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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Packing for a week of photographing Colorado | |
I've gotten much better when flying, I take a several trips a year or geared towards/for photography. An example would be if the the trip is geared toward wildlife I'll pack one fav. long tele and whatever my #2 lens choice is, a converter and a wide angle prime or zoom. No macro, TS-E, flash (maybe w/beemer).
Batteries/power/laptop need decided and for myself I have boatloads of CF/SD cards as of late I never back up on hard drives or laptops much any more while out in the field.
Now if I'm shooting landscape or general type photos its easy because all my big glass stays home. I have given up years ago on trying to have covered every situation I might encounter. Dragging the weight in and out of hotel rooms, worrying about how far I can walk away from my car with $$ of equipment in, etc., can ruin a trip.
I specifically focus on what type of photo I want to return with, after years of mistakes I just keep my equipment in bags/cases that work for the trip. I also make notes on every trip what I didn't use. I love macro but rarely shoot macro when traveling by air, probably because I have something other than flowers/plants as the main reason foer the trip. My tilt shift is the same, the trip has to be geared for it or it stays home.
I have a 14 day in the bush trip coming up, no power sources, primary target Alaskan Brown bear. Scenery might be great, the human element worth a photo, but the bear is why I go. Therefore 1st priority will be my 500/4 and this year Nikon finally produced a great 80-400 so my secondary lens, 200-400 will stay home, saving me over 4 HUGE pounds. This new lens also allows me to leave my much used 70-200/2.8 home. I'll probably settle on my 24-70 as my third lens and I always the my 16mm Fisheye, its really small. 3 DSLR bodies, when in the field I always have a lens mounted on each body, I cover from 24mm to 500mm, or more should I add an ext. or use the 16mm. My style allows me to grab what body I want for the moment, as i carry at least two on me and the 500 on a tripod/gimbal mounted.
Last year I was with 2 other photographers shooting pictures of brown bear, action had slowed and during the lull a large boar from 1/4 mile away from us, broke into a dead run chasing a large sow for her salmon who happened to be parked about 35-40 feet from us. She ran within 15 feet of us, finally dropping the salmon in front of me, the boar picked it up, sat down and ate it ten feet away from me. The chase was over in 30 seconds, the feast over in another minute or two, and I was the only one lucky enough to have the right lens on, capturing the entire sequence. The others scrambled to change lens. 1st question they both asked, Did anyone get that?
I even had time to grab a shot at the end of this showing one guy trying to ready his camera/change lens. Highlights are blown but I managed to pick up my 2nd body with attached lens as everything came at us. Some luck, some prep.
Simplfy, focus on what you want to bring home and you probably will, focus on what you want to take can get heavy and over kill.
Happy shooting,
Gerard
Edited on Dec 26, 2014 at 09:35 PM · View previous versions
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