Six Christmas Gift Ideas for your Photo Tragic

Six Christmas Gift Ideas for your Photo Tragic

We all have a photo tragic in the family, or know of one. The photo tragic is completely besotted with photography, waxing lyrical about f-stops, camera equipment, lighting equipment, photo shoots and so on. You’ll go on a holiday with them and all they want to do is hike off with their tripod to take long exposures of the coastline at the crack of dawn (when all you want to do is continue snoozing… you’re supposed to be on holiday!).

Photo tragics are notoriously difficult to buy for – simply because photography equipment costs big bucks and you’re not sure if what you’re going to get is going to be of use!

So, what can you get your photo tragic that will bring a smile to their face, but won’t break your bank balance? How about these:

1. A gift voucher from your local professional photography store: While many may think that a gift voucher is a cop out, your photo tragic will love that voucher from the local professional photography store. They’re already planning to spend mega $$$ on that new lens/camera/item, and your voucher will help offset the cost. Guaranteed to make them happy! (I know as I received some nice vouchers for my birthday this year and was suitably stoked!). Vouchers are available from your friendly stores such as Team Digital, Camera Electronic and PRA Imaging, all located in Perth. For photo tragics who are just starting out, you might consider a voucher from Valentine’s Camera House in Fremantle

2. Photography books: Photographers crave inspiration, and photography books can help get your camera tragic’s creative juices flowing. If your camera tragic is a beginning photographer, consider one of the many how-to books available out there by the likes of Scott Kelby and Tom Ang. For more advanced photographers, how about books by photographers whom the tragic admires? Local and online bookstores will have shelves dedicated to photography books – take a browse and see what you might find for your camera tragic.

3. Plastic cameras: Low-fi photography is on the rise and your photo tragic might enjoy using something a bit simpler than their DSLR. Try a Holga or Diana plastic camera, or a Lomo Spinner Cameras that take panoramic 360 degree views, or the Fuji Instax cameras (like Polaroids). These cameras are (relatively) cheap and can be purchased from most local photography outlets. Being based in Freo, I know that Valentine’s Camera House on South Terrace stocks them.

4. A photography course or workshop: Okay, so this is a thinly veiled attempt at promoting the Venture Photography 1-on-1 workshops, but these make great gifts! And if you got your tragic the Studio Stay-and-Play session, they could take great studio photos of you!

5. A subscription to a photography magazine: There is plenty of photography magazines and journals out there, from Australian Photography and Better Photography aimed at the photo enthusiast, to ProPhoto and Capture magazines, aimed at the semi-pros and professionals. Failing that a subscription to National Geographic will give your photo tragic access to some of the most amazing photographs by the world’s top nature and documentary photographers.

6. Offer to model for them, or take them on a photo trip: If funds are tight, then you can offer yourself – model for your photo tragic, or take them on a weekend photo trip to someplace photogenic. It doesn’t have to be far: the sand dunes of Lancelin are brilliant at dawn and dusk, the historic town of New Norcia offers many structures worthy of photographs, or a trip down south will also reveal plenty of eye-popping coastal and forest landscapes.

Making your photo tragic happy this Christmas doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg!

Do you have your own ideas about what to give a photo tragic for Christmas?