Is it advisable to take a Camera with you on holidays?
Of course! What a no brainer you will say!
But then everyone is already carrying a decent quality camera along with GPS, Calculator and communication device in the form of mobiles? True ! The mobiles cameras quality had improved exponentially and can serve as handy instrument for most purposes.
The digital cameras; those that are light and handy while traveling and light on the wallet are also quite abundant now. Really good quality camera can be had along with accessories quite easily now. Prominent brand are the Fujinon, Sony, Canon and Nikon’s along with their lenses and setup exclusive made for travel photography.
Film cameras are quite cheap too. To get one is difficult to resist! I am quite partial to 35mm camera from brands like yashica, Kodak Minolta and Canon which used to be extremely common some years back. They are still good for carrying about and traveling. In the present days polarized cameras as offered by fujifilm instax and those are Kodak are extremely attractive deals.
Holidays are never ever complete without bragging with pictures from the trip gracing your mantelpiece & your Facebook pages. Of course you need to take a camera with you on your holiday. One piece of obvious advice though is to enjoy the holiday and not lose the moment in recording it for later. Take in the whole picture & not just what you see thru the viewfinder. And one more thing Dooo take good number of pictures of yourself as well. There were many trips where I took so many photographs of friends and subjects and there are so few of myself.
What gear to take with you on a trip?
If you are not a professional photographer a simple point & shoot digital camera with spare memory cards, a USB drive, ready to use rechargeable battery, battery charger & flash light with its batteries will be more than adequate. A waterproof bag which is comfortable not clumsy or noisy and can be tied around the waist or which you can be hung from your shoulder by straps will be extremely convenient. This keeps your hands free while you are able to operate the camera and have fun.
If you are going abroad do not forget to take along a power adapter or multi plug for travel for the battery charger.
You have taken so many photographs! What now?!
If you are planing to take pictures using your mobile phone then it would be a swell idea to have an account with websites like imgur.com, google drive, onedrive & Flickr.com/Smugmug to back up your photos at frequent intervals. The idea is to no lose memories or photos due to mishap and at the same time keep your data or wifi usage to the minimum. You can also share the pictures as & when you click them by uploading to instagram/ facebook or twitter. For this all you need is a data connection on your mobile phone or internet access. You should also familiarize yourself with the FAQs of the website you are using and do keep within the terms of service offered by such websites.
What pictures should you take?
One great thing about the digital photograph is you can have them to your hearts content! Take as many as you want; pictures arerelatively cheap,give flight to your imagination. Click what ever looks interesting to you, including self!!
Please make sure that you have the necessary permissions to take pictures & that you have paid the relevant fees by buying a ticket for the camera. Such extra fee is extemely common in National parks or Zoological Gardens though most places do not restrict mobile cameras. Do not assume that it is OK to take pictures wherever you are. Make sure by asking and be aware of social cues as well.