Hey Y'all! Hope you're doing well this week. Its almost fall and that means Fall Colors! Leaves changing and the temps dropping making it great to get out and shoot! My Photography club has an annual trip that goes to the mountains for a week of shooting fall colors , waterfalls and wildlife with a background of the leaves changing colors. Hopefully the leaves will cooperate this year but I know wether they are in full Fall Color or not there will be great photo's and good times to be had. I thought I would take the time this week to go over the things that I will be taking with me to capture this event. I am very lucky that I own a few different camera kits and must choose when going to a trip. For this trip which is mostly landscape photography with some other styles thrown in I want to be as versatile as I can be. For me that means Zoom lenses and being quick and nimble. I have both a full frame kit and a crop sensor kit.  Each kit has specific purposes. I also want to think about all of the accessories that I'm going to take with me and a backup camera if something should go crazy with my main camera that I choose for the trip. Its a lot to think about and you want to make sure you have your kit all figured out in advance and don't just grab stuff off the shelf at the last minute as your walking out the door because you don't want to forget anything and you may have to purchase something prior to your trip that you will need. So here goes the list of what I'll be taking camera gear wise for our Fall Colors trip.

Camera Body- I'll be taking my trusty crop sensor camera a Sony A6500. It is an older model and this may be a final farewell before I upgrade the body next year. This model came out in 2015 so its got some age on it.  I bought this body used from a camera club member and it has been great! It is small and versatile and gives me great images.

Lenses-I'll be taking 3 lenses with me. Three zooms. A 10-18 f4 , 16-55 f2.8 and a 70-350 f4.5-6.3. The full frame equivalent will be 15-27mm, 24-82mm and 105-525mm respectively. That gives me quite the range. All of these lenses are fantastic glass especially the middle zoom which will be on the camera 90% of the time. That's just my range that I shoot most of the time.

Phone- Yes my phone is the iPhone 14pro. I will be using this for making pantographs and macro shots . This phone does great work and I actually took a macro lens out of my bag and will use this instead. 

Backup Camera- My backup camera will be the Canon G7XII that is my EDC (Every Day Carry) camera. It comes with ND filter and a polarizer filter if needed. It can do the job if need be. I have used it as my main camera on trips to DC and Greenville SC and it performed great. Here is the link to a blog I wrote on my EDC Camera. My EDC Camera

Video Camera- I have a GoPro 9 that I will be taking with me to film the different spots along the way. Maybe a shot or two of something unique like under water at a water fall. I will be making a video of our trip after we return from all of the video clips of the places we travel to.

Filters- I have two filter kits that I will be taking with me. One filter kit by Breakthrough Photography has a Polarizer and a 3,6,10 stop ND filters. I also have another kit of Polarizers 67 and 62mm and a Variable ND filter that goes between a 1/2 to 8 stop. I've used the Variable ND the last trip we went on and it worked great so don't know how much I'll use the Breakthrough Photography one unless I need a 10 stop for anything. But I'll be taking both sets.

Tripod- I'll be taking my trusty ProMaster 525C Carbon fiber travel tripod. This thing has been with me all over and is stickered-up with all kinds of stickers from different places it has been. I simply love this tripod it is big enough to carry twice the weight of anything I own and its small and lightweight .  This tripod is simply fantastic and won't go anywhere without it. Except for our last outing I forgot it and had to borrow a big tripod and I really missed this one. LOL Thanks again Anita.

Bag and Accessories- The bag is a Shimoda Explore Version 1. I bought it off of Kickstarter campaign. I simply love this 30 liter travel bag. Its just the right size for my landscaping kit with the capability to get even larger with the roll top. Of course I'll have all of the batteries with all of the camera's mentioned above. I'll have a shutter release cable and head lamp for nighttime stuff. And plenty of SD cards so I can have a different one each day for photo and video. A "L" bracket will be attached to my camera for easy horizontal and vertical positioning on the tripod. Cleaning Supplies like , blower, sensor swabs, lens brush and plenty of micro fiber cloths. I will have rain protection for me and also for the camera and lenses.

Computer and Editing- I will be using my trusty iPad Pro with iPencil for all of my editing and backup while on the road. I'll be using a Scandisc solid state external drive to hold all of my backups. And iPod pro's ear buds for when I get up early and watch something on the internet and don't want to wake anyone. I'm a early riser. Of course I'll have all of the charging stuff for all of my gadgets and a small surge suppressor to use so I don't use too many outlets. Typical travel stuff.

Clothes- The biggest thing to remember in clothes is to layer your clothes. The weather can change from very cool in the morning to very warm during the day and being able to peal clothes of and put on is a big advantage as the weather changes. Stocking caps, neck covering and warm gloves are also on the list to bring. I also like to bring some hand warmers. These are little pouches that when you take out of the package and shake they get warm. They are great to have in your pockets while your waiting for the light to get just right keeping your hands nice and toasty on those chilly mornings by a waterfall. Here is a link to a blog I did on dressing in the winter. Winter Dressing the Part

Well I think that's about it for gear. I think its good to plan this stuff well in advance and get use to using whatever you're taking before you get there so when you get there you can concentrate on the photo's and not the gear.  This setup had worked well for me in the past and I have no worries about it this year. I am already excited about this trip and its less than a month away! Love the colors and all of the decorations that are up in the North Carolina mountains. I love to see me some pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! LOL Until next week start planning your next adventure and get out and shoot!