Travel Photography with Rick Hulbert

by Claudia Schwab – February 7, 2019
(Originally published at the Lions Gate Camera Club)

For our January LGCC workshop Rick Hulbert took us on a journey to Prague, capitol of the Czech Republic, and to Český Krumlov, a smaller but similarly historic and scenic town nearby. Just like his workshop last year this was not only a visual delight but also packed with information.

Rick introduced us to 6 of his 12 challenges of urban photography: Contrasting light, Element edges, Volumetric space, Sense of depth, Slice of life, Spirit of place.

A couple of technical tidbits: Rick calls his HDR-like technique EDR (extended dynamic range) and merges only 2 selected images (but shoots a lot more in bracket mode). To achieve leveled lines much cropping is needed (and lots of Mega pixels, see GAS below). When you have water in your shot you can’t go wrong.

In Prague being in the right place at the right time means getting up very early for tourist-free views (4:30 AM). However, if getting up that early is a problem there are less crowded photo opportunities: look for waterways, walls, windows and ceilings (the latter almost always free of humans).

As captivating as Rick’s narration are his images and the way he presents them: starting with a very detailed shot he zooms out (digitally) to reveal the context and finally huge cityscapes. Warning: this technique can cause severe mega-pixel envy which may lead to GAS (gear acquisition syndrome... possibly copyrighted by Rick Hulbert?).

For me this workshop was a great motivation to revisit and tackle some of my city and architecture shots.

More images and courses offered on Rick’s website at https://www.rickhulbertphotography.com/

---- Claudia Schwab ----