Hi,
No need to read a book about photography. Just take photos every day, and then (this is the important part), look at those photos.
Say you take 50 photos on a day. At the end of the day, spend an hour critically looking at all 50, selecting the 5 best ones, lightly editing them to make them even better (pay particular attention to cropping - if you took a photo in landscape format, try some portrait croppings (or vice versa) and see if - with a more distanced perspective - you can find a way to make the subject of the photo even more obvious). Ponder why the non-selected photos didn't turn out as good as you'd hoped. Compare the differences between them. (Having your own laptop with you is rather important to be able to do this, although I guess it's theoretically possible in an internet cafe; but then, I'd personally fear I'd skimp on time because of it.)
Do this every day (goes well together with writing a travelblog about your experiences of the day) for that six month period, and by the end of it you'll be amazed at how much you've progressed.
(Maybe after the first month read some online articles about white-balance, depth of field, sunset light and the rule of three. But only once you feel you have a need of more information to figure out what you've already noticed in your own photos.)
I did this very thing back in 2003 when I started travelling. Just with a cheap 3 megapixel point and shoot camera. After three months I was pushing the limits of what the camera was capable of; I'd tried every single button and setting in differing circumstances, and knew it through and through. After six months I bought my first DSLR. After two and a half years I outgrew that DSLR and upgraded to a semi-pro model.
Besides photography, and reading, most of the non-hiking/sightseeing/being out and about time during my travels goes into research. How long to dedicate to the next destination, where to stay, what to do for transport, etc, etc.
The occasional day of actually doing nothing (sitting in the lounge of the hostel with a cup of tea and a book, thank you very much) is a highly necessary and rewarding moment of rest after a week of constantly being on the go. If you don't want to laze about, then don't worry, there's absolutely nothing going to make you, and more than enough activities to fill your days even without trying.
[ 31-Jul-2013, at 12:44 by Sander ]
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