It’s easy to own a camera and some accessories to go with it. What is hard is to carry ALL your gear and travel to an exotic location. Taking all your gears and accessories to a photo shoot in travel photography doesn’t make sense. In the DSLR way of photography, we need meticulous planning in terms of location, what you want to capture or what do you want to convey in your frame. Consider these themes before starting the packing.
There is no good way or bad way but it gives lots of flexibility when you, as a travel photographer, pack your gear correctly on your field trip. My way of packing for travel photography is very simple; One weather proof camera bag, two camera bodies, a sturdy tripod, one flash unit, 3 or 4 lenses along with a laptop.
I started my list with weather proof camera bag because it protects your expensive gear from extreme weather (heat/cold/rain). Make sure your camera bag is equipped with a pair of batteries, extra storage cards and handy cleaning kit.
I normally carry two camera bodies, one fitted with a wide angle lens and the other with a zoom lens so that at any time, I can cover a wide range of situations without the hassle of changing lens on the field. I also carry an 85mm lens inside the bag which normally is used for capturing people portraits.
No travel documentary is complete without a night scape and a land scape. And these two kinds of photography needs one to keep the camera setting stable for long periods.. This is the time when a tripod is must.
In addition, I carry one flash unit, cable release, a card reader and a laptop.
