Despite it being t-shirt weather in Sydney it was a miserable cloudy day when I struck out on my own for a couple of hours with my camera.  Intent on taking some pictures of the Opera House it turned out to be a real disappointment with a cloudy dull sky making the curves of the building flat white instead of curvaceous and glistening.  As I sat on the harbourside and soaked up the view without my camera to my face I started to think about how I’ve viewed this trip from a photography perspective.

There is no doubt travelling with someone who is not a photographer adds a level of personal pressure.  For all his patience MT is after all on holiday but I still feel the pressure to take a snap and move on when actually I’d rather take a bit longer and explore those allies more to see how the light changes and what might be the best angles to take a groovy photograph.  Everywhere you looked in Sydney there were people out with their camera’s taking pictures of the key sights.  They snapped it and then moved on to tick the next thing on their list.

You’d think it would be a simple thing to strike a balance between the full on take your time photography experience and taking the holiday snap.  If it is I haven’t found it yet. Perhaps it’s just that I’m still learning and like most things when in that state of conscious incompetence having an audience whilst you practice is not the best thing.  Equally it’s probably best to accept that whilst you’re on holiday which is in itself a full time occupation it isn’t the best time to start to add in another activity that requires equal amounts of concentration and effort and heaps more time.  Interestingly even professional photographers struggle with this dilemma if this article by Jeffrey Chapman is anything to go by.

I had a wonderful time in Sydney.  We explored some of the iconic sites, visited art galleries and museums.  Shopped, drank and ate.  Most of all we walked.  Seeing cities on foot is most definitely the way to really experience a place even if your legs and feet start to rebel after a few hours.  We tend not to take official tours or experience trips (like jet boats) but rather set off with an incomplete map in a guide book and take a walking tour.

One day we took the ferry to Manly across Sydney Harbour and walked part of the coastal path up to the North Fort to the Australian Artillery Museum. After leaving the main recreational path along the Esplanade we headed off on our own to climb the headland and follow the path through the native bush.  This was an experience in itself with lizards darting across the track and a myriad of plant life that I’d never seen before.  Arriving at Former School of Artillery was a little surreal.  An old army barracks that seems now to have lost its purpose in life.  A little further on we stopped by the Australian Artillery Historical Museum.

I’m not that into military history but this place was a delight because it was staffed by volunteers who brought the stories of the tunnels, guns and tales of the war alive.  Our tour guide was so enthusiast we spent rather longer than expected hearing about all the artifacts that have been restored.  This included a Japanese searchlight that has been painstakingly restored and reconstructed, a labour of love that has taken 3.5 years.

As we wandered back down the road to pick up the coastal walk I was kicking myself for not taking the time to take a photograph of the men in the workshop.  It would have been a wonderful environmental portrait and I could have ticked that box on my photography assignment.  I’m not sure whether I didn’t because I was so interested in what was being said and done that I didn’t even think of taking a photograph or that I was simply too nervous to ask them to pose for a photograph.  Probably a bit of both.

Nevertheless, I did take a photograph of a view of Sydney Harbour that most tourists don’t see.  A view we had to walk 7km for.  Although I took this more as a record shot I actually like it as a photograph.  Something that to me is pleasing to the eye even if it doesn’t communicate much of a story to those who weren’t there with us.  It is a photograph that I’ll remember for the walk, the men at the museum and the fact that we rewarded ourselves back in Manly with a cup of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

It’s clear to me from this trip that trying to mix photography and sightseeing is potentially setting you up to fail at both.  It’s about balance of taking the opportunity to see a place with a photographers eye but being more selective about when you get serious about taking photographs to make them technically competent and expressive of your creative vision.  There is no point putting yourself under pressure to perform all the time and one way of doing this is to perhaps change the type of camera you carry.

Although I lugged my large SLR and 3 lenses with me all the time we were in Sydney I actually took fewer photographs than I might otherwise expect to do.  Maybe next time I’ll take out the point and shoot or the smaller camera and 1 lens just in case.  Also, I’ll stop kicking myself about the photograph that got away, after all if the memory is worth keeping I can do that anyway without any amount of fancy equipment but by storing it somewhere much more personal that I can pull it out when I feel like it just by closing my eyes and remembering.