Before you venture into the unknown it will pay you to do your homework on your destination. The following are tips I can provide that will make your photography trip more successful. What I mean buy homework is researching where your going and planning your activities day by day.

Time is of the essence when you are on a photography vacation so you have to make the most of it. I always start by going to a photography blog site and search the location in their search window to see if any other photographers have been there. I start on Fred Miranda’s site. It is a very useful tool. After learning what I can from that site I then google the location and add the word photos so I can see other peoples images from the location we are heading too. Google images are posted from different web sites and you can gather buckets of information there.

Many cameras have the capability to attach a GPS module that records the location and time of the image. This can be a valuable tool weeks or years later to remember where the photo was taken. If your camera does not have this feature it might have a built in recorder. The cameras I use have both features however I only record a sound bite to help me remember the location and more importantly the name of a water fall or mountain peak. If you do not have either then I would recommend a journal or portable recorder. Perhaps there is a sign describing what you are photographing and this you can take a photo of either at the beginning or at the end of your shoot to remind you what you were photographing.

Keeping your trip documented will save you countless hours later on trying to remember where the photos were taken. I also recommend backing up your photos on a trip. I take with me a small portable hard drive that fits into my camera bag. I also take my laptop computer to download my images to on a daly basis. When we leave the hotel or condo for the day I do not take my laptop and I leave it in a safe place where we are staying. That way my new images are always in different places and if my computer or camera bag is stolen then I still have a copy of the images secured on the trip.