Go The Distance

By Ken Parks, January 30, 2013

As a travel photographer, there are places that require a bit of walking.  This can be stressful and painful if one is not conditioned.  I often lug two large cameras, Canon EOS 7D's with lenses and power battery grips on my journeys.

Before going on a photographic journey in a foreign country, I would suggest some low-impact, cardiovascular training and loss of weight.  Before you begin any exercise regimen, I suggest checking with your doctor.  In my training, I start out with about two miles of walking or biking each day for the first two weeks, then build this up incrementally to an additional mile per session per week.  After 6 weeks, I max out at 5 miles.  Then I continue 5 miles per day until I depart for my next photographic adventure.   

On my last trip to Italy, I knew that I would be totting cameras for quite a distance each day.  I averaged about 5 miles of walking per day in towns such as Cortona, San-Quirico, and Lucca.  Many towns in Italy require that you park your car outside of the town and, then you have to walk or bike.  Having the previous training and physical endurance becomes an advantage.  

Another thing I suggest is good pair of walking shoes and clothing for the weather and terrain that you will encounter on your photographic journeys.  I found the best walking shoes for comfort and distance in a pair of mocks from L. L. Bean.   I use Dr. Scholl's  Massaging Gel for extra comfort and support. 

Recently, I met with a few film photographers and we walked Peachtree Street in Atlanta, GA.  The walking and standing about taking photos of the Georgian Terrace Hotel, the Fox Theater and other interesting people and structures was a three-hour tour... a three-hour tour.

When it comes to distance walking, the unknown voices whispered, "Go the distance." 

The Georgian Terrace Hotel, one of Atlanta's finest resting place, has this wonderful staircase.  This was shot with one of my film cameras from yesteryear (circa 1976), my old Olympus OM-2 with a Vivitar Series 1, 28-105mm, f/2.8 lens and Kodak Tri-X film.  The negative was then scanned with an Epson V600 Scanner to make a 4.8 Meg JPEG image.  And then the post-processing included Photoshop CS5 and NIK Silver Efex Pro 2.

I have several images of the "Walk on Peachtree" in my Flicker Pro account.