Travel Day

  Today I flew to Greenville, SC for a couple of travel stories I'll be working on this weekend. I'll let you know when the stories run later but for now I thought I'd of go over how I pack for such an assignment. 

  First of all, since I was flying to this assignment I had to consider a few things when packing. Camera gear always flies with me and is never in checked luggage. I can always go to Target and buy some clothes but I can't afford to lose equipment.

  I have a roller case for my cameras and lens that fits in almost all overhead bins. This is my primary carry-on and if need be I'll carry on a backpack with other essentials as my "purse". If I can I prefer to not check any bags and just roll from the plane to the rental car. The worst is waiting around for your checked bag(s) to come around on the carousel. 

  For this assignment I'm borrowing Robert's underwater housing for some pictures I'd like to get during this assignment. This things is bulky and takes up more space than I'd like it to but kind of essential for what I want to capture. The key with a travel story is to pack light. Zoom lens and two bodies is the norm along with some other tricks but not too many.

  As you can see from the picture above I've packed two camera bodies along with my 17-40mm and 70-200 lens. In addition to those pieces and the housing I have a couple of specialty lens rounded out with a flash and transmitter. I also pack into the case my laptop and necessary cables to download and edit pictures while on the road.

  My checked bag holds everything else which leaves clothes, toiletries photo fanny pack and hip waders (Just to clarify the last one doesn't come with me on every trip but for this one they'll be of great use.) I have way too many experiences where the checked bag didn't make the connection or something was removed from my bag to leave anything to chance. 

  Another thing I like to do is board the plane ASAP. With today's flight I had to pay an extra $15 for priority boarding which allowed me to board the plane first. Even before old women in wheelchairs. The airline's policy also says that passengers who have priority boarding have the priority in the overhead bins. So if another passenger can't fit their carry-on above THEY are the ones who have to gate check their bag while my bag has dibs on the bin.

  So this is what it's like to travel with me when I've got gear. I'm sure Cathy and my father can tell you all the anecdotes about how I fought the security people in Stockholm about hand inspecting my film or stashing my photo backpack under the seat in the hopes the Nazi flight attendant wouldn't force me to gate check it. It's always entertaining (and heavy) when a photographer travels.