The Backpacking Photographer Series

jacob12_1993

jacob12_1993

Messages
1,941
Name
Jacob
Edit My Images
Yes
On April 11th I will be embarking on a 4.5 month trip to SE Asia to spend some time working on a multimedia documentary and also shooting some landscape and stock work. During this time I will be visiting Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. Whilst planning my travels, I scoured the internet for some solid advice on low-cost travel as a photographer. However the only comprehensive information I could find was either from die-hard backpackers who would travel with 4kg of kit (my minimal camera bag weighs 3 times that!) and the amazing professional travel photographers who tend to stay on higher budgets than most non-professionals can afford.

This led me to think about producing a blog series about backpacking travel as a photographer; thus the backpacking photographer was born!

What is Backpacking Photography

Backpacking Photography is a style of low-cost, independent international travel photography. Travelling independently on a low-budget are the factors that traditionally differentiate backpacking photography from other forms of photography. The concept of backpacking photography includes the use of a backpack(s) or other luggage that is easily carried for long distances or long periods of time; the utilization of public transport as a means of travel; a preference for inexpensive lodging such as guesthouses; a longer duration to the trip when compared with conventional vacations; and an interest in meeting the local, learning and documenting their culture, as well as seeing the sights.

During my 4.5 months away I will be blogging about:

I will be blogging about:

1) Equipment ideas and recommendations
2) Route ideas and possible itineraries
3) Mini city guides of my experiences shooting in places such as Luang Prabang
4) Recommending sights and accommodation
5) Posting up my budget ideas etc.

If anybody is interested the first post is up now:
http://jacobjamesphotography.co.uk/2012/04/07/backpacking-photographer/

There is also a link at the top of the sidebar if anybody wants to subscribe to the blog and follow the entire series (y)
 
jacob12_1993 said:
On April 11th I will be embarking on a 4.5 month trip to SE Asia to spend some time working on a multimedia documentary and also shooting some landscape and stock work. During this time I will be visiting Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. Whilst planning my travels, I scoured the internet for some solid advice on low-cost travel as a photographer. However the only comprehensive information I could find was either from die-hard backpackers who would travel with 4kg of kit (my minimal camera bag weighs 3 times that!) and the amazing professional travel photographers who tend to stay on higher budgets than most non-professionals can afford.

This led me to think about producing a blog series about backpacking travel as a photographer; thus the backpacking photographer was born!

What is Backpacking Photography

Backpacking Photography is a style of low-cost, independent international travel photography. Travelling independently on a low-budget are the factors that traditionally differentiate backpacking photography from other forms of photography. The concept of backpacking photography includes the use of a backpack(s) or other luggage that is easily carried for long distances or long periods of time; the utilization of public transport as a means of travel; a preference for inexpensive lodging such as guesthouses; a longer duration to the trip when compared with conventional vacations; and an interest in meeting the local, learning and documenting their culture, as well as seeing the sights.

During my 4.5 months away I will be blogging about:

I will be blogging about:

1) Equipment ideas and recommendations
2) Route ideas and possible itineraries
3) Mini city guides of my experiences shooting in places such as Luang Prabang
4) Recommending sights and accommodation
5) Posting up my budget ideas etc.

If anybody is interested the first post is up now:
http://jacobjamesphotography.co.uk/2012/04/07/backpacking-photographer/

There is also a link at the top of the sidebar if anybody wants to subscribe to the blog and follow the entire series (y)
Click to expand...


Have a great trip Jacob....i'm looking forward to reading all about it!!! (y)
 
Hi jacob, sounds like an amazing experience.i will follow your blog with interest.good luck,hope you have a great time.really look forward to seeing your photos from the trip.
 
Hi Jacob,

Just tried subscribing, using both Firefox and IE but it sends me to a screen asking if I really want to do this and then please try again.

Kind Regards

Matt
 
I'll be adding this to my RSS reader, have a great trip!
 
springer said:
Hi jacob, sounds like an amazing experience.i will follow your blog with interest.good luck,hope you have a great time.really look forward to seeing your photos from the trip.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I will try and post as often as physically possible which for the majority of the time should be every other day. The first month in Myanmar will be different as internet is very difficult to find outside Yangon and Mandalay so I will try and write some articles in advance so there is still a steady stream of posts to keep everyone hopefully interested.

thewtam said:
Hi Jacob,

Just tried subscribing, using both Firefox and IE but it sends me to a screen asking if I really want to do this and then please try again.

Kind Regards

Matt
Click to expand...

I will look into that Matt, it worked for me but I will try it on another computer to test. Cheers for flagging it up (y)

Craikeybaby said:
I'll be adding this to my RSS reader, have a great trip!
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot mate, I recently read your thread about your trip which was a good read (y)
 
What a brilliant opportunity - as has been said, have a great time and stay safe.
 
Extremely jealous.

I hope you have a great trip and look forward to following your blog.
 
jacob12_1993 said:
Thanks a lot mate, I recently read your thread about your trip which was a good read (y)
Click to expand...

There's more stuff on my blog (blog.lewiscraik.co.uk) with regards to posting updates regularly, I used the Wordpress application on my phone to write the posts as and when then as soon as I got to somewhere with wifi I could upload them.
 
Bleep said:
Extremely jealous.

I hope you have a great trip and look forward to following your blog.
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian!

Craikeybaby said:
There's more stuff on my blog (blog.lewiscraik.co.uk) with regards to posting updates regularly, I used the Wordpress application on my phone to write the posts as and when then as soon as I got to somewhere with wifi I could upload them.
Click to expand...

Yeah I am taking my laptop so will be writing up on there too. I also discovered that you can schedule posts as well so I can write a few in advance for times when I may be away from the wifi for a week or so (y) will check out your blog, always good to read what other people have been doing!
 
We have recently got back from a 6 week trip around India. We have travelled to the Far East every winter for the last 3 years as fortunately we have the time and apart from the cost of flights it's doesn't really cost us anymore than staying in the UK over winter.

Our budget has always been a max of £50 a day for the both of us, but do seem to have spent more like £40 a day on average during most trips. That is for hotels, food, transport, entrance fees etc., Even at these kind of levels we have stayed in comfortable accommodation (most of the time!) eaten well and not really wanted for anything really. I guess the advantage we have is that accommodation is or can be a big part of your daily budget and it doesn't cost anymore or less if there are 1 or 2 people sharing a room.

This year is the first time I took my DSLR equipment with me and was really glad I did as I have regretted not taking it previously. I was worried about security etc., but luckily I had no problems at all and of course it was fully insured anyway. I happily left my gear on numerous occasions in hotel rooms or with reception even in the cheapest of hotels.

I took with me:

Lowepro Classified 180AW Sling
Canon 5D MKII
Canon 24-105L
Canon 100-400L
Canon 35MM F2
Benro Travel Angel
Circular Polarizer
Shutter Release Cable
Rocket Blower & Microfibre Cloth
Netbook

The only thing I felt a need for on occasion was something wider, but apart from that, for me anyway it was the perfect travel set up. I guess it all came in (minus the Tripod and Netbook as these stayed in the hotel most of the time) at about 4.5kgs. For me it was manageable on a full day out, but I wouldn't have wanted to carry anymore weight.

With regards to other luggage, clothing etc., my advice would not to take anything you think you may not use or wear. You can always pick stuff up along the way if needs be and you probably will end up doing this anyway.

Grab a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet Guidebook if you haven't already done so as they are useful, but don't rely on them 100%. Trip Advisor is also very useful for researching hotels. Another thing which we find very useful is taking an unlocked mobile and buying a local SIM for it. Rates for calls/data are very cheap and it's very useful for making hotel bookings, train reservations or general internet research while on the move.

Have a great trip, I look forward to seeing the pics.

Simon.
 
Last edited:
Marking place - have a wonderful time
 
SMT said:
We have recently got back from a 6 week trip around India. We have travelled to the Far East every winter for the last 3 years as fortunately we have the time and apart from the cost of flights it's doesn't really cost us anymore than staying in the UK over winter.

Our budget has always been a max of £50 a day for the both of us, but do seem to have spent more like £40 a day on average during most trips. That is for hotels, food, transport, entrance fees etc., Even at these kind of levels we have stayed in comfortable accommodation (most of the time!) eaten well and not really wanted for anything really. I guess the advantage we have is that accommodation is or can be a big part of your daily budget and it doesn't cost anymore or less if there are 1 or 2 people sharing a room.

This year is the first time I took my DSLR equipment with me and was really glad I did as I have regretted not taking it previously. I was worried about security etc., but luckily I had no problems at all and of course it was fully insured anyway. I happily left my gear on numerous occasions in hotel rooms or with reception even in the cheapest of hotels.

I took with me:

Lowepro Classified 180AW Sling
Canon 5D MKII
Canon 24-105L
Canon 100-400L
Canon 35MM F2
Benro Travel Angel
Circular Polarizer
Shutter Release Cable
Rocket Blower & Microfibre Cloth
Netbook

The only thing I felt a need for on occasion was something wider, but apart from that, for me anyway it was the perfect travel set up. I guess it all came in (minus the Tripod and Netbook as these stayed in the hotel most of the time) at about 4.5kgs. For me it was manageable on a full day out, but I wouldn't have wanted to carry anymore weight.

With regards to other luggage, clothing etc., my advice would not to take anything you think you may not use or wear. You can always pick stuff up along the way if needs be and you probably will end up doing this anyway.

Grab a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet Guidebook if you haven't already done so as they are useful, but don't rely on them 100%. Trip Advisor is also very useful for researching hotels. Another thing which we find very useful is taking an unlocked mobile and buying a local SIM for it. Rates for calls/data are very cheap and it's very useful for making hotel bookings, train reservations or general internet research while on the move.

Have a great trip, I look forward to seeing the pics.

Simon.
Click to expand...

I have noted most of that! My kit bag is quite a bit heavier as I will be shooting video on my documentary work so I have an EVF, audio kit, second body, lighting etc to carry, I am aiming to get it down to around 12kg which was what I find as the maximum comfortable weight to carry in my fstop rucksack.

I am then aiming to get my 'essential' gear, clothing etc to around 8kg max, 6kg if possible as I don't want more than 20kg in total.

In regards to leaving it in my room, I have a pacsafe luggage lock that I can use to attach my gear to an immovable object. It is also fully insured so if it's stolen, which would be extremely difficult, it's not the end of the world.

I will have a post about my gear up probably tomorrow when I finally start placing it into the rucksacks for my departure!
 
Have a great trip Jacob, subbed to your blog look forward to the updates

Baz
 
jacob12_1993 said:
Post #2 - Essential iPhone apps for the travelling photographer

http://jacobjamesphotography.co.uk/2012/04/09/essential-iphone-apps-backpacking-photographer/
Click to expand...

If you're going to be blogging, I can't recommend the Wordpress app enough, I spend many an hour on transfers writing blog posts.

Although I didn't use it I found Dropbox to be good, I could get access to all my documents on my phone, but more importantly from any Internet enabled computer if my phone got stolen/damaged etc.
 
Craikeybaby said:
If you're going to be blogging, I can't recommend the Wordpress app enough, I spend many an hour on transfers writing blog posts.

Although I didn't use it I found Dropbox to be good, I could get access to all my documents on my phone, but more importantly from any Internet enabled computer if my phone got stolen/damaged etc.
Click to expand...

Good suggestions mate, I have both on my phone but never crossed my mind will pop them on in the morning!
 
I set of for heathrow in 3 hours, time for some shut eye now! Nice and stressful last day making sure everything fits in my rucksacks, hopefully should have a couple more posts over the next week or so before going dead for a short while whilst in the rural areas of Myanmar
 
Stay safe, enjoy yourself and I hope you get what you want out of it.

I'm very envious :) Looking forward to your blog
 
Probably a bit late now - but have a great trip. Lovely website and I'll keep an eye on it.

And if you get some downtime with wifi (yeah, I know) maybe check out http://nicholas-adams.tumblr.com/ - every so often he hops on a plane and goes and shoots some real street stuff.
 
Have fun on your trip. 4.5 months is a good period of time to go for.

I backpacked around asia for a similar amount of time then went to Australia for a year after and then Japan for a year after that too. By the time I got to Japan I got a bit fed up of lugging around dSLR stuff though and mostly just used my iPhone for photos believe it or not.

Mostly just had a 500d and tamron 18-270mm to avoid changing lenses and bringing extra kit. Now I've gone over to u4/3 stuff and couldn't be happier, its got my interest in photography while travelling revitalised.

I wrote a big article on it for my website: http://www.adventurerob.com/2012/02/a-thought-on-cameras-for-travel-goodbye-slrs-hello-mirrorless/
 
Thanks everyone, I'm just sat in Doha airport next to the only plug in the place writing some more articles for the next few days. Due to board my flight to Bangkok in 40-50mins which means I will arrive in Bangkok around 2am GMT. Then I have a nice 8 hour wait in Suvarnabhumi before departing to Yangon, Myanmar
 
I guess you're in the wilds now without internet, so hope you had a good flight etc, it's interesting to see how you've done it differently to me. The packable daysack is a great idea, as I didn't have anything smaller than my FStop Satori when I went to Central America and really felt that was something I could have done with. I went with a packable hold all to transfer my clothes/bulkier items into for flying. I assume you're taking a big rucksack as well as your Loka, how are you getting on with that?

A good alternative to the packing cubes are the bags that the FStop bags/ICUs come in.

Also there are a whole load of things in your kit, which I have no idea what they are (between lenses and filters) are they video kit? How much video work are you planning on doing compared to photo work?
 
Yeah everybody does it differently. I was reading that post thinking "6 T-shirts - SIX??? I bet he doesn't need more than 5" :D

I like this as a packable day sack

[YOUTUBE]6zmdDbskVlk[/YOUTUBE]

Very very strong (even though rats chewed a hole in the bottom of mine). For flying I chuck the pack and anything else loose in a big nylon bag. Protects all the straps and everything.
 
No pen on the list.

And having been to Sri Lanka, I'd also add some cheap toothbrushes, a cheap pack of colouring pencils and some sweets for the children you meet.
 
Sounds like you are really getting stuck in! Much better than being sat at my desk in Coventry!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top