Spirit of place! It is for this we travel, to surprise its subtlety; and where it is a strong and dominant angel, that place, seen once, abides entire in the memory with all its own accidents, its habits, its breath, its name.
Travel photography brings those images of the unknown and unimagined to the present reality. Each place, with its new and unexpected qualities, remains in some way familiar, in some way known. The goal of my work is to inspire the imagination with the familiar but not fully known. It is sensing a new and different reality in the familiar.
These images are the result of extensive travel over the past fifteen years in Western Europe and the United States. In all of my images, color is an important dimension, the underlying media of emotion that gives these images their impact and nuance. These photographs reflect my lifelong passion for photography and my primal fascinations with color and light.
Much of my earlier work was accomplished with standard film based photographic equipment, including 35mm, 120 (6x9 cm), and 4x5 inches. The images were scanned into a computer system for printing where only minimal adjustments are made to the images, similar to standard photographic processes. Recently, thanks to the advent of better digital imaging technology, all images are produced with digital photographic equipment.
My images are typically printed using a large format printer, allowing print widths up to 44 inches with resolution and color gamut similar or better than standard photographic processes. All of these images are guaranteed to be stable against fading and color shifts for a minimum of 100 years. For more information on all of this, please head over to my services section.
All of my work in the field or in the studio is now digital. As a traveling photographer, digital media is great, especially when dealing with airport security and for most magazine work. For big prints - 24x36 inches and up - digital is rapidly closing the gap with traditional film processes and exceeding film in flexibility and ease of use.
I use two different systems depending on the work I'm doing. The Nikon D2X is a 12 Megapixel camera that I use for scenic and more critical work where large prints or magazine spreads are the target. This is a big setup, as I use many of the 35mm prime zoom lenses from Nikon. The exception is the wide angle 12-24mm zoom lens, which was designed specifically for the nikon D series bodies. My field pack is the LowePro Pro Trekker AW or the LowePro Road Runner AW roller, depending on whether I'm going through an airport or doing a lot of hiking to get to the location. The Pro Trekker has an excellent pack frame and is relatively light, which makes it a great choice for foot trips. The roller has an acceptable pack harness, but the rollers are great for big airports, car travel, and on the trains in Europe. This setup almost always includes the following:
Sometimes, depending on what I'm shooting, I'll bring along the following:
For photojournalism and web publishing - and especially when I want to travel light - I have an Olympus E-1 system that fits comfortable into a Lowe Pro Magnum AW shoulder bag. This is a great, light system but is limited to 5.1 Megapixels. The Olympus is a well built and easy to use camera that seems immune to dust on the CCD, something that Nikon needs to implement. This setup gives me the 35mm equivalent of 14mm to 400mm with three lenses.
When I return to my studio, I do all of my scanning and printing, but my Ektachrome E6 processing is done by Photocraft in Boulder. I really prefer to do this myself, having had a great deal of experience both with the technologies involved, and also knowing that it's really hard to describe just the right color to someone else.
This system gives me a fast and smooth running workflow, with enough ICC color management tools to keep my results repeatable and consistent. The Linux server runs the same version of the Apache web server as my internet service provider, so I can test and debug all of my web pages locally before "going Live" and uploading them to the servers.
Being a travel photographer, I do a lot of traveling with a great deal of equipment. Since 9/11, the life of the traveling photographer has become a great deal more difficult. Those hours spent in the airport can really make things difficult. Each time I travel, I ask the security employees for tips and recommendations for a smoother trip. Almost always, I get a new and usually contradictory response. Here's some of the things that I have tried that work and how I handle cameras and film in this hyper-secure environment.
How do I get this all of this equipment around without killing myself? I have help! Jo, my wife, is a avid adventurer and loves to travel. She helps move the gear and gives me support and advice on dealing with people and difficult situations. She's a real pro at this- she is the human resource director for a local city.
Unlike some others, I've had pretty good luck checking my equipment through as baggage. My aluminum Zero cases worked extremely well, and I've never lost any equipment. With the recent security restrictions, that's no longer a possibility. All baggage is inspected and must be unlocked. If it is locked, the TSA agents are authorized to break the locks and assume no responsibility for damage. I asked several of the TSA agents about this, and they do not have a good answer, other than to use the new locks approved by TSA that allow them to open and inspect the bags without damaging the locks.
As a result, I always plan on carrying my equipment on board with me. This is not always possible, as more and more airlines move to the Canada Air Regional Jets (CRJs). This class of aircraft has very limited overhead bin space, so bags almost always need to be checked. Most airlines provide a service that allows bags to be dropped off and then picked up right at the exit of the plane, but I've sill seem bags dropped from heights of six to ten feet right to the tarmac. My LowePro Magnum AW Shoulder Bag fits under the seat of these planes, so it's always my first choice.
Still, there will be times when I can't get the camera bags on the plane with me - this is especially true in Europe, where there are greater restrictions on carry-on baggage. Usually I can get by by carrying some of my lenses in my pockets and distributing the equipment among my other bags, or by just being nice to the airline representatives. When all else fails, I'll check the equipment, but I always carry some of the TSA approved locks for this situation.
The Lowe Pro Trekker will usually fit into the overhead luggage bins, with the exception of some Airbus planes and the CRJs. I usually remove the foam top cover, and put my coat there for storage. Also, don't pack in the harness straps - leave them out. If worse comes to worse, it will fit under the seat. You then have no leg room, but you cant rest satisfied (if uncomfortably) knowing your equipment is safe.
I live in Louisville, Colorado, just outside Boulder. If you'd like to contact me, I'd enjoy hearing your experiences traveling. Drop me a line at walt@hubis.com. For more about me, please visit my personal web site at http://www.hubis.com.