I took a short trip to New York City earlier this week; when I very unexpectedly fell into tickets to a taping of the Colbert Report, I quickly planned a midweek getaway to take advantage of my great luck.
Often when we (photographers) tell friends we are going on vacation, someone will respond “Oh, I can’t wait to see your photos.” It’s obviously a compliment, but the heightened expectations can make professionals wince because we might not plan on putting the same level of energy into our vacation photos that we put into our professional work.
While photography is my passion, carrying around a full complement (roughly twenty pounds) of professional photography gear is no vacation at all, especially when I am doing most of my sightseeing on foot.
Nor is getting up before daylight in order to catch “magic light.” When you’re traveling with friends and family, try announcing that the alarm clock will be going off before sunrise!
So, many photographers opt to leave their big cameras at home–taking a point and shoot camera instead, and when we travel with others, we limit much of our picture-taking to found situations so as to minimize the inconvenience to our traveling companions.
That’s what I decided to do, cramming a lightweight point and shoot and extra batteries into my purse. No flash, no tripod, nothing else.
My friend Penny joined me on the trip, and in addition to the Colbert Report, we did lots of touristy things; we hit a Broadway Show, two museums, ate bagels for breakfast and Italian for dinner, visited a couple of great delis, cut across Central Park, ducked into St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and peeked into Tiffany’s. We tried to hit the Empire State Building at sunset, but the lines moved so slow that we didn’t get to the top until dark.
However, as a huge accommodation to me, Penny, who is a hobby photographer and a “morning” person, agreed to get up early for a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge our last morning. I had been wanting to walk the bridge at sunrise for years, but on my last two New York trips I traveled with “night” people, so getting up ridiculously early was simply not an option.
So, we set the alarm and were on the bridge by 7:15. (We might have tried to hit sunrise had the forecast been better, but it was overcast with a chance of rain. Not a good idea to alienate friends if the picture possibilities are iffy at best.)
Above are a handful of photos from my trip. The first is a billboard on Fifth Avenue. After that are views from the Brooklyn Bridge, a bike decorated with subway cards, a handrail (crafted to look like a spine) at the Museum of Natural History, a dinosaur from the same museum, Lady Liberty, and the last shot is a packed shoe shine station in Rockefeller Center. Mostly a collection of interesing items that caught my eye as we crisscrossed New York City.
For anyone who is interested, my point and shoot is a six megapixel Fuji S7000 purchased years ago for a climb up Katahdin. It’s been a great pocket camera for me, but I’m pretty sure it’s no longer being made.
If you’re looking for a high-end point and shoot (no, that’s not an oxymoron), check out Canon’s PowerShot G series, a favorite of professional photographers. If I were buying a point and shoot today, the G11 (or its current iteration) would be on my short list of candidates.
Also, consult the ratings at DP Review, which is a must-stop resource for anyone shopping for cameras.
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