Blog: Travel Photography (Final)

And just like that, two weeks have passed and my journey through Asia has come to a bittersweet end.

In case you missed my blogs, I’m just your average amateur photographer trying to continue to advance my photography. I’ve been armed with a Nikon 1 V3 and had to opportunity to take it on a two week journey through different parts of Asia. Looking back now, in just two weeks I went from knowing absolutely nothing about photography, to feeling confident about sharing (some) of my photos with the public. With the help from AYP tips and just sheer hands-on experience, I can feel assured in saying I have advanced, ever so slightly, my photography skills. That is the point of it all isn’t it? To continue improving no matter how slight or minuscule it may seem.

Looking back on what I’ve learned

1) Know your settings

The first time using the camera was similar to other “firsts”. It was clumsy, awkward, and it was a bit experimental. However, after a bit of trial and error, I quickly learned that being prepared makes life a lot easier. Know what kind of shot you’re trying to achieve and prepare your settings to get that shot. When shooting at night, I typically needed a larger f-stop if I wanted my shutter speed to be quicker. If I wanted to add some motion blur, I knew I would have to compensate a lower shutter speed with a smaller f-stop. Know what you’re going for and prep the settings. You’ll kick yourself for missing a shot because you were too busy fumbling with your camera.

2) Bring a tripod

Nothing is more frustrating than looking back on a shot that would’ve been cool if you had a tripod. We’re all human, and unless you’ve had some military training as a sniper specialist, you probably don’t have hands stable enough to hold a 2 second exposure. These days there are tripods that can fold down and are easy to carry around. My mistake was not bringing a tripod. I believe this shot could have been pretty cool if I was prepared with the right equipment. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a tripod because I didn’t have room in my backpack. What I believe would’ve been a really cool looking shot ended up being a blurry sub-par photo. Solution? Next time I’m bringing a camera backpack and a collapsible tripod.

3) Don’t over-think, just shoot

I noticed that the more I thought about my shots and ways I could make the shot look better, the less desirable they turned out. I believe that great shots happen instinctively. Sure, you have to imagine how you want your shot to look like; but instead of going out and looking for a creative shot, take what is given to you and make the most of it. There is a difference between creating and capturing art. In a studio, creativity is needed in order to make a photo look amazing. In nature, the beauty is out there and it is on you to find the angle, the lighting, and the depth in order to capture it.

Final Thoughts

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I can see how photography is so addictive and why people enjoy it so much. The chance to go out and capture images of your life and be able to put your own spin on it, is ridiculously fun. These past two weeks were amazing but being able to capture moments with an awesome camera made it that much better. For those of you who are just getting your toes wet in photography, the only real advice I can give is to keep shooting and continue to get inspiration wherever you can find it. For those of you who are already advanced, I would love to hear your feedback on my photos in the photo critique page or add your comments below.

My overall impression with the Nikon 1 V3 is that it is a phenomenal camera. Again, I haven’t used too many cameras aside from a couple point and shoots and the Canon 5D Mark III here at the studio, but for my skill-set the Nikon 1 V3 was everything I could ask for and more; I’ll provide a more thorough review on the camera in the near future. This is my final travel blog post, hope you enjoyed my memoirs and continue to follow AYP.

All images by Nathaniel Chu

Take a look at the gears I used (and wish I had):