Oct 08 2007
My Travel Photography Kit
Ah travel. I love travelling - it gives me a buzz. Exploring a new place and meeting people from different cultures takes you out of your comfort zone - in more ways than one.
Not only do you not have the comfort and convenience of a car to ferry you from place to place, you have to cart ’stuff’ around all day, beyond what you’d normally carry - like a camera, for instance.
My daypack when travelling typically has everything in it, except the kitchen sink, so what is a camera and a few other bits of photographic equipment??
The travel photography essentials for me include:
- SLR camera (digital mainly these days), with 28mm-90mm lens;
- Telephoto lens - at the moment I have a 90mm-300mm;
- Compact digital camera (for those times when you just can’t take an SLR with you - i.e. on the ski slopes);
- Spare memory card;
- Spare battery;
- Lens cleaning kit (lens rag and/or blower brush);
- Manuals for the cameras;
- Lightweight, travel tripod;
- Shutter release cable;
- Circular polarising filter; and
- Comfortable camera bag;
Not essential, but something I do also carry, in addition to all the above, is my Canon Speedlite 580EX external flash - it’s particularly good for taking group photos at night. It may not always be useful, but can come in handy.
As I shoot a combination of RAW and large JPEG, I eat away at memory pretty quickly, so I also have a 60GB Ipod that I download photos onto.
I have to say that even though I’ve use it many times, I’m still sceptical about the reliability, so I only delete downloaded photos that I think are expendable. That said, I’ve never had any problems with my Ipod, I’m just a little paranoid when it comes to my images.
Digital is such a transient medium. In the days of film, you had a tangible cannister, not a file that could disappear in an instant.
There are advantages to digital over film when travelling - you don’t have to worry about the security scanners in airports ruining unexposed film. I once had an argument with a security guard at a checkpoint in Majorca airport because I didn’t want my ISO1600 film to go through the scanners, as it could have exposed the film before I’d had a chance to use it. Guess who won that argument… (it wasn’t me, needless to say). I tend to get a little passionate about my photography, what can I say.
Photography and travel fit perfectly together, but to truly capture amazing photos, it does take a bit of equipment, as you can see. It is worth it, and after a while it becomes normal and you wonder how you’d ever travel any other way again!
