

...part of me wonders whether it'd be an idea to simply leave the camera/phone camera at home, and just enjoy the cruise in itself, and not worry about photos or keeping the camera with me and safe etc... But then another part of me chickens out at the idea!

What are your thoughts?

I think the proper British term is "bollocks!" :D

A huge part of the enjoyment I get from travelling is from finding new places that feed my passion for photography. I'm not a "gotta get a shot of..." photographer and the new trend of grabbing a selfie with say, the Mona Lisa in the background should be an offense that comes with jail time. Ok, maybe that's a bit harsh. Though I agree with parts of the article, I'm not even tempted to leave my cameras behind.

Just a note: I have done a series of photos from the stairwells of cruise ships because the idea amused me. As for going to every object d'art in a museum and grabbing a crapshot of it is just silly and really annoys people who are there to enjoy them. Ubiquitous digital photography is making photographers like lawyers....99.9% of them give the rest a bad name!;)

Take camera! Shoot responsibly!

Dave

Lots of interesting subject matter on a cruise ship. Everything in moderation....except image data capacity, sensor and lens size. :)

I bought a decent camera to use it. If I leave it home, it's nothing more than an expensive paperweight. I also was concerned about theft or loss, so I purchased a property insurance policy for it - now, no worries. I would lose the camera and the pictures for that day only - and I'd end up with a new camera, lens, bag, filters (I put EVERYTHING on that policy) :)

I do take time each day on each trip to just enjoy my vacation and not snap away (my husband's patience only lasts so long), but if something AMAZING happens, the camera is with me to capture it.

Enjoy your travels!

The primary purpose of bringing my camera with me when I travel is to enable me to keep a snapshot of where I went. I have traveled to a number of countries, and if I don't have some pictures of them, there is no way I can remember and distinguish one place from another. When I have time, I enjoyed every minute of looking back at the pictures I took and the memory and fun I had at that particular location.

On top of that you can show off your pictures to your friends/relatives, and would be additional gratification if they appreciate and indicate a job well done :)

I don't agree with the article.

If you follow that logic, why even take a cruise or go on vacation to any exotic destination... someone has bound to have already photographed it - so why not just buy the travelog?

Still, everyone in a crowd bringing out a tablet to take mediocre photos can be annoying... but didn't we already establish a name for that... padholes?

But they have as much of a right to take a photo as I do - even if it is a bit annoying.

I cannot imagine not bringing a camera with me, but I don't simply take another ho-hum photo like anyone else..,. I look for the creative content - especially if it is from an unusual perspective. And I am sure a lot of other photographers do the same.

Examples:

Atlantis Hotel - Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Coral World - St. Thomas USVi

Ireland Island, Bermuda.

Plantation, Barbados

You are not likely to see these types of photos in a travelog, as they capture a perspective not normally though of by most picture-takers.

These are not the only photos I have taken while on vacation - most have more of a traditional subject matter, but when everyone is taking photos of something to the right - I am often finding something of interest to the left.

Just because someone overdoes it, that is no good enough for others to give it up! That would be like pointing to an alcoholic and say that you should not enjoy a pint in a British pub!

What I get a kick from is people at art museums taking pictures of the fine art with their cell phone cameras.

DON

I love taking pictures and always bring the camera. On my Med or AK cruises I have taken several thousand pictures on each cruise. In the Carrib I take fewer pictures but would never think of leaving the camera home.

A cruise ship is simply a mode of transportation to get me from one photo location to the next.:D

How could we then have all the wonderful threads on this board?

Barcelona - I had no idea about this cathedral until I started researching out Med cruise. Spectacular!

Venice - not your typical shot.

Vic

I can't imagine going on any trip without a camera. On board I carry my camera every where. You never know what you might see. Can't have much of a scrapbook without pictures!

I could never leave my camera(s) at home. Part of the enjoyment for me is taking pictures (as most know from my reviews). The memories that last a lifetime. Ahh :)

I love taking pictures so much that I have (well had since 1 died on my last cruise) 3 cameras that I take. I have additional batteries, chargers, SD cards, memory sticks, and a small computer that I take. All of this fits nicely into a very small bag. No problems.

However, I have started leaving my DSLR at home. Sometimes I do come across things that I wish I had it (with all of my lens and equipment), but I simply remind myself that I AM on vacation and I need to just get the shots that I can and sit back and enjoy myself. I have found that my point & shoot cameras do a nice enough job for what I'm looking to do while on vacation and that's enough for me (and it seems to be enough for those on this board when I write my extensive reviews that include those pictures). :D

A cruise ship is simply a mode of transportation to get me from one photo location to the next.:D

Where is the "Like" button?

I do it. Sort of.

I've given up the camera in favor of a sketch pad. It requires slowing down and seeing fewer sights, but looking more intently at them.

But......

We typically travel with a few friends who share all their cruise photos with us. A few days after the trip, each will send us a cd in the mail with a well documented vacation.

I do it. Sort of.

I've given up the camera in favor of a sketch pad. It requires slowing down and seeing fewer sights, but looking more intently at them.

 

It really depends on your skill set...below is an illustration showing why I stuck to photography after trying my hand at sketching...

:D

Seriously, however each of us best enjoy remembering a trip is best for each of us.

Dave

The commentary is not necessarily incorrect in the observation - the difference is that I do not blame cameras or photography, but the person involved.

Not all people who take photographs think the same, act the same, or do the same things. While some people may be missing out on their experience because they're snapping away and watching their phone screens, and some photographers may be obsessed over getting a shot right and spend all their time fussing over the camera and multiple shots or angles...this isn't necessarily how it must be done. Just as there is no hard or fast rule about how one must travel (take tours or no, what hotels to stay in, how to get around a city), there are no hard fast rules about how one should approach photography while traveling.

I don't need to heed advice in such a column or blog because none of it applies to me, and certainly I shall never travel without my camera because of what photography means to me and how I approach it, which significantly enriches my life and increases my appreciation and attention to where I am and what I'm seeing. Because I don't just look at the world I travel in as a tourist, or listen to what a guide tells me to look at, and I don't see some bits of beauty next to some bits of ugliness as most travelers do. I see things with a photographer's eye - which means I can find beauty and interest in the mundane, I can look in places non-photographers would never notice, I seek out angles and views that others pass by. I may find beauty in a gutter, or a slum, or a burned out building...or in a tropical landscape or a luxury hotel...I'm not limited to my human judgement based on simple appearance, as I have a photographer's eye that allows me to look deeper and longer and find things to appreciate in the mundane or the rejected or even the ugly.

When I'm out photographing, I spend significantly MORE time appreciating landscapes, scenic overlooks, museums, historical buildings. I may take a handful of shots, and in between, I'll spend many minutes, even hours, just sitting and taking it all in. I may stay at a scenic spot just observing it and revelling in it, appreciating it, while waiting for just the right moment when clouds and sun and background all come together in the most photogenic way...whereas the non-photographer might have looked at the scene for 3-4 minutes and left. I saw the way the sun's color cast onto the buildings after 30 minutes, and the cloud shadows wafting across the landscape, and noticed the small speck of the farmer tilling his field a mile off, and the way the cloud rims light up in a pink glow as the sun crawls down behind them, and the delicate patterns of green and brown of the fields broken by the white adobe farmhouse, now catching the sun's glow. A non-photographer doesn't see these things, or appreciate them...and certainly not having a camera, doesn't capture them to bring back fond memories so vivid that the moment can be relived a dozen times simply by viewing the photo and remembering everything about that moment and that place.

So leave your camera behind. But I'm a photographer, and mine's coming. And I will appreciate more, see more, understand more, and remember more about the places I've been and seen than any non-photographer ever could. A blogger might be more specific next time to criticize general consumers and cell phones who have no interest in photography and don't think like a photographer taking hundreds or thousands of photos that will never leave their phone, but don't lump photographers, REAL photographers, with that group. We appreciate far more about the landscape and the history and the people and the nature of the world we visit, and it's BECAUSE of photography that we have this connection.

So leave your camera behind. But I'm a photographer, and mine's coming. And I will appreciate more, see more, understand more, and remember more about the places I've been and seen than any non-photographer ever could. A blogger might be more specific next time to criticize general consumers and cell phones who have no interest in photography and don't think like a photographer taking hundreds or thousands of photos that will never leave their phone, but don't lump photographers, REAL photographers, with that group. We appreciate far more about the landscape and the history and the people and the nature of the world we visit, and it's BECAUSE of photography that we have this connection.

This.

I have never left my camera at home, but sometimes you have to roll with the punches with a Cell Phone Camera. I was able to capture the "Once in a Lifetime" picture of my granddaughter sitting in the First Officers seat on our 757 Plane right after the Captain gave her "Her Delta Wings" on her first trip to NYC. Yes you can get a child on the Flight Deck of some jets with a few requirements to get there. Fly First Class and ask the Flight Attendant if they still give children "Wings" on their first flight. My daughter has her's and now my Granddaughter has her's. That picture has been worth a million words and discussion for the last 3 years. It would not have happened if the camera was not there.

A cruise ship is simply a mode of transportation to get me from one photo location to the next.:D

Exactly!

I wouldn't dream of leaving my camera at home. I don't always bring my good camera in port with me though depending on my plans. Sometimes I settle for my point and shoot. I bought a camera bag that doesn't scream- expensive camerea inside, but I don't let myself worry too much about theft. I do save my pictures every evening though just in case something happens. The camera is replaceable, but not the pics.

Exactly!

 

I wouldn't dream of leaving my camera at home. I don't always bring my good camera in port with me though depending on my plans. Sometimes I settle for my point and shoot. I bought a camera bag that doesn't scream- expensive camerea inside, but I don't let myself worry too much about theft. I do save my pictures every evening though just in case something happens. The camera is replaceable, but not the pics.

Must be that us MD people think alike

How could we then have all the wonderful threads on this board?

 

 

Barcelona - I had no idea about this cathedral until I started researching out Med cruise. Spectacular!

 

Venice - not your typical shot.

 

Vic

Love the second picture!!

I could never leave my camera at home.

I have tons of REAL photo albums that we often look at -- bringing back memories of all the wonderful places we have visited and many sights we have seen.

I even keep a camera in my car.

A couple of years ago, the wife and I went into town where we were staying over the weekend for breakfast. I left my DSLR behind for the short trip into town - and I was surprised that there was a custom hot rod show in the town.

And me with no camera.

So I bought a Canon SX130 precisely because it uses AA batteries, and it has PSAM (OK PTAM) exposure modes. I wanted AA batteries because I have a hard time keeping my clocks at home on time - and I would never remember to keep the batteries charged once a month.

AA power means I put a set of Eneloop low-self-discharge batteries in the car, along with a couple of sets of Alkaline batteries. And in the worst case scenario, I can probably buy a set locally if I need to.

And since storage in a hot car could potentially damage the camera over the long term, the SX130 was cheap enough that I did not have to worry much about it.

But so far, so Good. It fits in the center console of my car so it doesn't get direct sunlight, and after 2 years, no damage yet.

Did you still enjoy the hot rod show?

I'm finding that I enjoy things more when I don't have to document them but can just be in the moment. Like most people, I have a camera on my phone that will do, but the really big lenses and the SLR doesn't go everywhere. It's easier to pack a sketch pad.

We had 50th anniversary party for my folks a few years ago. One of my siblings hired a photographer friend to take pictures. Still, there were some of my brothers and sisters who also had to play at being photographer and nearly every picture of them that day has their face obscured by a camera. We didn't know then, that we would bury our Father just 2 years later. There are few opportunities to dance with your 80 year old father. If the accordion is playing a polka, you should get out on the floor with him and cut a rug instead of taking snapshots of someone else doing it. I wish my older sister took a turn dancing that day and trusted the pro to capture the best shots.

I'm not trying to convert anyone here, and I do appreciate all the pictures you all take and post. It makes my vacations more fun. But I'll be dancing or otherwise getting in the shot instead of taking it. And in the quiet times, a sketch will do.