Photography & Packing – Keep it Simple

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Photography and packing are a necessary combo for our adventures.  From new destinations to favorite locations we’re rewarded with images and many fun memories.

The good news is that the images and memories don’t weigh much.  Our gear, luggage and accessories on the other hand, can be a pain in the….back.

Travel Tip – a Different Rule of Thirds

My dear friend, global traveler and award winning underwater photographer Norm Vexler (you can see his website here: Farout Photos ) has a travel rule that makes sense. After he packs his bag, he pulls out 1/3 of his packing clothing items and leaves them behind. The reason? How many times have we packed and never worn what was in the suitcase?

Efficient Clothes Packing:

Two items that made a difference: a packing cube set  (my choice was the Bagail from Amazon) combined with quart and gallon sized Ziploc Slider Bags.  Rolling clothes, compressing items into the ziploc bags significantly reduced the amount of storage space needed.  I was further inspired by the you tube video below by Storia. I loved the creative use of many household items versus buying more single use ‘organizing tools’.

Using the tips above, I’ve been able to pack clothing, shoes and tripod for 2 week travels in my 22″ spinner suitcase. The plus?  I had room to spare!

There are many more efficient packers than me, there are others that are anything but efficient.  With a few changes to our planning and packing process, we can significantly reduce our baggage.   

Camera bags:

Camera bags – I’ve been through a few and thought I had made purchasing mistakes.  They weren’t.  Different sizes, configurations work for various situations.  For example, my durable, large, heavy and well padded Tamrac bag is my choice when I can work from and out of the car – which is quite frequent.   Fully loaded, it’s over thirty pounds with a laptop.  Not travel or hiking friendly but it is a workhorse.

Think Tank’s Digital Holster – compressed, it holds my Nikon 850 with a 24-70mm + filters, spare battery, cleaners, car keys and wallet.  Expanded in length, I can add a prime or macro in addition to the camera with the attached 24-70mm. I’ve used the holster when hiking with my Nikon D500 and a 70-200mm 2.8 attached.  One of my best bag purchases period!

Lowepro Flipside Series – I use an older version of this series.  It fits a significant amount of gear snugly, plus I can include my 15″ laptop when flying in the same area with my cameras and lenses.  I wrap the laptop in a soft, protective cloth.  To access gear, the swing-around, table-top like set up makes it easy to change lenses, find and store accessories quickly.

Camera Gear – What to Take?

With photography and packing, we always want to be prepared. At the same time we don’t want a backache. Packing light as possible is a balancing act. For air travel, I travel with 2 camera bodies and 4 lenses that cover the range: 14-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm and a 300mm prime with a 1.4 teleconverter. If I’m packing my 500mm long lens, I carry my Lowepro Flipside Series and the specialty bag for this lens as carry-ons. For car travel, I take more or less depending on the nature of my shooting plans. In both cases, per shoot I limit what I carry when hiking distances.

The only piece of photography equipment I’ll check is my tripod when I need to check a bag.  It’s just too risky to check any other gear.  My cameras, lenses, batteries, filters, chargers, tripod head and my laptop always stay with me in 2 carry-on bags.

Photography & Packing: Applying the Rule of Thirds

Using Norm’s example, the packing rule of thirds has worked every time. One additional tip is to start with the basics of what you’ll need to be comfortable, warm and dry. Every thing else is just extra baggage.

When traveling with camera gear, every ounce adds up fast. Here’s to making our travels lighter and more efficient!

Happy Shooting!