Travel Photography – A Slightly Different Focus

July 14, 2026

I’ve been back for a couple of weeks now, and I’m finally over the cold (or whatever) I caught on the Iceland trip. I’m glad the worst of it came after I got home. That would have been miserable on the trip for myself, and everyone else on the trip. Yuck – sharing a bus with someone performing volcanic sneezes would not have been pleasant. 

Since I’ve been home, I’ve managed to go through all the photos and videos I shot on the trip, and I’ve been giving some thought on my approach for upcoming trips. I did have a plan of sorts for Iceland photography – I brought only one of the Sony A7’s, along with just two lenses, the 25-200 for everyday/landscapes, and the 50-400 for wildlife. I knew that there would only be a limited number of opportunities for wildlife, and that most of the photography would be landscapes and waterfalls. There were also two underground activities – the volcano and lava tube, and was planning to just use the Pixel phone and GoPro for those. That was the plan at least…seemed pretty good.

As it turned out, I used my phone for the majority of the images I captured. It rained quite a bit, sometimes very hard, and it just did not make sense to use the Sony with the rain cover, especially if there was hiking and scrambling involved. I came close to a bad fall while trying to pick my way through some slick rocks, while holding the camera in one hand and my phone in the other. That was one close call too many 

I did carry the camera along on most hikes in the new (and wonderful) Think Tank sling bag that I bought before the trip, but quite frankly, I still used my phone most of the time – it was a lot easier to pull it out of my pocket to snap a shot when we stopped for a breather. I also used the new GoPro camera quite a bit since it fit in my jacket pocket. The only times I relied on the Sony camera were for wildlife related activities, as I had planned. 

Fast forward (forward or backward…I’m not sure which direction) to a week or so ago – I had a photo club competition coming up, and started going through my most recent photos to find something to submit. I reviewed the collections I made from Iceland, and came to a rather depressing conclusion – I had a lot of really nice shots of puffins and whale tales, interesting ones from the volcanic related features we visited/hiked, and some fantastic images of waterfalls but nothing that would be judged favorably in competition. I wound up submitting a penguin colony image, and one from the birds of prey workshop I attended a few months ago – neither one did particularly well. What really bothered me was that one of the competition winners was a beautiful, perfectly composed shot of a church in….. Iceland. What am I doing wrong?

No, I did not sell my cameras, and take up a new hobby. I did think about it for a minute though. What I realized instead, was that I need to spend even more time setting my expectations for each trip – for example, am I just focusing on capturing photos to support the blog stories – composition and perfect settings are not as important, and in most cases, using the phone makes more sense. Did I really need to lug the Sony along on the “Inside the Volcano” hike? Nah….lot’s of strange and spectacular pictures, great for the blog or a travel slide show, but nothing worth spending time curating for competition. So where should I have been more serious about capturing competition worthy images? The Heritage Museum would have been a good choice – the old church with a great background, or spending more time looking around the sod houses. Maybe the old cathedral at Holar, or some of the buildings on Hrisey. There were a few spots where I could have worked on composing a better image. I really do  need to learn more about city photography – there were probably a lot of opportunities with the interesting buildings and murals in Reykjavik, and I had plenty of time on my own before the group arrived. And I did have some wildlife photo opportunities – birding in Myvatn, and the whales and the puffins. But one thing I have learned is that static “portrait” shots of animals do not do well in competition. Judges are looking for images that tell a story. It is not always so easy to work on photo composition in the field, especially when you are jammed into a small boat, or rushed on a hike. I guess the bottom line is that I have to make up my mind as a trip progresses, on whether I’m taking photos for blog stories or to share on Facebook and Instagram, or to create images to curate for competition. 

So with my latest self-appraisal and plan for refocusing my photographic efforts, what should I be looking for on my next trip to Kodiak Island and Anchorage? The town of Kodiak has a lot of potential photo ops, just by wandering around the two harbors – wildlife (otters!! ) and a lot of interesting buildings and fishing boats. It might be a good place to work on my street photography, so I may just pack the long lens in my sling bag, and be more selective on what I shoot as I wander around. I’ve got a full day on my own before the tour group shows up.

The Grizzly Bear trip will be all about wildlife – I will be focused on getting action shots of the bears, landscape shots from the boat, and whatever other wildlife we see – Bald Eagles, Otters, Puffins (yay!!!!), and maybe even whales. This will probably be four days of using the Sony A7, and the phone will stay in my pocket. I probably will not bother with the GoPro on this trip.

The three days in Anchorage will be a mix of wildlife (moose!!!) and extreme landscape photography – I’ve scheduled a small plane tour around Denali. I’ll probably be taking some shots with the phone, but the Sony with a wide angle lens will be my primary. I’ve seen some spectacular photos taken from these flights, but that all depends on the weather and lighting. I’m going to do some research before I go so I have some idea on what to focus on, and the best way to photograph from a small plane.

So once again I have a plan. This trip will also be way different than the Iceland trip, since it is targeted towards photographers – no rushing to grab a camera and fire off a few images. We will be setting up in a group for safety, sitting on our orange buckets, while the bears do their thing. It’s not like I’ll be asking them to pose for a shot. Hopefully they will be cooperative….and not get too close. Or too hungry. 

And speaking of my upcoming trip to the land of giant bears, I decided that I absolutely, positively need to enlarge my collection of outdoor gear, and need to travel to what is arguably the adventure outfitter mecca of the West – Denver. Aside from having the second largest REI flagship store, which I have written about in the blog, most every major manufacturer has a store there – Patagonia, North Face, Arc!teryx, Kuhl, Black Diamond, Fjallraven and many smaller companies, are in one or two locations around Denver.  I’m planning to bring a large suitcase. I’ll stay away from the camera stores though – I’ve done enough damage this year.  

Peace