Your camera equipment was stolen in Portugal. A clumsy bauble above the Seine left the river owning the digital SLR. You own no camera equipment, but there’s something you really want to photograph on your upcoming trip. Lots of scenarios could result in a disposable/single use film camera landing in your hands. The good news is great photos (even artistic photos) can be achieved with the simple equipment.

A whole new world opens up to the holder of a disposable camera.

My personal experience has shown there to be an advantage to carrying a disposable camera (my secret weapon is out!) – everyone thinks you’re a tourist with no serious photographic intent. This translates to an ability to capture moments that wielding more serious camera equipment can make difficult. A whole new world opens up to the holder of a disposable camera.

Disposable film cameras come in several ISO choices – 100 to 800, but at most convenience type stores (and even vending machines in Japan), you’ll be hard pressed to find anything other than 400 and 800, with 800 being prevalent. A flash is optional (and recommended). Various manufacturers make them today in a few “versions” – wedding, sport (waterproof up to 50 ft.), panoramic, and one with a zoom function, albeit a weak zoom function. Chances are if you’re purchasing one on the road, your choices will be limited to the most basic.

Despite the simplicity a point and shoot, fixed focus camera connotes, to get photographs you’ll be proud of, MORE work and creative thought is required – not less. Understand the camera’s limitations. They typically focus anywhere from 4-5 feet to infinity, and for the flash to be of use, you’ll need to be within 10-12 feet of the subject. Work within these restrictions though and magic can happen. And remember, the camera has nothing to do with how you see the world. Look for new perspectives and the single use camera will become your photographic friend.

Before we get into the tips, here’s something else to consider where disposables are concerned: kids LOVE them. Put one into the hands of each child and prepare to be amazed!

While ALL the basic photography rules apply, there are a few things in addition to the basics that will give your photos from a disposable camera some WOW power.

Disposable Camera Pointers:

• Search for reflection. Reflection can be created from water, mirror or glass, the cone of an airplane, a pair of reflective sunglasses, or a rear view/side mirror. Use it for an artistic slant on common scenes.
• Panning the disposable camera can yield photographs with a bit of movement to them. It takes practice to know how quickly to bring the camera from side to side while you click the shutter, but it’s worth experimenting.
• Try using the headlights of a vehicle, or a flashlight to light your subject matter.
• Tilt the camera to capture scenes with a twist to the perspective.
• Take a picture of part/half of something. It’s a technique I’ve experimented with on occasion, and while it works best with close subject matters, it can yield a very interesting photograph.
• Assuming you sprung for the flash, use it! Backlit photographs, especially of people, benefit greatly from using the flash. Overall, don’t be afraid of using the flash. Unexpected effects will often be the result.
• Don’t be afraid of haze, fog, steam, or any condition that to the bare eye seems out of focus. Tack sharp is overrated.

Basic Photography Tips:

• LIGHT….is the only thing you are photographing, so make it your prime consideration. Where is the light? How is it falling on your subject? What color is it? How hard is the light?
• Everyone sees the world at…eye level. For your photos to stand out, find ways to shoot at anything but eye level. Stand on something, or get lower, even to the point of lying on the ground.
• Get off the beaten path, like the star ship Enterprise; BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE.
• Don’t be afraid. Don’t be timid. Never fear to ask anyone to do anything that will make a better picture; the worst they can do is say no, or maybe HELL NO.
• Tune in to the time and place. In the same sense that you can never swim in the same river twice, you can never shoot the same photo twice; the river of light is at a continuous ebb and flow. Let that moment speak to you, and then use your camera to take that message to the rest of the world.
• Shoot with/from your heart.
• If it’s not interesting, you’re not close enough.
• Don’t put the object of interest in the middle, a rule commonly called the Rule of Thirds. Offset the focal point.
• Look for symmetry of objects or a repeating theme.
• Walk all the way around something (if you can) to check out the various perspectives. You’ll be surprised at how the “backside” of things appears.

If you’re still convinced travel photography can’t be pursued with a disposable camera, shoot with one for 2-3 weeks at home. Sometimes it’s the simple exercise of carrying the camera around and tripping the shutter that overcomes our hang-ups.

P.S. It’s photography – have FUN!

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2009. | Travel Photography with a Disposable Camera (it’s NOT an oxymoron) | 14 comments |
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Taking beautiful photographs in exotic, far-flung locales is a surprisingly easy thing to do, once you’re there. But really showing a place—its ins and outs, its people and its surroundings—is a much more difficult pursuit. It’s easy to become overwhelmed, to find yourself walking around wide-eyed, your camera still lost somewhere at the bottom of your bag; or, conversely, snapping off rapid fire shots of anything that moves (and many things that don’t), only to find when you return home that you haven’t captured anything meaningful or worthwhile from your journey. A pretty landscape is one thing, but a collection of images that work well together and truly show a place will have people coming back to view them over and over again. Below are five things I try to do before, during and after any trip; I’ve found they help me get the most out of my photographs.

1. Do some research

A pretty landscape is one thing, but a collection of images that work well together and truly show a place will have people coming back to view them over and over again.

First, do some research and learn about a place. We do it before we travel, so why not do it before we photograph? Find out about the history, the culture, the customs and the surrounding towns, regions and countries. This should inform not only what you photograph, but how you photograph. Obviously, you’ll probably shoot a trip through Thailand’s southern islands or a resort in the Maldives slightly differently than you would a refugee camp in Uganda or displaced Burmese in the Irrawaddy Delta. I like to make lists of the things I want to photograph once I arrive in a place. I tend to forget them otherwise.

2. Take less equipment

Second, pare down on your equipment. I appreciate practicality and mobility above most things, and carrying backpacks filled with camera equipment just isn’t for me. In the end, most accessories hinder more than help when I’m photographing a place, especially if there’s a lot of moving around or a lot of ground to cover. Keep that in mind. If you’re making your way across Rajasthan in two weeks, taking night trains and buses and generally hoofing it from one desert fort or palace to the next, you might want to be mindful of how much crap you’re lugging along. Bring one lens instead of four. Take off the battery pack. Leave the tripod at home. Learn to photograph efficiently. I mostly work and travel these days with one full-frame camera, a 35mm lens and a few small off-camera flashes. I also keep a film rangefinder and some gaffer’s tape on hand in case of an emergency.

Smiles. Photo by Aaron Joel Santos.

3. Get off the beaten path

Third, while you’re traveling, get off the beaten track. Spend a day or two just walking through the streets with your camera. Go down alleys. Get lost. Look through windows. Talk to people. Have lunch at a local eatery. Drink a beer by the side of the road. If I’m traveling with my girlfriend, I always split away from her for a day or two. The photographs I take are much different when I’m alone. I’m more likely to put myself in awkward positions and to impose myself on people when I’m by myself. And this is usually when I get my best photographs. Which brings me to the fourth point.

4. Smile

Smile. Don’t forget that you’re a visitor. With a camera. A smile will get you everywhere. In all my travels, I’ve never met a person who enjoyed being intimidated or lied to. The best advice I can give, particularly when photographing people, is to be honest and open about your intentions. I tend to walk slowly, with my camera in my hand, pausing often to at least look through the viewfinder, searching for shots. I smile whenever I make eye contact with someone. They almost always smile back. In this way I’ve been invited into homes, fed, given family histories and gotten drunk on local spirits on more than a few occasions. I’ve played volleyball and badminton for hours, been taken out on fishing boats and have even been given small gifts to take away with me. Other times I’ve just sat there, on a stoop with some older man, watching the world walk by one body at a time. Not everyone will want their picture taken. Respect that and smile when they say no, then move along.

5. Edit your images

The final thing is to edit your images when you get back home. A great slideshow can say thousands of things about a place, but a bad one will have your viewers checking their watches, slurping their drinks or quickly clicking away from your blog. Try to pare what you have down to 20-25 images. Remember that less is more, and that sometimes you have to kill your favorites. Try to show a good mix of people, landscapes, objects and quirky or interesting scenes that you’ve captured. Have the photographs tell a story. Your story. Leave people wanting more, not less. And then start preparing for your next trip.

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2009. | 5 Ways to Take Photos that Truly Capture Your Journey | 7 comments |
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