I will soon be on a road trip in Portugal. Sadly my transport will be a Renault Clio rental car -not a 911-although that may be a blessing as I hear that Portugese drivers share their road manners with Sydney and Rome drivers.
I am tempted just to take one camera - the Leica X1. I took only the X1 to California earlier in the year and came back with a nice portfolio of photos and avoided the hassle of carrying around a bigger camera or worse still two cameras.
I am at the stage where I really only want to try and take just a few really good photos. I will be satisfied with just a dozen really good ones from a three week trip. My days of filling an SD card up with hundreds of mediocre or worse photos and a few good ones on a trip are behind me.
Ansel Adams, the famous American landscape photographer is quoted as saying
"Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop." I guess the keyword here is "significant "but the point is well made-less is more.
I know of a friend who went to Antarctica on a short trip a few years ago and he took over 7000 photos. In the end they overwhelmed him. He could not even sort them out. He could not see the wood for the trees or should that be the penguins for the icebergs.
Whatever camera I take I have resolved to really chase the "sparkling" light early in the morning or late afternoon. Fortunately I enjoy getting up early -the best time of the day. I took the above photo in a market in a small town in Myanmar early morning. Without the right light it would be just another dull market shot - I've taken many. You see the bustle of the market and you expect that to be magically transported into your camera but it falls flat literally and when you look at it back home it's just another dull scene with no edge and no depth. Capture some magic light and it starts to sparkle. So get up early.
Leica X1 photo.
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