By

Don Guckenberger

My career as a USAF Aircraft Maintenance officer took my family to Okinawa, the Philippines, Korea, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, and Greece. We have lived in 7 states and visited the remaining 43. Now retired, we have cruised to the Baltic, Denmark, Spain, and the Azores.

In 2023 after a transatlantic cruise we spent a week in Florence and a week in Rome. Many travel photography opportunities. But not necessarily the occasions to get great shots – unless you stumble upon them as I did in Montserrat in Spain (figure 1). Now that I have decent equipment like my Sony A6300 I have more incentive to take better quality travel photos. But how as when you travel with a group you have no control over when you get to take the picture. So I did the best I could until the solution came to me in Florence– night photography – or what I call the: The All Night Golden Hour with sunlight, time of day and sun position are critical.

At night, lighting is fixed. When everyone else was crashing at the hotel, I went out on my own with my tripod, camera and remote. At first, I just wandered around in what we in the Air Force call a ‘target rich environment.’ I was so engrossed taking photos I lost track of what I had taken as pointed out by the diner at this table who commented that I already had his picture. (figure 2).

In Florence wandering was easy as I could walk anywhere I had the energy. Rome was tougher as I needed to take a bus which stopped running at midnight. Figure 1 Rail line leading to Montserrat, Spain. Figure 2 Piazza Del Duomo, Florence, Italy. But it was fun, and I was more in control of the artistic side of the travel photo. I think that the results were rewarding. One photo, per my wife’s request, now graces our dining room wall. Figures 3 and 4 of Ponte Vecchio in Florence compare what I call a decent travel photo with the same shot at night. To me there is no comparison.

Lessons learned:

Lesson 1: take a tall tripod. Do not get one to fit in your camera backpack as I did. A tripod is a must as all night photos are long exposure. The small tripod worked but, I spent a lot of time hunting for a trash can or something to elevate the tripod.

Lesson 2: get a small notebook to jot down details of the night photo you are planning. And, take a daytime photo with your cell phone, then turn around and take another looking in the opposite direction. Put it in an album so it is easier to find. Turning around forces you to look for what could be a better vantage point. It was not until I got home that I saw if I had climbed the hill to the Tempio di Venere (figure 5) which is next to the Colosseo (figure 6) I would have had more of a ‘money shot’ of the Colosseo.

Lesson 3: do some pre-travel research of photos taken by previous visitors. Take a cell phone photo of that photo and put it in an album and put info in your notebook where the location is.

This June we are cruising in Norway between a week in Oslo and a week in Stockholm, so I will be able to see if I have actually learned any of these lessons.