On the Road

My DSLRs are on the shelf.

On a recent trip to Jordan I was going through my nightly routine of cleaning the cameras’ sensors and backing up the day’s shoot when it came to me that these two exercises in what you might call preventive maintenance—keeping dust off the sensors and making sure my pictures are safe—are among the things that concern me most as a professional travel photographer.

Some photographers call it a personal project; others, a self-assignment. I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about whether there’s a difference, and if there is, what it might be. Besides, I have my own mash-up of it: the personal assignment.

Waves occupy a high position on my favorite photographic subjects list. First, I feel a natural emotional connection to them. Second, they offer a lot of ways I can portray that connection. Give me a subject that provides lots of possibilities and creative challenges, and I'm there.

It's not what most photographers would consider essential glass, but in mid-2017, when I heard it was available, I knew the 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye Nikkor was a lens I'd like a lot. What I didn't realize was how much "a lot" was going to be. It turned out that I liked to have it with me whenever I was photographing.

I travel to take pictures, but sometimes I just happen to be in an interesting area, like last spring in Lexington, Kentucky. Let’s see: Lexington, horse country, the Keeneland racetrack nearby, and me never without my camera gear. Photography was bound to happen.

How did I get to be the photographer I am today? It’s a question I get asked a lot by beginner photographers and, I think, there are some valuable lessons in my story. First though, I want to talk about how I view the work of other photographers.