My inner thoughts behind deciding what to bring to a photography masterclass abroad, and some philosophical thoughts on how I’m going to approach it.

By Carl Perry, LUNCH Associate

After an over indulgent night and an impulsive morning motivated by hangover-induced fear, I bought myself a spot in a Magnum Street Photography Masterclass. This particular one is in Lisbon, and I am not exactly a fan of flying. In fact I fucking hate it.

I’m also not a huge fan of traveling solo, but there comes a time when you need confront your fears for the sake of not dying with the regret of not doing so. I’ve always had this fantasy of being an international traveling photographer, and Ive never tried to fully commit to it because I could never imagine it being a money making endeavor without committing to the short form video epidemic. That mixed with moderate to severe anxiety and some digestive issues have been enough to dissuade me from living the Bourdainian life that I see for myself. Seems fitting that a night of Negronis was what finally tipped the scales.

As is traveling tradition for me, I immediately started to totally overthink what gear I’m bringing. As I learned from a previous photo+food trip to Japan where I brought my entire kit, more gear abroad absolutely does not translate to more and better photographs. So this time, my initial thinking was this – a wide option (Sony A1+18mm Batis), a normal option (Leica Q3 43), and a film camera(Olympus 35RC). In my mind this was perfect until I tried to pack it, these three cameras dont get along in a bag. I decided to ditch the Sony in favor of *gasp* my phone for wides. In a comparison judged by my non-photo peers, they couldn’t tell between the 18mm Batis and iPhone, and usually preferred the iPhone unfortunately. So that settled that. The Leica feels mandatory, as I’m sure with the pricetag of the Magnum class there will inevitably be some pissmatching over the cameras everyone brought. But, my fear with the Q3 43 is that I’ll regret having a 43mm main in the super narrow streets of Lisbon, and I wont be able to capture the full context of scenes or convey any kind of scale. So naturally, I considered buying a regular Q3. That seemed excessive just to hedge against a fear that could just be solved by rethinking my approach. It is a street photography class after all, and while 28mm is the street king, Bresson and Capa did just fine with a 50mm. So that settled that.

Until Tom showed me some of his shots with his recently acquired Ricoh Monochrome. I’ve always been more than partial to B&W for street work, but I wanted to stay away from it because of the sheer amount of color I was expecting to see in Portugal, but that little camera has some extra magic to it, and the IQ and portability won me over. After some pleading and an insurance policy, he agreed to lend it to me for the trip.

The issue of bags then comes to play. I have quite the collection Ive amassed through B&H flash sales over the years, but none of them are very suited for the kind of travel Im doing. I need the functionality and security of a camera bag, and the comfort and capacity of a medium touristy bag. I dont want a backpack because I’m paranoid of getting pickpocketed, so a sling was the best route. After a very lengthy and feverish deep dive into just about everything bag in existence, a 2L Pacsafe sling ended up being the winner. Ill be wearing the Leica the entire time, and phone and Ricoh will live in the bag with the batteries and sunscreen.

As much as it pains me I did ultimately decide to leave the film camera at home. The plan for that was to only shoot slide film, but the Olympus is also a 40mm and is the only camera small and reliable enough for me to consider taking. I decided instead to bring a few disposables. Ive already got enough to think about with the other two cameras.

With the kit settled and my overcooked list of restaurants and points of interest, the only thing left to do was assemble a portfolio for the class. This has been proving extremely difficult, as I am essentially worthless when it comes to sequencing. Thankfully this is one of the main focuses of the class, but the pressure to be immediately impressive is quite heavy.

The photos in this post are part of the portfolio Ive put together. Magnum recommend bringing a minimum of 15 printed photos for review, so I panicked and had 40 printed, and I will most likely choose 10 losers during the flight over. This was a huge task, as I love to second guess myself and scrap sequences again and again until it “feels right”. Ive never had to cut my archive down to a cohesive body of work, let alone one that would be reviewed by a Magnum photographer, so the self doubt/ imposter syndrome with my ultimate selections are reaching solar flare levels.

I genuinely dont know the first thing about sequencing. I figured I would take the Rick Ruben approach and just do what makes me happy, with some hint of a thesis. I went with a pairs kind of thing, which on second thought seems like kind of a cop out, but we’re just gonna roll with it.

I tend to look for isolated humor and absurdity, or just isolation in general, so pairing these up beyond obvious visual similarities like lines and shapes was tricky. I’m hoping that the completely new environment and culture will allow me to see these things easier than I do here. I will report back soon.

-C

* I did not end up posting this story before I left, but I will write a review of the Magnum experience shortly