The Travelling Photographer: Building Confidence with Gear
Gear is always a big topic among photographers. For newcomers, choosing the right camera can feel like a make‑or‑break decision. For those who’ve been shooting for years, gear tends to linger quietly in the background until a new release promises something revolutionary. But before we even think about switching systems or upgrading, it’s worth taking a step back. Mastery begins with understanding what’s already in your possession. Knowing your camera inside and out is not a requirement. In fact, there are many features of my own cameras that I never use, and probably never will. As a result, I know what I like to use and how I use it, and I concentrate fully on understanding what each feature and setting does, where to access it, and how to use it quickly.
When you understand how your camera responds, where its limits lie, and how to work around them, you spend less time second‑guessing and more time creating. Without that familiarity, part of your attention stays tied to the camera, wondering if your settings are correct or your image will turn out as you imagined. Confidence with your gear replaces that uncertainty with focus and flow.
Learn Your Tools Before You Embark
When you’re travelling, moments move quickly, there is a lot on your mind: the travel itself, the schedules, the planning - there are a lot of things that can overwhelm you or draw your attention. There is no time to be learning what your gear does. This needs to be second nature, being able to pivot and adjust features on the fly, and doing so quickly. The moments can be gone quickly, and the scenes transform in seconds. There’s rarely time to pause and scroll through menus. That’s why, during travel, comfort with your camera matters so much. The more instinctive your shooting becomes, the more confidently you capture fleeting moments that define a place. And to become instinctive, you need to put in the time.
Realize That It Can Take Time
Cameras are capable of a lot, and even though you don’t need to know everything your camera can do, putting in the time to understand how you use your gear is key. When your attention starts to shift towards the experience of travel, the new destinations in front of you, and when the camera fades into the background as simply the tool to capture, you start anticipating instead of reacting to what’s ahead. Getting to this point takes time, and only with thorough usage and experimentation will you get there with your current gear.
Don’t Overcomplicate with More
One of the great rewards of knowing your gear is the freedom to simplify, and one of the biggest roadblocks to freedom is complexity. More gear and more options are rarely the answer. If anything, you are splitting your time that could be dedicated to one thing and spreading it amongst others. There is only so much time, and dedicating it to fewer options will help you master them quicker. Using various lenses and multiple cameras can definitely be a creative choice, but knowing when more is the answer is the balance you should work to understand in your own photographic workflow.
Travel photography thrives on lightness and benefits from limitations. When you truly trust your primary camera and lens, you leave time for your creative process to grow. You put your creativity into practice and strengthen your ability to think and create. Limit yourself to one lens and see where it takes you.
Conclusion
During travel, the more familiar you are with your camera, the more naturally creativity flows. Simplicity sharpens focus; limitation fuels growth. By dedicating time to understanding and growing with your current gear, you’ll begin to understand not just what you can produce, but what should be. To discover which moment within your travels should be the one to tell the strongest story of the experience that surrounds it.