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Hey! Castle-goers! Listen up! I know there are a great many things to do in preparation for your semester-long romp amongst the old countries, but please, humor me a moment. As you gather your things, don’t forget to pack your photographic sensibilities. For the last couple years I have had many a friend and acquaintance hop over to Europa and make sweet love to most of the EU. More often than not, these individuals have wielded shiny, new digital cameras with which to capture the action. These shots would be eagerly siphoned off on to their laptops and repatriated via Facebook. Let’s take a step back and think about these pictures. These are to serve as your memories, your visual representation of several months spent abroad, immersing yourself among of the art and cultures of societies established hundreds of years before Columbus had the ball to go west to get east.
I imagine you all want these pictures to be the best they could be. Take pictures you can be proud of. Take photographs, not snapshots. Nobody wants to “Czech out” your night of kissy-face double-digit absinthe shots in a Wenceslas Square dive bar. We produce enough of those kinds of snapshots on this side of the Atlantic, thanks. Take photographs you will remember and cherish forever - gorgeous vistas, cool local people, things particular to the respective regions.
All I ask is that you do yourself the service of thinking about your photos as art rather than wide-angle shotgun sprays. You may never have an experience like this again, so take advantage of the opportunity many of us are not fortunate enough to have. For example, bite the bullet once in a while and retire early. Wake up early the next morning and get your requisite monument shots in their prime: warm sunrise lighting and empty courtyards. You will be in and out of there before they’re swamped with less intrepid tourists doomed to take less impressive shots. Or learn how to say, “Can I please go upstairs to take some pictures of the city?” in local languages, and use the phrase liberally. I hear the Eiffel Tower looks mighty impressive around sundown with a sea of Parisian rooftops in the foreground. If you would like some tips to get the most out your trip as you can, here are some links that I have found particularly informative. There’s a wealth of information out there, just ask Google. Bon voyage!