From Old Faithful to OahuA trio of Tamron lenses gives Dave Raz the versatility he needs to showcase America’s most well-known destinations. |
Article By Jennifer Gidman Images by Dave Raz |
Whether he’s navigating the geysers of Yellowstone National Park, checking out the lush landscape of the Hawaiian islands, or even exploring near his home in Rochester, New York, Dave Raz is never without his camera. “I always have a camera in my hand or in my pocket — even if it’s just my cell phone,” he says. “You never know when that ideal photo opportunity is going to arise.” |
Not missing those photo ops also means having the right lenses — and Raz has discovered that his carefully selected arsenal of Tamron lenses fits the bill perfectly. “I have the 10-24mm lens, which gives me the focal length I need when I’m in a tight space or I want to grab the entire view of a vista,” he says. “I’ve also got the 18-270mm VC and 28-300mm lenses.” |
The light weight and versatility of these lenses comes in especially handy when Raz is visiting well-frequented tourist locations, such as national parks, during peak times. In those cases, he often has to take public transportation to get to his final destination. “The parks may provide buses or shuttles from where you’ve parked your car,” he says. “That’s another benefit of the Tamron lenses: When you’re standing on a bus and you’ve got your bag on your back, you definitely don’t want to be lugging too many lenses around.” |
Raz prefers not to carry the extra weight of a tripod or monopod during his travels unless he’s shooting a daylong event such as an air show, or if he’ll be taking pictures where he wants to set the timer and get in the picture himself. The 18-270’s Vibration Compensation (VC) feature enables him to still effectively capture images in low-light situations. “When you’re in those low-light situations and you’re two stops below where you should be, shooting at 1/15th or 1/30th, you’ve got to worry about hand shake,” he says. “You turn the VC on, though, and you get those shots.” |
Scheduling and Setup for That Perfect Shot |
To capture the best nature and landscape images, especially in popular vacation destinations, Raz recommends planning your trip for when there will likely be fewer people. “Unless you’re looking specifically for shots with lots of people, like in Central Park or Times Square, you want to go before school lets out and everyone’s taking their vacations,” he says. |
Depending on the time of year you’re looking to document, though, it can be hard to plan too far in advance. “If you want to get the fall colors at Yellowstone, for example, you can’t book your tickets a year ahead of time,” Raz explains. “They could have a really hot summer, which means the autumn colors will show up earlier than they usually do. Just plan the best you can and cross your fingers you don’t show up after a hurricane or right when a volcano is set to start spewing.” |
Raz typically allows himself at least two or three days in each location to ensure he can scope it out at different times of day. “Any photographer can tell you, ‘If I had only been in this spot 10 minutes ago, I would have gotten a great shot,’” he explains. “You want to have the flexibility to say, ‘OK, I’m going to come back to this exact spot at 3pm so I can be here when the sun is on the other side of this hill or behind my shoulder so I can get a better shot.” |
Getting up before the sun is also a requirement during his travels. “For two of my shots at Yellowstone, if I hadn’t been on the mountain as the sun came up, I never would have gotten Old Faithful blowing just as the sun was coming up with the clouds clearing behind it,” he says. In Hawaii, a pre-sunrise stroll outside his hotel resulted in an image Raz couldn’t have captured at any other time of day. “I was looking out over Waikiki Beach, facing toward the ocean, as the sun came up,” he says. “There was a line of five palm trees — one of the trees was illuminated, while the rest were in shadow. At the same time, the mist coming off of the ocean created a rainbow. It’s like a picture you would see on an inspirational poster.” |
That same ocean spray that presented Raz with such an awe-inspiring image, however, can also be a major photographic concern. “In locations like Hawaii, you’ve got a lot of saltwater, which means you might be doing a lot of cleaning — you can potentially scratch your lens this way,” he says. “That’s another instance when the Tamron lenses come through, because I can leave them on my camera all day.” |
Capturing a Sense of Place |
One thing that frustrates Raz is watching other visitors concentrate too much on taking a "here we are” photo and not enough on the majestic locations themselves. “I see people taking group pictures with this beautiful vista behind them, yet the whole background disappears because of the emphasis on the people,” he says. After taking your group shot, Raz recommends complementing that with an image that still manages to incorporate people into the picture but places the main emphasis on the location. “Showcase where you are, not who you are,” he says. “You shouldn’t be the central feature of this photo — you should be a secondary element.” For example, for a strong composition, move your family to one side of the scene and capture them taking in the view instead of centered in your viewfinder and waving at the camera. |
Raz will use people in his shots if it helps show off certain aspects of the landscape. “At Yellowstone, for example, maybe a visitor will walk across the white mineral mounds wearing a bright red jacket,” he says. “Bam! That’s the shot I want.” |
He’ll also insert people for a sense of scale. “There was a roadway along the northern beaches of Oahu, with lots of little pull-offs,” he says. “At one of these pull-offs, as I was looking down at the beach, I saw what I thought was a whale or a shark. It turned out to be a kid on a paddleboard snorkeling. About a half a mile up the road from there, I was looking down on another beach and spotted a girl on a surfboard, just waiting for the perfect wave. What I liked about this photo was that I was able to frame the image through the trees. Plus, without the girl in the water, it would have been difficult to tell in the picture whether the water was 50 feet away or three miles away — her body gives it perfect scale.” |
Take the time to appreciate every unique aspect of the landscape you’re photographing. “I never realized how big Yellowstone was and how varied the different parts of the park,” Raz says. “You’ve got trees, mud ponds, steaming vents, blowholes, lava tubes — if you’re not like a kid in the candy store with a camera in your hand, there’s something wrong. I would have to spend a year just to capture everything that’s there to photograph.” |
Even the most seemingly mundane scenes can produce eye-catching images. “I went to one particular area of Yellowstone that would seem pretty small to most people — they wouldn’t understand how anyone could spend two or three days photographing there,” he says. “But in this area, there’s an opening to the center of the earth. The water comes out there, and over millions of years, it’s created a crust of chemicals. It’s basically like above-ground coral — the different colors you see are from the chemicals. The images you can get there are amazing.” |
With his Tamron lenses, Raz also strives to capture the feeling that permeates a particular location — like the solemnity of Pearl Harbor. “I wanted to show the reverence of that park,” he says. “After you watch a 20-minute video of what took place that day, a boat takes you from the pier to the USS Arizona Memorial itself — that gives you an entirely new perspective of the 1,100 people still in the vessel there in their underground burial site. It’s humbling to have the chance to experience something so life-changing. Having those Tamron lenses on my cameras, I know I can go to a place like that and not have to worry about not having the right equipment to capture the emotion that’s around me.” |
To contact Dave Raz, email him at drazimages@gmail.com. |