Walk into any camera store and you'll witness a familiar ritual: photographers agonizing over lens specifications, debating camera body features, and calculating monthly payments for equipment that promises to transform their photography. The photography industry has built a powerful narrative around gear acquisition—that better equipment equals better photographs, that the next lens upgrade will unlock creative potential, that professional results require professional-grade tools.
This narrative is not just wrong; it's actively harmful to photographic development. While photographers obsess over marginal improvements in optical quality or autofocus speed, they ignore the single most effective investment they could make in their creative growth: experiencing new places, cultures, and visual environments. A $2,000 lens upgrade might provide a barely perceptible improvement in image quality, but a $2,000 trip to a new country will fundamentally transform how you see, think, and create.
The photography industry profits from equipment obsession while travel provides no recurring revenue stream for manufacturers. This creates a systematic bias toward gear-focused advice that prioritizes corporate profits over artistic development. Understanding this bias reveals not just better equipment spending strategies, but fundamentally different approaches to photographic growth that emphasize experience over acquisition, challenge over comfort, and creative development over technical increments.
The Gear Obsession Trap
The Diminishing Returns of Equipment Upgrades
Modern camera equipment has reached extraordinary levels of sophistication. The differences between a $1,200 lens and a $2,400 lens are often measurable only in laboratory conditions or pixel-level examination. A camera body upgrade might offer improved dynamic range that's visible only in extreme lighting conditions or autofocus improvements that matter only for specific sports photography scenarios.
Yet photographers convince themselves these marginal improvements will transform their work. They spend hours researching optical test charts, comparing bokeh quality, and analyzing sharpness measurements. This obsession with technical specifications creates a false belief that equipment limitations are preventing creative breakthroughs.
The reality is that most photographers never fully exploit the capabilities of equipment they already own. They upgrade to cameras with better high-ISO performance while rarely shooting in challenging light. They buy telephoto lenses for wildlife photography while never venturing beyond local parks. They purchase wide angle lenses for landscape work while photographing the same nearby locations repeatedly.
The Comfort Zone Equipment Problem
Expensive equipment often reinforces rather than challenges photographic comfort zones. A photographer who upgrades to a sophisticated autofocus system becomes more dependent on automation rather than developing manual focusing skills. Someone who buys a lens with exceptional low-light performance avoids learning to work creatively with available light. Better image stabilization reduces the incentive to develop a proper hand-holding technique.
These comfort zone equipment purchases provide immediate gratification through improved technical results while preventing the creative growth that comes from working within limitations. The photographer feels productive—they're getting sharper images, better exposures, more reliable autofocus—but their creative capabilities aren't expanding. They're becoming better equipment operators without becoming better photographers.
The Psychological Satisfaction Substitute
Equipment purchases provide psychological satisfaction that substitutes for actual creative achievement. The excitement of unboxing new gear, the satisfaction of owning professional-grade tools, and the confidence boost from having "the right equipment" create emotional rewards that can feel like progress even when actual photographic skills aren't developing. This psychological substitution is particularly dangerous because it feels like a productive investment in photography. The photographer believes they're seriously committed to their craft because they're spending significant money on equipment. The financial commitment creates a sense of dedication that masks the absence of actual creative challenge or skill development.
The Innovation Illusion
Camera manufacturers rely on innovation narratives that exaggerate the creative impact of new features. Each generation of equipment promises revolutionary improvements that will transform photography, but the actual creative benefits are often minimal. Image stabilization improvements measured in fractions of stops, autofocus systems with more focus points than any photographer could effectively use, and resolution increases beyond any practical output needs.
These incremental improvements are marketed as breakthrough innovations that justify significant upgrade costs. Photographers become convinced they need the latest features to stay current, creating artificial obsolescence for equipment that remains perfectly capable of producing excellent results. The innovation illusion is particularly powerful because it exploits photographers' fear of being left behind technologically. The rapid pace of camera development creates anxiety that current equipment will soon become inadequate, pressuring photographers to upgrade preemptively rather than using equipment until it actually limits their creative goals.
Why Travel Transforms Photography More Than Gear
Visual Expansion Through Environmental Challenge
Travel forces photographers into new visual environments that challenge their existing approaches and force creative adaptation. Different lighting conditions, unfamiliar subjects, and foreign cultural contexts require photographers to develop new seeing skills that remain valuable long after returning home. A photographer accustomed to temperate forest landscapes must learn entirely different approaches when confronted with desert environments. The harsh light, minimal vegetation, and vast scales require new compositional strategies, different timing approaches, and alternative technical solutions. These challenges develop visual problem-solving skills that transfer to all subsequent photography, regardless of location.
Urban environments in different cultures present distinct architectural styles, social dynamics, and visual rhythms that expand a photographer's vocabulary of seeing. The narrow streets and golden light of Mediterranean cities require different approaches than the glass towers and neon lighting of modern Asian metropolises. Each environment teaches specific lessons about light, color, scale, and human interaction that broaden creative capabilities.
Cultural Context and Human Understanding
Travel exposes photographers to different ways of life, social structures, and cultural expressions that deepen their understanding of human experience. This expanded cultural awareness translates directly into more sophisticated photographic storytelling and more nuanced approaches to documenting human subjects. A photographer who has only worked within their own cultural context has a limited palette for understanding and representing human experience. Travel provides exposure to different concepts of privacy, different relationships with public space, different family structures, and different approaches to work and leisure. This cultural literacy becomes a creative resource that enriches all subsequent photography. The process of navigating cultural differences also develops interpersonal skills that improve portrait and documentary photography. Learning to communicate across language barriers, understanding different social customs, and building trust with unfamiliar communities are capabilities that enhance a photographer's ability to create compelling human-centered images.
Technical Adaptation and Problem-Solving
Travel frequently places photographers in situations where their usual technical approaches don't work, forcing improvisation and creative problem-solving that develops adaptability and technical confidence. These challenges build capabilities that expensive equipment cannot provide. Photographing in extreme heat requires learning new approaches to equipment protection and battery management. Tropical climates teach humidity management and lens protection strategies. Each environment presents specific technical challenges that develop practical knowledge and problem-solving skills. Limited equipment access while traveling forces photographers to work within constraints that often improve their creative capabilities. When you can't solve problems by buying new gear, you must develop skills, techniques, and creative approaches. These limitations often produce more innovative solutions than unlimited equipment access.
Breaking Routine and Forcing Innovation
Home environments encourage routine approaches and habitual seeing that limit creative growth. Photographers develop preferred locations, familiar subjects, and comfortable techniques that provide predictable results while preventing artistic development. Travel disrupts these patterns and forces new approaches. Different daily rhythms in new locations provide access to light and activities that don't exist in familiar environments. The temporary nature of travel creates urgency that improves photographic productivity and risk-taking. When you know you have limited time in a location, you're more likely to take chances, approach strangers, and attempt challenging shots. This urgency often produces breakthrough images that wouldn't occur during comfortable local photography sessions.
The Economics of Creative Investment
Cost-Benefit Analysis: Gear vs. Travel
A realistic comparison of equipment costs versus travel expenses reveals that travel provides dramatically better creative returns on investment. Consider a photographer deciding between a $2,500 lens upgrade and a $2,500 two-week trip to Southeast Asia:
The lens upgrade provides:
- Marginally better optical quality in specific conditions
- Improved weather-sealing that matters only in extreme environments
- Slightly faster autofocus that's relevant only for specific subjects
- Enhanced build quality with minimal practical impact
- Incremental improvements that may be imperceptible in most real-world usage
The travel experience provides:
- Exposure to completely new lighting conditions and environments
- Cultural immersion that expands understanding of human experience
- Technical challenges that develop problem-solving skills
- Hundreds of new potential subjects and compositions
- Forced adaptation that builds creative confidence
- Memories and experiences that influence all future creative work
- Potential for breakthrough images impossible to create at home
The lens upgrade might improve 5% of the photographer's images by a barely perceptible amount. The travel experience has the potential to transform 100% of the photographer's future creative approach.
The Compound Returns of Experience
Equipment purchases provide one-time improvements with depreciating value. A new lens is a new lens—it will perform the same function for its entire useful life, slowly losing value and eventually becoming obsolete. Travel experiences provide compound returns that increase in value over time. The visual vocabulary developed during travel becomes a permanent resource that influences all subsequent creative work. Cultural understanding gained through international experience enriches domestic photography by providing broader context and deeper empathy. Technical skills developed while adapting to challenging travel conditions remain valuable in all future photography scenarios. These compound returns make travel one of the most effective long-term investments a photographer can make. Unlike equipment that depreciates and becomes obsolete, the creative capabilities developed through travel continue providing value indefinitely and often increase in importance as the photographer's career develops.
Hidden Costs of Gear Obsession
The true cost of equipment obsession extends beyond the purchase price to include opportunity costs, maintenance expenses, and psychological dependency. Expensive equipment creates anxiety about damage or theft that limits creative risk-taking. Valuable gear requires insurance, special storage, and careful handling that adds ongoing costs and reduces spontaneous photography opportunities. Camera bags full of expensive equipment become anchors that limit mobility and exploration. Photographers become reluctant to take expensive gear into challenging environments where the best images might be found. The fear of damaging a $3,000 lens prevents the kind of adventurous photography that produces breakthrough images. Equipment obsession also creates psychological costs through upgrade anxiety and gear acquisition syndrome. Photographers trapped in upgrade cycles spend mental energy researching equipment rather than developing creative skills. The constant awareness of newer, better equipment creates dissatisfaction with current capabilities and prevents full utilization of existing tools.
How Travel Challenges Create Creative Growth
Documentary Photography: Beyond Equipment Solutions
Many photographers find themselves trapped in cycles of equipment upgrades while their creative growth stagnates. The assumption is that better cameras and lenses will improve storytelling capabilities, but the real limitations are often experiential rather than technical. A photographer documenting social issues in familiar communities develops routine approaches and predictable visual strategies that no amount of equipment can overcome. Travel forces photographers into new cultural contexts that challenge every assumption about visual storytelling. Working across language barriers teaches photographers to rely on visual communication rather than verbal explanation. Unfamiliar social structures require learning new approaches to building trust and gaining access. Different concepts of privacy and public space force adaptation of documentary ethics and shooting strategies. These challenges develop cultural sensitivity and visual problem-solving skills that remain valuable when photographers return to familiar subjects. The experience of navigating foreign documentary situations builds confidence and adaptability that elevates all subsequent work, regardless of location.
Landscape Photography: Environmental Adaptation
Landscape photographers often reach creative plateaus within familiar regional environments, leading to repetitive compositions and predictable lighting choices. Equipment upgrades promise to solve these creative limitations through improved dynamic range, better weather-sealing, or greater resolution, but the real problem is environmental familiarity rather than technical capability. Different geographical environments force photographers to develop new compositional strategies and technical approaches. Desert photography requires understanding harsh light and minimal vegetation. Mountain environments demand comprehension of atmospheric effects and extreme weather. Tropical locations teach humidity management and working with intense color saturation. Each new environment presents unique visual challenges that expand creative capabilities. The problem-solving skills developed while adapting to unfamiliar landscapes remain valuable when photographers return to regional subjects, often revealing new creative possibilities in previously exhausted locations.
Portrait Photography: Cultural Understanding
Portrait photographers working within single cultural contexts develop limited approaches to human connection and visual storytelling. The assumption that better lenses or lighting equipment will improve portraiture ignores the cultural and social literacy required for compelling human photography. Technical improvements cannot substitute for understanding how different cultures approach privacy, family relationships, and social interaction.
Travel exposes portrait photographers to different concepts of personal space, eye contact, and social hierarchy that expand their toolkit for human connection. Learning to build trust across cultural and language barriers develops interpersonal skills that improve all subsequent portrait work. Understanding different cultural contexts for family relationships, work environments, and social gatherings provides new frameworks for environmental portraiture. These cultural insights become permanent resources that enrich portrait photography regardless of subject matter or location. The confidence gained through successful cross-cultural photography translates to improved ability to connect with diverse subjects within familiar environments.
Maximizing Photographic Value From Travel
Research and Preparation Strategies
Effective photographic travel requires research and preparation that maximize creative learning opportunities while minimizing logistical frustrations. This preparation should focus on understanding cultural contexts, identifying unique visual opportunities, and planning for technical challenges rather than simply booking flights and hotels.
Cultural research should explore social customs, daily rhythms, religious practices, and local events that provide photographic opportunities unavailable elsewhere. Researching harvest seasons in agricultural regions provides access to seasonal work and traditional practices. Learning about local festivals and celebrations offers opportunities to photograph cultural expressions that don't exist in tourist-focused itineraries.
Technical research should identify environmental challenges that require equipment preparation or technique adaptation. Desert photography demands dust protection. Tropical environments require humidity protection and equipment ventilation, etc.
Equipment Selection for Travel Photography
Effective travel photography requires equipment selection that prioritizes versatility, reliability, and portability over maximum optical quality. The goal is to have capable tools that enable creative exploration rather than limiting equipment that restricts opportunities due to size, weight, or complexity. A single versatile zoom lens often provides better creative opportunities than multiple prime lenses that require frequent changes and create carrying burden. Weather-sealed equipment becomes essential in challenging environments, making modest improvements in sealing more valuable than marginal improvements in optical quality. Backup equipment and redundancy become more important than having the newest features. The most valuable travel photography equipment is often the simplest and most reliable; that's why so many photographers have historically favored Leica for these applications. A basic full frame camera with good low-light performance and a 24-70mm lens can handle 90% of travel photography situations while remaining light enough for extended carrying and simple enough for quick operation in changing conditions.
Building Cultural Connections
The most rewarding travel photography emerges from genuine cultural connections rather than tourist observation. Building these connections requires time investment, cultural sensitivity, and genuine interest in local communities rather than simply photographing exotic subjects.
Learning basic language skills demonstrates respect and facilitates communication that leads to better photographic opportunities. Even simple greetings, expressions of thanks, and basic questions show cultural effort that opens doors and builds trust. Mobile translation apps can bridge communication gaps while learning key phrases shows genuine engagement. Participating in local activities and daily routines provides access to authentic cultural expressions that tourists never encounter. Shopping in local markets, using public transportation, and eating in neighborhood restaurants creates opportunities for natural interaction and unguarded cultural photography.
Post-Travel Integration
The most important aspect of travel photography occurs after returning home: integrating new visual capabilities and cultural understanding into ongoing creative work. This integration process determines whether travel becomes a transformative creative experience or simply an expensive photographic vacation.
Systematic review of travel images should focus on identifying new techniques, compositional approaches, and visual solutions that can be applied to future work regardless of location. The goal is to extract transferable creative capabilities rather than simply organizing vacation photos.
Cultural insights gained through travel should influence all subsequent photography, particularly when working with human subjects. Understanding of different cultural approaches to privacy, family structure, and social interaction becomes valuable when photographing diverse communities at home.
Addressing the Counterarguments
The Professional Equipment Requirement
Professional photographers often argue that client expectations and technical requirements mandate high-end equipment that cannot be substituted by travel experience. While certain professional applications do require specific technical capabilities, this argument is frequently used to justify unnecessary equipment purchases. Most professional photography requirements can be met by equipment that costs significantly less than the latest flagship models. A photographer shooting corporate events needs reliable autofocus and good low-light performance, but doesn't need the absolute latest autofocus algorithms or maximum dynamic range. The technical requirements for most professional work are met by equipment that's 2-3 generations old and costs half the price of current models.
The more important professional requirements are creative differentiation and visual sophistication, which sets photographers apart from competitors. This creative edge comes from expanded visual vocabulary, cultural understanding, and creative confidence—qualities that travel develops more effectively than equipment upgrades.
The Gear Reliability Argument
Some photographers argue that expensive equipment provides reliability that justifies the cost, particularly for important projects or once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. While equipment reliability is important, this argument often overstates the reliability differences between expensive and moderate equipment. Modern cameras across all price ranges offer excellent reliability for typical photography applications. The difference in failure rates between a $1,500 camera and a $6,000 camera is often minimal. Professional reliability comes more from having backup equipment and understanding your tools thoroughly than from buying the most expensive options. A simple, well-understood camera may be more appropriate for travel photography than a cutting-edge model with complex features.
The Local Photography Limitation
Critics argue that travel photography is superficial tourism that prevents deep engagement with local subjects and communities. While some travel photography certainly fits this criticism, this argument often reflects assumptions about travel duration and approach rather than inherent limitations of travel photography.
Extended travel that involves genuine cultural immersion can provide deeper insights into communities than photographers gain about their own local environments. Many photographers know remarkably little about communities within their own cities while assuming that familiarity with their immediate environment translates to photographic understanding.
The key distinction is between tourism that seeks exotic imagery and travel that pursues cultural understanding. When approached with genuine curiosity and cultural respect, travel photography can develop cross-cultural communication skills and global awareness that enriches all subsequent photographic work.
Practical Implementation Strategies
Budget Reallocation Approach
Photographers accustomed to regular equipment purchases can redirect these expenditures toward travel through systematic budget reallocation. Instead of automatic equipment upgrades, evaluate whether proposed purchases address genuine creative limitations or simply provide marginal improvements to existing capabilities. Creating a "gear vs. travel" decision framework helps evaluate the creative return on investment for proposed purchases. Before buying new equipment, articulate exactly what creative limitations the purchase will address and consider whether travel experiences might provide better solutions to the same creative challenges. The key is breaking automatic upgrade cycles and evaluating each potential purchase against alternative uses of the same money. A $2,000 lens upgrade might provide minimal creative benefit compared to a $2,000 workshop in an unfamiliar location.
Gradual Implementation for Risk-Averse Photographers
Photographers uncomfortable with extensive international travel can begin with domestic travel that provides new visual environments without extreme cultural or logistical challenges. Regional travel within their own country can provide significant creative benefits while minimizing language barriers, cultural adjustment, and logistical complexity. The goal is experiencing new visual environments that challenge existing approaches and force creative adaptation. This can be achieved through domestic travel to different geographical regions, cultural areas, or urban environments that provide distinct visual characteristics from familiar locations.
Equipment Minimalism for Travel
Conclusion: Investing in Vision, Not Equipment
The photography industry's emphasis on equipment acquisition creates a fundamental misdirection of creative investment. While photographers obsess over marginal improvements in optical quality, autofocus speed, and dynamic range, they ignore investments in experience, cultural understanding, and creative challenges that provide exponentially better returns for artistic development.
Travel forces photographers into new visual environments that challenge existing approaches and demand creative adaptation. Cultural immersion develops understanding of human experience that enriches all subsequent photography. Technical challenges encountered during travel build problem-solving skills and creative confidence that expensive equipment cannot provide. These benefits compound over time, creating lasting creative capabilities that continue providing value long after specific equipment becomes obsolete.
Understanding the psychology of gear acquisition reveals how equipment purchases provide emotional satisfaction that substitutes for actual creative achievement. The excitement of new gear and the confidence of owning professional tools create feelings of progress that can mask the absence of genuine skill development. Travel provides real creative challenges that build genuine capabilities rather than simply improving tools.
The most successful photographers throughout history have been those who prioritized experience over equipment, challenge over comfort, and creative growth over technical increments. Modern photographers have access to equipment that previous generations could only dream of, yet many struggle to create work that matches the impact and significance of photographers working with far more primitive tools. The difference isn't technical capability—it's experience, cultural awareness, and creative confidence developed through engagement with the world rather than accumulation of gear.
Breaking free from equipment obsession requires recognizing that photography is fundamentally about seeing, not gear. The camera is simply a tool for recording vision developed through experience, challenge, and cultural engagement. Investing in experiences that expand vision will always provide better creative returns than investing in tools that marginally improve recording capability.
Use equipment you already own until it genuinely limits your creative goals, then invest in experiences that will expand those goals rather than simply improving your ability to achieve them. The world offers infinite creative challenges and learning opportunities that no amount of equipment can substitute for or provide.
Your next breakthrough image is more likely to emerge from a challenging new environment than from a marginal equipment upgrade. The creative confidence and visual sophistication that separate compelling photographers from equipment operators develop through experience, challenge, and cultural engagement—qualities that travel provides more effectively than any camera store purchase ever could.
Agree 100% ! Gear only records. What is in the Mind, Soul, Vision, Touch, Smell, Taste, Hearing, etc. creates the Heart of the Image. It is almost like a fledgling guitarist thinking that if he were to purchase a Martin D-300 Limited Edition Acoustic [ price ~$300,000.00 USD ] without asiduous FIVE HOURS OF DAILY practise ypthinking the D-300 will translate his spending magically allowing him to emmulate Pepe Romero playing Malaguena [ https://youtu.be/COc1ljZEb-M?si=Lt1Jz8fO7l3QcELN.
]. It would be better for a fledgling guitarist to spend time in the Caves in Malaga [ https://solaga.co.uk/nerja-caves-concerts/ ]. As for Photography, I have these words to help create Soul-Piercing Images: ZONE VI, POINT LOBOS, BIG SUR, 8x10, NAPENTHE'S, TRIPOD, PCH-1, HALF-DOME. .. .. .. .. Even doing the above things along with studying under Nancy [ http://www.nancybrown.com ] and I am STILL a hack photog. Some day I might be good enough to sit at the feet of the likes of Margaret Burke-White, Bill Eppridge, and other Masters. 'Sides, Enlightenment comes from the Journey and not the Buying !!!
I love the guitar analogy (especially as a guitarist)! You're absolutely right that gear without practice and soul is like expecting a $300,000 guitar to make you Pepe Romero. I spent about 10 years noodling away on the same Strat, and only after that did I appreciate my next upgrade. Thanks for sharing those wonderful references.
One more. Somehow, Nancy Brown's site access was messed up. Here, try again. http://www.nancybrown.com/
Great article!
But I don’t think you always need to fly to Thailand to “see differently.” Sometimes a short trip to the next town works just fine (and no jet lag).
And honestly, it’s not either travel or gear. A bit of both sounds like a good plan—go explore, but maybe bring a decent lens so you don’t have to say, “It’s blurry, but culturally rich.”
Toooootally agree. I'm a Midwesterner, so it's normally just a road trip somewhere for me :)
Disclaimer: Your last couple of articles seem to be pushing againt tech and saying only skill. That tech will be too much of a crutch. I can't agree with you.
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Is this a travel magazine or a camera site? I liked your 5% and 100% improvement statistics. Who made those up?
Also, properly gripping your camera. This is the second article where you emphasize that. I recently broke most of the fingers in both hands. Is me not holding my camera the right way going to ruin my pics?
About your topic: I can buy new gear and still increase my creative ability. I can walk the same familiar streets and increase my creative ability. I walk through the same streets and alleys to get to work. I take a different lens down the same streets and alleys, then compare the differences. What different pics do I take with each different lens? Do I have different perspective? That's just on my lunch break.
I'm not even a pro. I have all kinds of lenses. I have the first non-kit lens I ever purchased and bought the adapter to use it. I also have some of the newest lenses available. I'd be lying if I said that I knew the capabilities of each lens because I don't. Even my 30 y/o lens, I still learn new creative uses.
Travel will not 100% improve your photography. Effort will. I travel and have lived in 6 different countries. The only place where I felt the country changed my photography was China. You're head needs to be on a swivel looking for "No Photography" signs or "No Flash Photography." Even if it's an innocent mistake. You can be fined or jailed. You can also lose all your equipment.
The same skills I use in the Philippines are the same skills I use in the US. Anywhere you travel, you have to be prepared for varied lighting and content. Are you near water? Are you near snow? Are you beneath a jungle canopy or on the great plain? The skills you learn can easily translate from one area to another.
I don't have my camera set on "auto." I trust my skill and take every effort to improve it. I generally have my camera in Aperture Priority, but the controls to change are at my fingertips. If I come across people playing soccer in the park, I know that's not the setting I want.
Buying new equipment doesn't put a damper on creativity. Stagnation does. Even if it is around your hometown, go out and practice. Go out at different times of the day to shoot. Going to the same spot, the difference between a day pic and a night pic can be as different as night and day! Pun intended.
Still, travel. You'll learn the differences between different cultures. You'll find interesting pics to shoot. Filipnos will pose for you, Koreans will look down or turn away. Chinese will look at you with a scowl and suspicion.
Get two piggy banks. Label one camera and the other vacation. Donate to each... you can even transfer money back and forth between the two. Once you get enough for plane tickets and hotels, travel. However, you can still buy that cool new lens.
Effort makes you better. Equipment helps, but not in all situations. Always be learning.
I might be different but I don't like travel much. You spend a crap load of money for two weeks. You usually get sick dodgy hotels dodgy hotel food and it's weather dependent and you usually standing with a whole bunch of other photographers as well so this whole it's amazing to travel actually no it's not. It's annoying and you have to put up the annoying people and pay the crap load of money and then you only get about maybe 5 to 10 hours of photography for the whole trip. No thanks..... I would rather save the money and stay at home and eat at restaurants every night and then have 5 to 7 hours of photography every day thank you very much!!!
Speaking of staying near home, this was taken in my front yard. This is a film photo from between '93 to '95. I went out all day shooting snow. Who knew that my best photo of the day would be taken to finish up a roll before I stepped in the door?
Wonderful pic
You're absolutely right that travel isn't for everyone, and forcing it can definitely lead to miserable, expensive experiences with minimal photography time. Your approach of maximizing local opportunities makes complete sense, especially if you're getting 5-7 hours of photography daily at home versus maybe 10 hours total on a two-week trip. The key insight from my article isn't really about travel specifically; it's about seeking experiences that challenge your usual approaches. It sounds like you've found ways to do that locally, which is actually more sustainable and probably more enjoyable than dealing with those dodgy hotels and tourist crowds!
I bought a drone. That's probably the biggest change in my photography and I'm really enjoying it. Just doing some different stuff with it.
For Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” the words “There’s No Place Like Home” meant something entirely different after, rather than before, her experience with her three new friends, the Wicked Witch and, of course, the great and all-powerful Wizard. One of the greatest ending lines in movie history… so much that we’ve said it ourselves after a relatively short road trip to Las Vegas. I’ve always wondered though if Dorothy would have wanted to return to Oz. Would the amazing things that she saw and experienced outweigh the fears and anxiety of traveling to a foreign place? And traveling is indeed stressful for many people, even without the danger of confronting a life-threatening green witch. I dare say that if you wrote an article, Alex, asking folks to comment on their worst travel nightmare, you’d get a hundred responses. Of course, no matter the particular disaster, I have friends who are planning their next trip the minute they get home from the last one. Nothing outweighs the excitement and purpose some people find in traveling. I am not one of them. The idea of sitting on an airplane for sixteen hours, cooped up like sardines in a can, is about the last thing I’d voluntarily submit myself to.
And, really, life hardly ever boils down to just two diametrically opposed choices. Sure, upgrading to a newer lens with marginal improvements is not a choice I would make, with or without just two options. But there are many other things I would buy before hopping on that plane to Asia. I remember laboring for a year or more over the decision to buy a macro lens. Now I’m not fond of buying something that just sits unused after realizing it didn’t work out as I had anticipated. A kayak comes to mind. But after eventually choosing a macro lens, it was one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made. It totally changed my way of seeing. Undoubtedly it had a far greater long-term impact on my photography than any experience I would have had by traveling to a foreign country. I appreciate the value from acquiring memories… we have many of them from our vacations. But there’s an equal opportunity to make memories so much closer to home, and we have that opportunity every day of our life. Instead of a plane ticket to anywhere, I’d buy a lens or piece of camera gear that is distinctly different than what I already own (as opposed to an upgrade). I’d even buy a book, a movie, or some music. I’d try a new restaurant across town. I’d make memories out of today instead of planning tomorrow. And the great thing about photography is that no matter our subject, every last picture we make is forever etched in history as a memory, even if it’s just the amazing creation and beauty of a weed growing in our back yard.…
Ah, one of my favorite movies! You're absolutely right that life rarely offers just two choices, and I may have created a false dichotomy. Your macro lens story is a perfect example of how the right equipment purchase can genuinely transform vision. I think the key distinction is whether a purchase opens up entirely new creative possibilities (like macro photography) versus merely improving existing capabilities by small increments. Your point about making memories close to home is particularly wise and something I'm trying to return to more often in the last few years.
Well, yeah... Beyond that, obsessing over gear just kills the fun.
I think it depends. There is some times when high-end gear is really good and it can motivate you to excel your business as well. I don't think it's so simple just to say stop buying gear and go on travel which this is what this article came across as I personally don't like travel. I find it really annoying expensive for what it is and you don't get that much photography time in..... And most of the places that you go to this 25 other photographers standing there which doesn't interest me whatsoever I can go to my local places and be on my own
If you suffer with GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), why not rent the newer/better equipment and take it out and shoot with it alongside your existing equipment? If you can clearly see a significant difference between photos produced by the rented equipment vs. your equipment then maybe it is worth buying. If not, don’t. When thinking about whether to buy something new, don’t just choose between equipment and travel. Choose between equipment, travel and lessons. Athletes take lessons. Musicians take lessons. I am surprised at how many people enjoy photography and have never taken a lesson. Whether it’s online or preferably in person, a course with a great teacher could improve your photography much more than the newest camera. Moreover, if you’re making mistakes, flying somewhere won’t fix them. Better to have a teacher help you correct the mistakes and then take a trip.
Excellent advice! You're absolutely right to add lessons as a third option alongside gear and travel. The athlete and musician analogy is spot-on; it's remarkable how many photographers never seek formal instruction when they wouldn't hesitate to get lessons in other pursuits. Sometimes a single workshop or mentoring session can provide insights that would take years to discover independently.
So the issue is gear "new" vs places! It is the Pro with the funds for travel just like back in the new digital camera was the PS and Lr that cost $800+ each and every full update and not till a couple of post programs under $100 did Adobe do the PS and Lrc $100 a year came and then the hobbyist had a break but always the learning of the new that your "Minds EYE" that makes what can be done after that you click the button.
I do not travel to photograph but photograph when and where I find myself for just a drive or walk with what I have my eye goes on the hunt.
Living in north Florida there is a Zoo and a drive in a Zoo in Orlando making travel to far away not needed for animals. I can go to my local beaches for a Astro MW no need for a desert full of snakes.
As far a gear in 2009 I started with a Canon T2i and mainly went Sony A7SM1 in 2014 for a camera that would do Bracketing of 5 at +/- 3EV but also the Capture One editing for just $30 as Canon got rid of their editor but also on camera apps and a dozen more things and used it as my only camera till 2017 when A7RM2 with IBIS and the new 12-24mm f/4 for a trip to Az. to see my dad near the Grand Canyon.
You have to look at things a new camera can do not so much what is hyped example not one article or YouTube Video showing on camera apps of the Sony A7 models 1 and 2 that only when I showed a Sony rep the apps on my A7RM2 did he go and get one right then and there. I went A7RM5 because of EYE AF of many different people/animals not so much the 61MP but also the handholding of the Pixel Shifting for 100MP+ so no more need to get a camera with 100MP. Over the years I collected many lenses but for 12MP MW's I still use the E 10-18mm f/4 OSS using in full frame mode finding the FE 12-24mm F/4 and F2.8 to big for a pano rig and still use my original FE 16-35mm f/4.
You get gear for what helps get that image and no need for ultra f/# for a Sony does great at night in the dark even at f/5.6 and only those who want Faster AF is those who never learned MF with film.
1. E 10-18mm f/4 OSS (15-27mm in 35mm) 12mm in FF (a 2013 APS-C lens) on my local city beach and pier.
2. A7SM1 and Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 hand held in 2016
Always good to hear from you, Edwin! Your point about discovering features that even Sony reps didn't know about highlights how much we can learn by deeply exploring our existing equipment. I'm a huge advocate for reading the manual for just that reason!!
The trick is to learn how to travel. That itself is a skill to be learned. I rarely traveled on my own dime. If your a pro and get paid to travel great! But now I don't travel for the sole purpose of photography. But I do tend to pick places that are worth the effort and I'm curious about. There are lots of reasons to travel not all are about photos. If your not getting paid why put that pressure on yourself to make or break world class photos. I look at the process of travel, the food, the excitement. It's fun to just experience life and find images. I take my camera and a couple of lenses and when I see something I like I have what I need. Regarding kit vs. travel I don't get it? You have a kit already if your a photographer so what's the problem. Your kit should last 8-10 years unless your a pro. If your a pro you buy what you need, that's what you do and your probably too busy to travel on your own anyway.
You don't need to travel very far. It won't win any awards, but I found this cute shot on the way to my restroom.
William, you make a crucial point about learning how to travel effectively, as it really is a skill unto itself. Picking destinations you're genuinely curious about probably leads to much more authentic and rewarding experiences. The idea that your kit should last 8-10 years unless you're a pro working photographer is exactly the kind of realistic perspective I was trying to encourage.
Alex, you make good arguments. Thoughtful. And you get feedback!
I do sometimes spend hours researching and reading about the latest equipment. After trading my D850 to Nikon for a Z8, I was a bit emotional... I loved that camera. We photographed Norway, Sweden, Greece, Turkey and other cool places together. I suppose I could have kept it with my bag of F-Mounts, but I knew I would upgrade one day.
It reminds me of a golfer watching golf on TV.... At some point, if you're serious about improving, you have to get on the course instead of trying to buy the right clubs of your favorite golfer.
Hit the street or countryside and USE your equipment! (That's my takeaway from your article.)
Keep us all thinking!!
We do develop relationships with our cameras, especially ones that have accompanied us to memorable places (that was the 6D for me). Your golf analogy is perfect: at some point, you have to stop watching and analyzing and actually get out there and play. Most of us are guilty of spending a little too much time reading gear reviews and or watching tutorials at some point.
I think the other part to this is just use what you own, because it's a great feeling when you realise the equipment you already have in your bag is really, really good. Whether you want to fly to a destination or drive somewhere closer to home doesn't matter too much I think, as long as you're always willing to try something new and get the opportunity to practice and learn. I have to admit the idea of flying somewhere exotic is probably an easier sell to my wife than the next GM2 lens.. so there's that too.
It really is a fantastic feeling when you get the most you can out of your equipment and you know your technique is as its best. As for you and your wife, book those tickets! :)