Cameras will ruin your vacation pictures.
I've taken two beautiful weekend trips recently. One was to Montreal, Canada and the other to Chicago, Illinois, where I lived for five years. On each trip I blocked out a full day for walking miles and miles with a friend, but I only brought a camera on the Chicago excursion. Chicago's a city I know and love to photograph, and I was carrying the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, a nifty little camera I've been excited to explore for the Tech Insider.
And yet, somehow I only took pictures in Montreal even though I only had my iPhone 6s.
The fact is, when I bring a camera along on vacation these days I don't want to use it. And I think you should feel the same way.
I've worked as a photographer for four years now. I'm comfortable with cameras. In the past, I've loved bringing my cameras along on walks through unfamiliar cities. When I visited Doha, Qatar as a college sophomore with a small group of students from my university, I carried at least one DSLR everywhere I went and got some pretty fun pictures.
Like this view of the city from the Arabian sea:
Or some images of my fellow travelers and the local architecture:
But looking back on the trip, I don't remember as many of the actual experiences we had as I would like. I do remember spending a lot of time thinking about pictures though. I had my cameras. Many of the other students had cameras. It was a little much.
Meanwhile in Montreal I snapped away happily all day on my phone but remember all the important details of the trip.
That's because DSLRs and similar cameras aren't for casual shooting. They're designed for thinking, planning, trying one approach and then another. You're not supposed to be fully in the moment when you're making pictures on a dedicated photo machine. You're supposed to be in the image.
When I go somewhere specifically to tell visual stories (like, for example, Qatar's human rights abuses) or make street photos or images for a client, then I need my cameras along. But if I'm there just to visit, they're a distraction.
Smartphone cameras, on the other hand, are perfect vacation devices. Most modern phones have solid lenses and sensors, and some are truly amazing. Carrying one of those around, or if you really want to step it up a notch a powerful pocket camera like the Sony RX-100, will offer you the freedom to enjoy your trip. You don't have to worry about the pricey machine dangling from your shoulder (never your neck), and whenever you see a really cool cross or olympic stadium or beaver you can lift it up and shoot.
