Photo Management On Overland Tours

[Michael Chmilar]

The packages with the film were almost always "beaten up" to some extent. Usually, the beating was minor, but a couple of times the enclosing box had severe structural damage. One package I sent home from Australia had been crushed enough that it had a large hole torn into it. Fortunately, nothing was lost, as I had the foresight to put some small items into a small box, before placing it into the large box. I always kept the film in the original sturdy 20-sheet quickload boxes, and the film always arrived intact.

Packages sent by courier service were usually in very good condition.

The only pre-booked travel I had was for the long international flights.

My rough itinerary was made with ideas of how I would travel between locations, based on information from guidebooks (ie. "there is a train from city X to city Y; busses frequently depart from the station in city Y to village Z."). But I would change these plans on the fly as my situation changed (ie. I wanted to stay longer in one location, or cut out some other place). For example, in Vietnam I stayed longer around Hue, and flew to Saigon rather than take three days with ground transport.

I usually tried to make sure I had my transportation arranged a day in advance, such as buying bus or train ticket. Sometimes, it took an extra day because the transport was already full, the schedule had changed, etc.

Building itineraries and keeping schedules depends a lot on your personal goals and temperament. I tried to strike a balance between working to an itinerary, in order to see a broad range of locations, and "going with the flow" once I was at a location, in order not to be so tied to a schedule that I failed to "experience" a location. The best way to achieve this is to build in flexibility and "slack time" to your itinerary so you can adjust; you should also be willing to cut sections completely out of your itinerary, as necessary. Based on my experience, I recommend writing up an itinerary based on research for a trip that interests you, and then either doubling the amount of time, or cutting half of the itinerary. Seriously!

I will also re-iterate that large format photography was a principle goal of my travelling, and that, with proper planning, resources, and time, it can be done. I would also recommend that you schedule in time to "be a tourist", and partake of local culture and entertainment with no thought to photography, so that you finish the trip with more than just a collection of great photographs!

[Emrehan Zeybekoglu]

I just can't imagine traveling with a tour company and trying to do LF. It'll be a series of frustrations and irritation.

[Greg Miller]

I have traveled with many tours (that are not specifically photographic tours) around the world and find them very unsatisfying from a photographic standpoint. As another poster has already mentioned, you arrive at most of the interesting places when he light is at its worst and the crowds are at their worst and being hurried along by the tour director. These trips are fine for snapshots. For more serious photography they are frustrating and yield only the very seldom serendipitous moment where a fine photograph can be captured.

Sure, you might come away with a keeper or two. If you are primarily on the tour to be a tourist and don't mind lugging your gear along, then fine. If you are primarily going to get high quality photos then your effort/reward ratio will be quite low. I think there are many better or more rewarding ways to go about getting good photos.

[Frank Petronio]

Lois Conner had assistants and flexible time in China... cool lady no matter what.

A camera that could be used handheld, such as a Crown Graphic, would be far more useful given the time and tripod permit limitations. While Quickloads avoid dust, the prevent you from using 400 ISO Porta NC film which is essential in many situations, especially with less than ideal light. I think a 6x12 roll film holder and a stock of 120 film would be much more useful, and the exposed 120 film is somewhat more secure in transit than a box of large format film. One of the Fotoman, Horseman, or Linhof 612 cameras would be ideal. Even a Noblex would be cool and present a different point of view (albeit you would have to work harder to keep it clean and in good repair). And 6x9 Fuji rangefinders are compact and bullet-proof as well.

If you're committed to using 4x5, consider a couple of Grafmatics and a small Harrison changing tent. But I would drop down a format -- even a 6x6 Rollei has its charms -- and greatly simplify your travel while still producing high quality work.

Just sign the model releases "Mohammad" and don't worry about it ;-)

[otzi]

However, my first package in Australia was sent to Alice Springs. It arrived on time (as I later learned), but when I went to claim it, they could not find it. For the next two months, I called weekly to see if it had arrived. Finally, on my last day in Australia, I was informed that it had been returned to sender a few days prior, as it had been unclaimed for two months! An additional package to Sydney was accidently sent as surface mail, which is very slow, and so arrived very late.

I just about fell of my chair reading this, sorry it happened but, hey, welcome to Australia. The postal service is now private but was once Gov. run and still maintains a public service mentality. The problem is well known and a registered or priority service is in place to over come the problem. run separately with separate postal boxes and this service is pretty reasonable. - Don't worry it happens to us also. You sometimes can get more interest from the barman's dog. Any way trust you had a pleasant time besides.

[Hollis]

As for the initial worries in regards to a model release, I wouldn't worry about one unless you are trying to promote a product or the like. Secondly, ditch the tour company. The only photos you will have are of the back of retirees heads (they have perfectly fine heads, not against that, just the fact that they are always in front of the lens). Go it alone and wing it. As for issues with explaining film, I bet if you looked on certain film boxes you will find every translation for 'light sensitive materials - do not open', just print all those out and laminate it and put it in your wallet and point at it when you have an issue (worst case scenario).