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Lessons Learned On Assignment in India
By David Duchemin
I spent nearly three weeks in India on an assignment for myself this January. Returning from these trips always gives me way too much time awake at 3 am
as my body wrestles to catch up with the time zones, but it gives me plenty of time for debriefing and processing the lessons learned.
This trip was no different. I came home with a hard drive full of images and a notebook full of thoughts and reflections. To be honest, this trip was so different
than what I expected it to be that most of my comments are about expectations.
It's no secret that as humans we hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see. If our expectations determine, to some degree, what we see, then to that
same degree our expectations determine what we will and will not shoot. In the case of travel photography, especially where well-known destinations are involved,
we have a lifetime of postcards and classic travel photographs that inform our thoughts and feelings of a place.
To the degree that we keep to that vision. We will never see, feel, or experience a place for ourselves. When shooting the Taj Mahal recently, it took all day to
first shoot the classic images and get them out of the way before I could slow down and really begin to see the place for what it was, or what it was in those
moments to me. A compelling photograph is one that says what you feel about a place, and to feel something beyond the cliché, you need to take some time, slow
down, stop looking and begin seeing. This has been compared elsewhere to the difference between shooting a picture of a model and shooting a portrait. The
image of the model, usually a product shot of some kind, is an image OF a person. A portrait is an image ABOUT a person. And so it is with travel images, or
anything you shoot.
Expectations rear their heads in other ways as well. What you expect to see, experience, and shoot, often determines your selection of gear. If you wind up on
location expecting to shoot tight portraits and discover, as I did in India, that you feel differently than you thought about a place, that you see it differently
and you do not have the tools you need, then you are limited in your ability to express yourself and create the image that is in your mind. I realize creativity
always happens under constraints of various kinds, including limited gear, but photographers who allow their expectations to inform their choice of gear without
being conscious that they are doing so risk exposing themselves to more constraints than they need to work within. It's hard enough to get truly compelling images;
there's no need to make it harder.
I very nearly did not bring my 17-40mm lens with me to India. I expected to do more portraiture and planned for that. At the last minute I threw in the lens and it
was that lens that allowed me to produce the images I feel best convey how I felt about India. Be aware of your expectations and plan to have them be exceeded or
go in a different direction entirely. The same story could be told of my tripod. It's not heavy; it's a Gitzo basalt tripod that's small and light, but I nearly
didn't bring it and its lack on this trip would have meant coming home with much different images. Bring more than enough batteries and memory, too. I shoot
exclusively on Lexar Professional 133x 8GB CF Cards and I always carry more than I think I will need for a day of shooting. You never know and that's what makes expectations
such a hazard - at the end of the day they're just guesses and guesses are notoriously unreliable. It was those times that I left my card wallet in my hotel while
out shooting that suddenly my one card was not enough and deleting images in the field is risky.
Another lesson. Some shots need to be proactively created. It's been a long learning curve for me to get beyond shooting what is convenient to now really going
out of my way to get the shot. For me, that means much more time with people, taking my time with a portrait and being okay with the time and the awkwardness
and the language barrier. Allowing these times to be collaborative rather than a walk-by-shooting creates a much stronger, truer image. If that means taking a
couple trips across the river and paying the ferry-man double so I can shoot him as he poles his boat and brings it to a better angle, then great.
If you feel strongly enough about an image, don't go away thinking, "I wish I had taken more time." Take the time, make the effort. Don't manipulate things,
don't present a reality that isn't there, but do everything you can to get the photograph. Among other things, this is what makes the pros - the ability to
overcome the obstacles and get the shot. This applies to family reunions, weddings, travel, reportage, portraiture - any arm of photography can benefit from
taking initiative and spending a little more time.
Final lesson. Back to expectations. Always expect the unexpected. Travel is getting tougher for photographers who want to carry their gear on flights. Flying
out of Varanasi, I had real difficulties - I had two bags and they had a strict one-bag policy. At least they did with me. Lots of people in the waiting area
had two bags. But when a soldier with three stars on one shoulder and a gun on the other says "no" repeatedly then it's hard to find alternatives. At this point
I refuse to concede and put my gear into a Pelican case in the hold - it might not get damaged but there's a chance of theft.
These days I have two fallbacks where airlines are concerned. One is to go politely and smiling as high up on the chain of command as I can with the airline and
end with "I understand your restrictions and am not asking you to break any rules. I would be happy to check my gear so long as you understand that you are
assuming liability for over $10,000 in professional photographic equipment." That usually works; it did this time and they personally escorted me through security
and waited as every piece of my gear was hand-checked.
Had that failed I would have taken my camera gear (all carried in David Honl's fine Camera Wraps for just such an eventuality) out of my bag and put it into my
backpack with my laptop and hard drives and other stuff I refuse to check, and put everything else into the camera bag and checked that. It's not pretty, folks,
but unless you have a plan, you may end up with no choice but to check the gear or walk to your destination.
David Duchemin Bio
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