Preparing for a Photo Trip Part 2–What to Bring

What to Bring

Deciding on what to bring on a trip is one of the most important parts of the planning process. Bringing too much can make travel difficult and can lead to frustration on the shoot when it's hard to choose what to use. Leaving important pieces of equipment behind is equally bad when you miss critical shots due to the lack of the proper equipment.

I'll use the upcoming tours as an example of how I approach this planning process. First I create a list of all the potential shooting locations. For each of these I list what I expect to be shooting and any special considerations for that particular part of the shoot.

For the tours this is a list of the potential shooting locations and what I expect to photograph at each.

• Henderson Lake - Shooting is from a boat.
• Osprey in Flight
• Small and large birds
• Nesting Eagles
• Landscapes
• Macro shots of insects and flowers
• Large and Small Swamp Creatures - Alligators, Snakes, Beaver, Nutria
• Miller's Lake - Shooting is from a boat.
• Nesting Wading Birds
• Ducks, Rails, Smaller Wading Birds
• Landscapes
• Macro shots of flowers and insects
• Dauterive Lake _ Shooting is from a boat
• Landscapes
• Lake Martin - Shooting from boat, land and car
• Landscapes
• Small and Large Birds
• Large and Small Swamp Creatures – Alligators, Snakes, Nutria
• Macro Shots of insets and flowers

When shooting from a boat, I try to carry only what I'm going to use. Fumbling for equipment making shooting difficult and I do better when I have just what I need set up and ready to shoot. I like to carry the equipment in a bag or case that offers some water protection in case of spray when moving between shooting sites or rain. For all of the locations I'll need CFExpress cards, two camera bodies, and my Rapid Strap.

• Henderson and Miller's Lake:
  • 600 mm f6.3 flight lens
  • 1.4 X teleconverter
  • 24-120 mm f4 lens
• Lake Dauterive
• 24-120 mm f4 lens
• 100-400 f4 lens
• Lake Martin and Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge
• 600 mm f6.3 lens
• 200-400 mm f4 lens
• 24-120 mm f4 lens
• Tripod
• Gimbal Head
• BH-55 Ball Head

Consolidating Lists I will need the following Equipment:

• Two Camera Bodies
• Laptop
• Laptop Bag
• CFExpress Cards
• CFExpress Card Reader
• External Data Hard Drives
• Rapid Strap
• Small Camera Bag / Fanny Pack
• Pelican case
• 600 mm f6.3 lens
• 100-400 mm f4 lens
• 24-120 mm f4 lens
• 20 mm f 2.8 lens
• Tripod
• Gimbal Head
• BH-55 Ball Head