Research
To prepare for this trip, we voraciously read the Rick
Steves Italy guidebook that was included in our tour packet. We read the guidebook so much that
once we got to Italy, we barely even had to open our guidebook.
We made extensive use of the Rick Steves Video Library, and the Rick Steves Audio Europe library, listening to all of the audio guides for Venice, Florence and Rome. (As with most good things these days, there's an app for that!)
For photographic inspiration, I used Flickr, Google and several other sites to get some new ideas and see what everyone else was taking pictures of. This helped, but the best thing to do is to just walk around, see the towns, observe and snap away!
My philosophy on taking pictures is that when you get back, you can't choose from any photos you didn't take. With digital cameras, there's no cost if you don't print it. (I took over 6,800 photos on this trip, which required a lot of sorting, but I came home with quite a few keepers.)
We made extensive use of the Rick Steves Video Library, and the Rick Steves Audio Europe library, listening to all of the audio guides for Venice, Florence and Rome. (As with most good things these days, there's an app for that!)
For photographic inspiration, I used Flickr, Google and several other sites to get some new ideas and see what everyone else was taking pictures of. This helped, but the best thing to do is to just walk around, see the towns, observe and snap away!
My philosophy on taking pictures is that when you get back, you can't choose from any photos you didn't take. With digital cameras, there's no cost if you don't print it. (I took over 6,800 photos on this trip, which required a lot of sorting, but I came home with quite a few keepers.)