Ever since I started traveling, I’ve been torn by a common dilemma. I’ve wanted to capture moments as vividly as possible, but I’ve also wanted to travel as light as I can.
Of course, high quality cameras take up a lot of room and weigh a tonne. I’ve tested smaller point-and-shoots with fast lenses, but they don’t come close to a full-frame DSLR with high-quality glass. Hence, the dilemma. Do I forego my quest for feather-weight travel or ditch my obsession with gorgeous photos?
The Traveler Has No Camera
As the title suggests, I’ve decided to take the rather drastic step of ditching my camera altogether. The Samsung TL350 is a great camera for its size, but I’ve realised I take it out less than 10% of the time. The reason I bought such as small camera was so I’d have it more often to capture memorable moments. But in practice, it just didn’t work out that way. I had to remind myself to ‘take the camera!’
India only through an iPhone. In the middle of a poor area with crappy scooters sits an absolute beast of a (rather costly) Harley Davidson.
I Never Forget My Underwear
Clearly if I wasn’t remembering to take the camera, I didn’t care enough about it. I never forget to take my shoes, or my money or my underwear, and if you think that’s just habit, well, I NEVER forget to take my Moleskine, and I’ve only recently started using a notebook. The only deduction is that I don’t care enough about great photos. I can appreciate a nice photo, but in the scheme of everything else, ‘meh’.
Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean I don’t like taking photos; I love to capture our moments around the world. I just don’t care if they’re good enough to print on a massive billboard (or print at all, really).
Only on iPhone. Lauren through the glass leaving for 2+ months on her Gobi Desert Expedition. Still my desktop wallpaper today :)
A Camera With No Camera
Since I always carry my iPhone, I can essentially not have a camera or any camera equipment, but still have a camera. Spooky huh? The iPhone camera pretty much sucks compared to any new-ish Japanese compact, but I’ve found it’s fine for capturing those all-important mischievous moments. As they say, the best camera is the one you have (with you).
Don’t Try This at Home!
For the record, I don’t suggest that everyone ditches their cameras. For starters, you probably don’t have a completely irrational obsession with traveling light. Secondly, if you’re just traveling (not blogging or running a business), you probably have plenty of time to juggle photography and post-processing. And lastly, I’m oddly attracted to the ‘challenge’ of this and becoming a better iPhone photographer.
If you’re in fact up for the challenge too, there are lots of benefits to consider:
- Less bulk in your bag and pockets – no AC chargers or cables either
- Less photo-specific software on your laptop – and no RAW processing
- More time to focus on other interests – writing, meetups, adventures, etc.
Even Better Than Meat on a Stick
On a more subjective level, I’ve made a few other interesting observations over the last week just using my iphone Camera:
- When photography becomes less serious, you don’t fiddle aimlessly with pixels
- When you get used to using your iPhone, you react quicker to capture unique moments
- When the photos aren’t high quality, they become less artistic and more personal
- Photography is now completely absent from my mind; if something’s worth capturing, I just pull out my iPhone, but I otherwise don’t sweat photography
- I send pictures to friends and family much more often (one click after taking the photo)
- I’m more likely to take pictures of meat on a stick in Thailand (soon to come)
To Be Continued…
So we’ll see how it goes. I’m a little more motivated to include my own photos in future blog posts since I’m making a point of this challenge. And already over the last week I’ve become more satisfied with my photos while spending such little effort on them. I really think it all has to do with my photos becoming more personal. I guess I’m looking at the moment rather than the photo, which is good because the photos are truly abhorrent, let’s be honest.
Hi Todd,
This is a great idea! If I had an iPhone 4 (which has flash and a better camera) and not a 3GS, I would totally join you in this challenge.
In my 6+ months of travel, I have 5 months of backlogged DSLR photos because it takes effort to sort, process and upload them. On the other hand, I upload almost one photo a day from my iPhone.
It’s so seamless on the iPhone. Just take it, and upload it to Twitter/Facebook. And with instagr.am which makes the photos look, I can even upload to Twitter/FB and email it to people all at once. And because it’s from my phone, I don’t fuss about the “quality” as I do with DSLR photos.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this challenge goes for you :)
- Lily