Aside from the obvious,
Camera Body, Lenses etc. there are a few essentials for Travel
Photography. Here I will go through the utmost important things that every
photographer MUST have when travelling abroad.
1. Insurance.
Before you even decide just
what equipment you will need to take with you when you travel you must ensure
that you are covered for any damages, loss etc. for the duration of your trip.
Travel Insurance is a must have not only to protect your gear but to protect
yourself as well. Make sure you get an insurance that will cover you
completely, so that if need be, you can replace your equipment with little to no
out of pocket expense to you.
2. Travel
Adapter
Most of the time travel
photographers will visit many different countries, all of which have different
power ports. It is essential to have at least one universal power adapter to
ensure you will be able to recharge your cameras/laptops etc. wherever you may
go.
3. Decent Carry
Bag
When travelling with
photography gear, you should never send it in with your luggage; there’s no
guarantee it will arrive at your destination with you. When you’re carrying
thousands of dollars worth of equipment, you want to make sure it isn’t going
to go missing; so make sure you take it all as your carry-on luggage.
Even on-board, your bags are
going to be knocked about a lot with others pushing and shoving through the
plane, trying to get their bags to fit in overhead compartments; so; you’re
going to need a decent bag to carry and protect all of your equipment.
4. Portable
Hard Drive
If you’re going travelling,
you’re going to be shooting a lot of images right? So, you’re going to need
some place to store all your photos while on the go. This is where a portable
hard drive comes in handy. I would recommend at least 1TB of space, if not
more. To ensure minimal wastage of time, I would recommend you have a decent
workflow planned out before you leave for your trip, that way you will be able
to plug in your camera, transfer the files then keep on the go. When your trip
ends, you’ll have all your photographs organised, and in one place.
5. Laptop or
Netbook
Having a portable hard drive
is all well and good, but, you are going to need something to connect it to.
You really just need something small and lightweight that you can carry with
you to review your images and to transfer and save your images on the go. A
netbook is ideal as it is going to be smaller and lighter but a laptop will do
the job just fine.
6. Travel
Tripod
Sometimes when travelling,
the heavy duty tripod you trust and love is not going to be effective. It will
be too difficult carrying around a heavy, not so small tripod while you are on
an around the world trip. This is where a travel tripod comes in handy. Small,
flexible, lightweight tripods are a lot easier to travel with than your average
heavy duty tripod. I recommend Benro Travel Angel Tripods.
7. Battery
Grip/Spare Batteries
The last thing you want when
you are travelling is to take out your camera to find, those batteries you thought
were fully charged, have been run down. Always make sure you have extra
batteries handy, or if you can afford it, a battery grip. I recommend Eneloop
batteries as they are proven to keep up to 70% of their charge, even after 5
years.
8. Extra Memory
Cards
Going to be out all day
shooting without access to a laptop or hard drive? Then you are going to need
extra memory cards; SD, Compact Flash etc. Always make sure you leave for your trip
with plenty of memory available, you never know, you laptop might die half way
through your trip leaving you with no way of transferring your files.
9. Card Reader
If you happen to have a
professional level camera, it is more than likely going to take Compact Flash
cards rather than the normal SD cards… You are going to need to pack your card
reader so that your laptop/netbook can access the files on your memory card.
Of course this list doesn't include everything you will need in your pack for your trip, it just covers the
essentials. I have also included below what I like to include in my pack when I
go travelling.
What’s in my pack?
1.
2 Canon Bodies
(5D, 500D)
2.
2 lenses (24-105mm,
70-200mm)
3.
Flash meter
4.
Reflector
5.
Tripod
6.
Laptop
7.
2TB External Hard Drive
8.
Spare batteries
9.
At least three memory cards, 8GB or more
10.
3-4 universal travel adapters
11.
Card Reader
12.
All carried in my trustworthy Lowepro Backpack.
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