Traveling Camera Equipment

Anytime you take the time to see the world, you are expanding your life experiences, and as visual storytellers, it is important to experience as many things as possible. Travel is an excellent vehicle for photographers to gain global competency. Whether domestic or international, travel provides photographers hands-on experience and complex lighting lessons that transcend any workshop or classroom. 

Traveling as a photographer forces you to identify what you need to create images because you have to comprehend the camera bag's weight and travel to various locations. If you plan to walk 6-10 miles a day, taking a DSLR with 4-5 lenses, a tripod, and multiple external flashes won't make sense. You would be exhausted before you left your hotel room. 

For almost 30 years, I've traveled around the world to photograph a variety of events, and many of them are documented as uncontrolled action. As a photojournalist, I absolutely love forcing myself only to take a prime lens and using my feet to change my perspective. This also forces me to take notes so that when it's time to edit, I can remember what I saw. I must also be mindful of how many batteries and all of the support equipment I need to bring so I can recharge the camera and edit while still traveling. 

Currently, I travel with a Nikon D850 with an MB-D18 Multi Battery Pack and two EN-EL15c Rechargeable Li-ion batteries, and multiple SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC UHS-II 256GB cards. I also take an AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E ED VR  and an AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4G lenses. I typically don't take external flashes unless I plan to shoot portraits. but I will take a mini tripod that I built from Manfrotto parts. I started with a Manfrotto Table Top Tripod with 492 Ball Head and then added Monopod Head with Quick Release, wide 90 Degree oscilloscope.

This is a lot of equipment but typically changes on the type of trip and, at times, changes daily based on what we are seeing and shooting. For years I traveled using a Tamrac Expedition 6x, but with changes in how I travel, I started using F-Stoppers AJNA 37L. It is larger and not as easy to use as the Tamrac, but it's better when traveling in cities for security reasons. I use the Slope Medium Insert because it fits nicely at the bottom of the bag, and it allows me to put other items in the bag when day traveling, and everything else can either stay in the hotel or in other luggage.