Travel photographer Ewen Bell wanders the globe shooting brochures for adventure tour operators, photographing image libraries for tourist boards, exploring new destinations for his own photographic collection, researching travel experiences for the travel media and leading tours each year to share his own photographic philosophies first-hand. He recently took our pocketable LUMIX DMC-GM5, the latest model in our ultra-stylish premium compact system camera (CSC) GM series, on a trip through Bhutan and wrote that the experience gave him a new perspective on a destination he had photographed many times.
Lumix GM5 in Bhutan
Lumix GM5 in BhutanExtracts from Photography for Travellers by Ewen Bell
On a trip to Bhutan with the smallest MFT system imaginable I was reminded that travel photography is about people not cameras. You don’t need a big system to travel around Bhutan, you just need a little heart.
Spending two weeks in Bhutan with the new GM5 was an experiment in extremes for me, a test of just how modest your packing list can weigh while still shooting with quality glass. In recent years I’ve visited these same destinations in Bhutan many times, but this year I had a new perspective on it. The GM5 is the smallest of the micro four thirds I’ve worked with, an order of magnitude away from the DSLR alternative.
I’m often asked by travellers on my photography tours whether they need a big camera for Bhutan, or will a small camera be just as good. For the majority of photographers who journey into the Himalayan hills they’ll end up taking better pictures with a GM5 than whatever they’re carrying now. It’s unobtrusive, it’s convenient and it’s fast. Most owners of a DSLR don’t buy the best lenses, in which case you’re carrying a heap of extra weight for no good reason. The GM5 really puts the question of size into perspective.
Dancing monks are pretty tough to tame through the lens, they move quickly and change direction a lot. The 35-100mm f/2.8 lens proved very capable in chasing them across the courtyard, fast to grab a lock and delivering a similar response to what you expect from a DSLR scaled 70-200mm.
When I first grabbed the gm5 I looked at the viewfinder and decided to ignore it. It’s tiny. I didn’t see how such a small interface could be useful when shooting… I soon discovered that using the LVF on the GM5 gave me far better compositions than using the rear screen, it turns out I could see much more through the LVF. I had been too quick to write off its value.
Walking around the festivals with a GM5 in the hand was completely the opposite of my usual role. It’s hard to hide a DSLR, it tends to become a distraction both in size and attention. The GM5 was dramatically less intimidating to my subject, offering a subtle but useful advantage when chatting up old ladies and asking them if I can take a photo.
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Read the full article by Ewen Bell.
Find out more about the LUMIX GM5 | Single Lens Kit.