Travel photography packing

So the time has finally come. The house is packed up and my wife and I are almost ready to leave on our big adventure. If you don’t already know about it where have you been!?! If you do then you’ll no doubt know how excited we are and how we’ve spent the last 8 months preparing for this life changing moment.

One of those preparations has of course been my photography business and gearing up (quite literally) for our travels. Documentary photography, unless undertaken on your doorstep or nearby town, is something that you need to prepare well for. There are many methods, 2 cents worth of advice and all sorts of ideals you can work to. There’s loads of blogs already on this subject, some mentioned in my “Ultimate Online Guide to Photography“. I’m not here to give you advice this time, merely share my preparations.

So firstly the bag. Who would take a camera without a good quality camera bag? The emphasis here really is on quality. I made sure I got the best quality bag that i could trust. It needs to be relatively weather proof and very well padded for all that delicate equipment. I chose the Tamrac Adventure 9. It’s a full ruck-sack style bag with lots of compartments, very well organised and well thought out zips and fastenings to keep the weather out and the gear in. It’s very comfortable and I love it. It’s not cheap but well worth looking in to. I’d definitely recommend it to others.

As much as i trust my bag I have tested it’s weather-proofing abilities. I was stuck out in a torrential downpour with it once and while it did protect my gear the inside was noticeably damp when i got home. The gear was dry and would have survived longer I’m sure but I decided to investigate further weather proofing. I found a great solution in the Exped Dry Bags. These little fellas are fantastic. You just fold the top over 3 times and click the strap in. The 100% waterproof material does the job. I tested this by filling one with toilet paper and running it under the tap for over 4 minutes. Most likely the worst conditions they’ll ever face. The paper came out completely dry. I have a couple of extra small and one small Exped Dry Bag. I keep them inside my camera bag so i know my gear will always be dry and safe.

I’m not the kind of guy to travel light. Some photographers say just take the one lens, one camera. If you can’t create great work with just that then you’re no decent photographer. I don’t believe this at all. I say take what you feel comfortable carrying. Take what YOU want and what will make you happy. I have 3 lenses, one SLR, one High def video camera and my Manfrotto tripod. No doubt I wont take it all out every day but I’ve been working out at the gym especially for carrying this camera bag so I’m prepared to take my gear where-ever it needs carrying.

Gear wise, I bought my Canon 5D Mark II specifically for this trip. It’s weather proof house, very robust design and staggering beautiful quality is worth every penny. I’ll also be taking my new love, my Canon 24-105 F4 L IS, an amazingly good lens, also my wonderful little 50mm 1.8F and the rock solid all weather 70-200 F4 L. It’s not light to carry but I know it’ll be worth it.

Insurance is of course vitally important. I’ve gone with the very helpful Photoguard. They give the most coverage and understand the needs of travel photographers. Their price was very reasonable and I feel more secure now that I have that insurance. As a friend said, go with the premise that at some point your gear will be stolen. Be prepared for it. So when it does you can start sorting out what needs to be done instantly. Of course hopefully it wont happen but that will be a bonus!

Of course my trusty laptop will be coming with me. There’s space in my rucksack for that too. What would we do without our digital dark rooms these days eh?

If you’ve got any advice or techniques you’d like to share with me and others reading this blog then be sure to post now. It’s always good to share!