Additional tips and tricks

STAY HYDRATED: Be sure to bring a bottle of water or something else to drink along the way. We may not always be just in the area of a convenient store and staying hydrated is important for us all - especially during the summer period.

ENERGY: Bring a small snack for the tour. A bag of nuts, a candy or granola bar or something else to just keep your blood sugar up if you feel a little low on energy after walking through the city.

BATTERIES: Always make sure to have a spare battery with you. There is nothing more frustrating than running low on battery as you are preparing for your shoot - and you may never come back to that spot again.

BATTERIES: A simple yet effective method to see which of your batteries are charged and which are depleted is to use coloured rubber bands, such as green and red for example.

BATTERIES: If it is really cold outside make sure to keep the batteries in an inside pocket of your jacket, close to your body. This way the batteries stay fully charged and ready to use. An ice cold battery is almost guaranteed the same as an empty battery!

MEMORY CARDS: Another obvious yet important piece of advice is to bring an extra memory card for your camera. Just as frustrating as running low on battery it is to run out of space on your memory card. Save yourself the frustration of having to delete old images in the middle of a shoot and simply bring an extra card.

LOCATION NOTES: It can be a good idea to take notes of the sites you are exploring. We cover many and diverse locations on a tour so it can be hard to remember what we saw and photographed. You can use something as simple as a pen and paper or use the tool you most likely already have on you - your smartphone. There are several location scouting apps available. A popular one is called MapAPic Location Scout for the iPhone.

LENS HOOD: Always use the lens hood on your camera if you have it. Not only does is prevent direct sunlight and thereby flare in your image but it also protects your lens from nicks and scratches if you accidentally bump into something.