This week we welcome Jess Lillico to the Guest Blog! Jess is the mastermind behind the fabulous Skip Town website which is dedicated to inspiring and assisting creative people take better photographs while traveling. We are so grateful to have Jess with us all week, running through some of her key tips for excellent travel photography. - Jenny x

Hello! My name is Jess and I’m a graphic designer with a love of photography and a curiosity about the world.

I started Skip Town because I wanted to become better at travel photography, but all the books on the subject were so traditional and impractical. They all recommended heavy, expensive gear and I kept thinking- “this is not the way ordinary people travel!” I just wanted to know how to get great shots with basic gear, and how to deal with situations I would actually find myself in while travelling. So, with the help of my photographer partner Sean Fennessy, I created an e-book called the Skip Town Travel Photography Field Guide.

Throughout the week I’ll be sharing photography tips and gear suggestions that are travel focused but should be useful for everyday photography too.

Getting organised with The Gear

When you're running around all day exploring, you don’t want to be weighed down by a big DSLR, zoom lenses, tripod and heavy camera bag. When it comes to travel, we’re big believers in keeping gear minimal. Even with basic gear, you can still produce great quality images. Here is our selection of travel essentials:

The camera: For travel, an in-between sized camera with full manual control is hard to beat. Our picks are the Olympus Pen E-P2, the Fujifilm Finepix X100 or the Panasonic Lumix DMC LX5.

The accessories: While we wouldn’t recommend traveling with a standard tripod, the Gorillapod is a good light-weight alternative. For an extra professional touch invest in a couple of filters (Polariser and Neutral Density filters are helpful).

The bag/case: A snug leather case (try ebay) is always a compact choice, or try a camera bag that doesn’t look like a camera bag, like this one from Emera.

- Jess x