What does a Sports Photographer pack for three weeks on the road?

GooGaBu

GooGaBu

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Now - thought to start a little thread in the Sports section, and maybe get other togs to comment and share their packing stories as well.

My jobs often take me for brief trips abroad, and those are simple enough to pack for. Change of clothes, bit of this and that.. sorted.
But now - my first long trip of this summer, and I am heading out for three weeks in Bulgaria and Romania to cover couple of tournaments.
So - thought to share a bit of what I take with me camera-wise (for those interested in more - I'll link my Blog article to read more) as this is a Photo Forum..

Rom-Blog-01.jpg


There's a crappy small image of my packing prep... photo gear list is as follows

- 2 * Canon 1DX
- Canon 16-35mm f2.8
- Canon 24-70mm f2.8
- Canon 70-200mm f2.8
- Canon 400mm f2.8
- Three SpeedLight flashes
- PocketWizards
- Memory Cards + reader
- Two tripods
- Two Manfrotto Magic Arms
- Sony Camcorder (for video work)
- Canon G 11 (for snaps while out and about)
- Chargers/Cables/etc for all the equipment
- MacBook Pro 15" (13" is great for assignments, but longer trips I appreciate the extra screen room that 15" gives me. Especially when there is no chance to get home on the big screen to edit images/videos before the 3 weeks is up)
- Apple USB SuperDrive (yes, the downside of Retina display Mac)
- 1TB ThunderBolt external HD
- AA and AAA batteries
- ExpoDisc (for setting the WB)
- Lens cloths / Screen cleaning gear

Apart from that - of course plenty of clothes, couple of books (for flights and lone evenings at the hotel), DVD's and toiletries.
Plenty of printed boarding passes, car rental forms, directions to hotels, arenas (SatNavs tend to only show major roads in some of the Eastern European countries).

For those interested to read a bit more about the 'non-photographic' stuff - feel free to clicky-on-the-link for my Blog (will keep it updated during the next three weeks - hopefully pretty much daily) click HERE for my Blog on Zenfolio
 
I will never be in your position, but I just wondered, do you carry on your computer and all of your camera gear? Are they 'understanding' for photographers?

At Munich airport I once had to take the camera and every lens out so they could check they could see through them, and then they took my bag off for further checks. I must look dodgy!
 
Bebop said:
I will never be in your position, but I just wondered, do you carry on your computer and all of your camera gear? Are they 'understanding' for photographers?

At Munich airport I once had to take the camera and every lens out so they could check they could see through them, and then they took my bag off for further checks. I must look dodgy!
Click to expand...

The advantages of being a 'Frequent Flyer' with a certain airline is that I am allowed two pieces of hand luggage. So that allows my bag - where I have my lenses/cameras/laptop - if/when needed the second piece is my 400mm lens or Panoramic tripod head.
I know the bag outweighs any limits that airlines have for hand luggage - but the benefits of carrying a back bag and not a rolling one is that it looks less 'suspicious'.

My own experiences traveling through Continental airports is that they are very understanding.. sometimes you even get an eager amateur photographer there in the security check and start talking of photography and gear :-)

In Germany they do sometimes want you to take all lenses/bodies out of the bag and remove the lens caps so they can see through them, that is correct. And my bags do get 'swiped' approximately 75% of the time I take flights
I don't think it has anything to do with looking dodgy, just that you have a bag full of electronics, and suppose they do extra checks on those bags. At least from my own experience.

Just like with anything - the more you do something, the accustomed/used to you get to way things run. So these days I am more surprised when my bag doesn't get to go through the 'extra search' at security.
 
Bebop said:
I will never be in your position, but I just wondered, do you carry on your computer and all of your camera gear? Are they 'understanding' for photographers?

At Munich airport I once had to take the camera and every lens out so they could check they could see through them, and then they took my bag off for further checks. I must look dodgy!
Click to expand...

Was the Bag with all the Camera gear in, in a suitcase or baggage that you carry with you? ( As Iam going there in a week having my Lenses and body as my baggage)
 
Joeturner11 said:
Was the Bag with all the Camera gear in, in a suitcase or baggage that you carry with you? ( As Iam going there in a week having my Lenses and body as my baggage)
Click to expand...

90% of the time I do air travel - I have my bodies and lenses in my hand luggage (carry on luggage).
As much for the fact that then they won't get thrown around by luggage handlers (although my Peli Case has protected my gear well when needed!) - but also for the fact that often I have a job already on teh evening when I arrive - so in case luggage getting lost, I still have my hand luggage and equipment to carry out teh assignment.

If you have heavy bodies/lenses - I suggest you have a bag you can carry on your back. That's less likely to get weighed/checked.
 
Joeturner11 said:
Thanks for that, Do they still Inspect your bags if you have it as hand luggage?

Joe
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Depends - some airlines when they see a bulky bag, they want to weigh it. Most don't - and I find them understanding when they see what I am carrying.

Once you go through security - then it really varies, some airports you can't get through without them having a swipe inside your bag and checking what you carry (these tend to be bigger/hub airports). At smaller airports - I rarely get asked to open my bags.

I do normally reserve myself an extra few minutes to get through security - just in case I do get an eager officer wanting check things.. and then if I don't get stopped.. well, that's few extra minutes you can sit and relax before... sitting down and relaxing for the flight :-)
 
Quote from your blog

"although sometimes it will work out cheaper to buy new clothes than have them washed by laundry service :-)"!

Hmm sounding very much like Jack Reacher :D
 
I'd be interested in some shots of the Manfrotto Magic Arms in action when you get back or on your Blog.
 
bigrob said:
Quote from your blog

"although sometimes it will work out cheaper to buy new clothes than have them washed by laundry service :-)"!

Hmm sounding very much like Jack Reacher :D
Click to expand...

:-) Not sure Jack Reacher (I know, fictional character, etc) ever goes to obscure Romanian towns.. but it WOULD have been cheaper to buy clothes than wash them..

bigrob said:
I'd be interested in some shots of the Manfrotto Magic Arms in action when you get back or on your Blog.
Click to expand...

You mean how I attach it - or how the images turn out when the camera is attached up behind the boards?

I am planning a Blog entry about this in the coming weeks - I know someone from TP did a very good article a while back.. (but doesn't stop me from doing one myself ;-) )
 
Yep photos of how you attached it and how you use it remotely :thumbs:
 
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