How I Plan a Photo Trip

At the risk of sounding vain, I like to think that I’ve found some tricks for trips that let me take trips that are both creatively fulfilling and restorative.

I’m always looking at inspiration even just in the back of my mind for where my next trip will lead. Photos and videos from photographers I admire, chasing down other media that inspires me (I fully booked a layover in Lisbon to soak in some of the atmosphere that inspired Maro, one of my favorite Portuguese artists), and of course the always persuasive enticement of seeing a friend on their home soil (see my frequent trips to DC along with going to Cincinnati, Louisville, and perhaps a future trip to San Francisco).

My current work schedule is pretty forgiving to taking time off (except for my photography job in the fall and early spring) so I’m pretty free to move at the pace of inspiration.

I typically like to hone in on dates eight-ten months out so I can start watching for flight deals and figuring out the least painful way to get decent accommodations. I could honestly make a separate post on funding for these trips, but I’m a very loyal Delta Skymiles member (perks of living in Atlanta is that you get an account at birth) and I funnel the vast majority of my everyday spending towards generating points and miles through a variety of programs.

Honestly this is a tangent that could be a post on its own (and a luxury that’s substantially buoyed by me being based in the United States) but the gist of my setup is using Chase‘s Sapphire Preferred ($99 annual fee but needed to transfer points) and Freedom Flex cards ($0 annual fee) to transfer to partners like Hyatt or Air France/KLM (which also comes in handy for booking Delta flights). I also have a duo of cards from American Express: the Delta Skymiles Platinum card ($350 annual fee) for earning towards status with Delta, free checked bags, and TSA Pre-Check (a lifesaver when dealing with the unpredictability of Atlanta security lines) and the Amex Green card (currently closed to new applications as of this writing, but typically $150) for transfers to the aforementioned Air France/KLM and a Clear membership (see also: security checkpoints).

Once the nuts and bolts of the trips are booked accommodation wise, I move towards programming the trip. This is a process that very much depends on what the individual trip’s purpose is, but for a typical sightseeing trip I’ll trove through a combination of YouTube videos, guides from magazines like Conde Nast Traveler, and Instagram to find spots that could make for good photos or a fun experience. I’ll also usually have a look see at places to get a good locally-influenced bite, drink, and bookstore (I fully believe that the best way to know a place is through its coffee and indie bookstore scenes). My Apple Maps are usually a treasure trove of recommendations that I can pick through when I’m on the ground.

One last thing I’ll look at is if there’s some coincidental event going on while I’m in town that I’m interested in covering. A prime example of this would be coincidentally discovering that the New York City Marathon was taking place the weekend I was already planning on being in the city and punting all of my plans in the city to tracking the race across the boroughs.

That segues nicely into the key belief of remaining flexible. It’s impossible to know what you’ll be into weeks or months into the future or the condition that my body would be in. There’s no reason to make myself miserable running around to eight different things on my itinerary when my body is aching for a nap or a coffee to recharge. I am still on vacation after all.

I saw some travel creator whose name unfortunately escapes me at the moment say that for planning purposes they only will schedule two tentpole activities for a day. This is a principle I wholeheartedly agree with to embrace the spontaneous discoveries that make travel rewarding. As a street photographer, my goal is to give myself as much free roaming time in the streets as possible to find increasing photos. So many of the photos I share are of “in between” moments where I’m walking between destinations and see something that makes me pause.

I’d like to think that this structure is the framework for being able to create the way I do without burning out from the hobby that I love so much.