Documenting My Trips

As with just about everyone I know, I carry a cell phone with me at all times.  My iPhone XR is an indispensable tool that helps me document my photography trips.  Yes, the camera in the iPhone does an incredibly good job with making photos.  That's where most of my images on Instragram come from.  Although I try and keep a detailed notebook when I travel, I usually go over my notes in the evening and enter them into the notebook.  Instead of writing everything down while shooting, I take reference shots with my phone (some of which I post online), which of course, has the coordinates attached to the image information.  I use Google Maps quite a bit to see where I was, and then I'm able to do more research after the fact.  I am on a trip to NY State right now, and while the purpose is to visit family, it's also a good opportunity to do more photography of an area I rarely get to these days. 

Just yesterday, I went on a short drive near Amenia, NY towards Sharon, CT.  I used Google Maps to label my stops and then later, when I was home, I could write up my notes and include the precise location  of each stop.  I have been photographing some old cemeteries which are lacking in signage, so retracing my route on Google Maps has helped me research the sites and figure out the exact name of the cemetery.  In addition, if a place is visible on street view, it's often very helpful to be more positive of the exact place visited.

I also do the reverse if I am scouting out an area for potential places to photograph.  Having that information ahead of time has been quite helpful.  Sometimes it turns out that a potential site isn't as good as I thought, or there may be structures or obstacles nearby that make me change my mind about the access.

I suppose that I could also have voice notes (turned to text of course), if I wanted to be even more concise while traveling, showing how amazing these little computers/entertainment centers/phones/cameras have become.   It's an interesting marriage of digital and analog tools that make my photography trips richer with having so much information at my fingertips.






Here is an iPhone photo of one of the cemeteries near Sharon, CT.  The oldest graves date from the 1780s.  Many of these burial grounds are surrounded by beautiful dry-laid stone walls that are so widespread in New England.