I have already declared my love of travel and, of course, travel photography. When you are out there in a new environment and seeing something for the first time, it is easy to get excited about taking photographs. I’m also a historian and genealogist, so I like to mix my travel photography with historical information gathering. So, here is a quick tip to help you remember important facts while you’re out there shooting around a location that you want to remember – take photos of signs.
I used to do this in the old days, with film, but not as often since it seemed expensive to use a frame of film to just shoot a sign. Today, with digital, you have no such problem. I shoot signs almost everywhere I go, so I can focus on the photography and transcribe the important information when I’m back home. You want to fill the frame with the sign and check your focus. Here is a large sign from Ripley, England, and you can easily read the small print when enlarged.
I’ve gotten so used to shooting sign pictures, that I shoot them even if they don’t convey large portions of information. I might even try to make a tourist shot. You never know when some group might want you to prepare a presentation, and signs can serve as title or transitional slides.
Remember, while your organizing your images to use keywords on these images, too. I also throw in the generic keyword “signage” to quickly pull these images out of the thousands of other images in my databases. Just another way to have fun with your photography.