I once watched a photographer in an airport in southern Argentina carrying a camera backpack as big as my trekking pack while simultaneously dragging a wheeled camera case with two over-sized tripods strapped to the outside. He looked like a turtle as he worked his way down the gangway toward the plane.
I never, ever, want to be that guy.
As I was packing yesterday for my trip to South America (on which I leave late, late tonight), I kept packing items, then removing them, reassessing and then packing again. This is trip is a photographic balancing act because there are some limitations:
1. This isn’t strictly a photography trip. Rather it’s a fun trip during which I’ll be doing a lot of photography.
2. The photography is going to be diverse: landscape, cities, portraits, general travel, and (here is the hangup) wildlife.
3. Since we are travelling overland with lots of time on buses, I need to be able to easily handle all my gear without fuss or difficulty. No multiple trips, no shuttling gear. Everything has to get on my back at once.
4. Unlike the guy above, I do not want to be conspicuous. So the dedicated camera bags are staying at home, and everything, including my clothes and other necessities need to fit inside my pack and shoulder bag at any given time.
So I’ve got think like a minimalist. With the diverse photo opportunities I need to be able to cover a variety of situations and I think I can do that with the following gear:
Canon 5d III, 17-40f4 L, 24-105 f4L, 500mm f4L, 1.4 Teleconverter, tripod, 580exII flash, compact softbox, remote flash trigger, and a Canon S95 point and shoot as a backup (which will be my partner’s main camera).
Throw in a few batteries, memory cards, and a polarizer and that’s it. Done. End of list. I’m not even taking a computer. I’m staying connected through my ipad mini on which I’ll be able to download a few choice images, do some basic processing in a diverse little app called “Luminance”, and post images here and on my Facebook Page.
By this time Saturday, I’ll be wandering the streets of Valparaiso, Chile. Look for updates along the way.
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