Hey Ya'll! Hope you're having a great week! Me? I'm doing great thanks for asking. I have been looking at my blogs today and counted them and this one is the 355th blog! Can you believe it! It's the beginning of the year and I have been thinking about the year to come. Last week I announced my big trip of the year to South Dakota and I have had South Dakota on the brain! Places to go things to see and of course all of the travel reservations which includes flying! So today I thought I would do a blog on traveling with photography gear. I think the way that you travel will determine the way that you pack and travel with your gear. For example if you're traveling by car my be very different than traveling by plane. What to bring? How to Pack it. What not to bring. So lets start simple.

When you travel you don't have to take everything you own every time you leave the house. Of course if you're just beginning in photography you don't have much maybe one lens or two and a camera body. If that's you travel is easy! Bring it. But if you've been into photography for a long time like me then you can't bring it all. You can't even carry all of it at one time. You may even have trouble putting it into one room! LOL Yes I have lots of gear! If you're traveling by car you can bring almost anything that your car or truck can bring. You can use big strong pelican cases to hold your gear. My only caution is to try to keep your gear out of site. Don't leave on seat of your car in site of other people not as nice as you that might want your gear. Thieves love photography gear because it is expensive and small easy to snatch and get away with. So be careful with your gear. 

Now if you travel by bus, train or plane it can be a little bit more complicated. First travel lite! Be aware of what your photography trip will consist of. Is it travel and street? Is it Landscape or Wildlife? Try to think in advance of what you will be shooting and what you will need. Leave all of the other "what if" stuff at home. Traveling by the above mentioned bus, train, or plane means that some of your luggage may not be with you but checked into some sort of cargo hold. Make sure your camera equipment is with you at all times as carry on. So pack accordingly because airlines have restrictions on carry on size and weight! Not so much with trains and busses. Now besides your personal clothes toiletries you must plan for your photo gear. Make sure it is secure and safe in the bag that you bring onboard. Try to make your camera bag not look like a camera bag when traveling. They are easy to spot. And remember it's not just camera gear it's editing gear if you are going to be gone for a while. I have traveled with both laptops and iPads and either can be used to edit and backup images while traveling. Modern iPads work well and are small and lightweight and work well but aren't as easy to use as a laptop or as easy to see if you have old eyes like I do. I just purchased a used MacBook pro just to travel with and use for Photography club meetings. Most of my computing is on a large desktop but I got such a good deal it was cheaper to take the laptop than the iPad if something happened and it got broke or stolen while on my trip. Anyway these items should be carried with you also. Most airlines let you bring a carry-on and a personal bag so my computing will be in the personal bag. Make sure you check with the airlines on size and weight limits to carry-on items. Make sure all of your charging needs are in your carry-on also it would be bad if you got to your destination and your checked bag got lost with all of your charging stuff. Your gear would be almost useless. And that stuff is hard to replace on the road much easier to replace clothes that were in lost luggage than charging gear. Here is an example of what I'm taking to South Dakota with me on the plane. Carry-on: Camera Body, 20mm f/1.8 for night shots, 20-70mm for general shots, 100-400 for wildlife and isolation shots. Extra batteries, chargers wipes, SD cards and stuff associated with main gear. Note: Batteries must be brought on carry-on check with airlines for specifics . In my Personal bag: Laptop , point and shoot (my backup camera) chargers associated with gear. Thats the photography gear I'm bringing for a week long trip. Main bag weighs 16 lbs personal bag much lighter.

Film is another matter. I don't have much experience with film but what I have read that if your film is 400 ISO or lower you don't have to worry about X-ray scanners at the airport but if higher you do. If you feel uneasy ask for a hand check of all of your film. I haven't decided if I want to carry a film camera with me on my trip to South Dakota yet. As it will not be the big part of my photography just a novelty I probably won't take it with me but if I did I would let it pass through the X-ray and not worry about it.

What to put in your checked bag? Besides clothes and personal items I would pack my tripod or monopod although very important part of photography gear your trip wouldn't be ruined if you lost either of these. Now if it was photography where only tripod shots like Astro it would be bad and I would consider taking it on the plane with me but other than an extreme I would keep it in checked baggage.

Remember to have a happy and safe trip "peace of mind" on gear and items you bring with you is super to have. I place an Apple Air Tag in each of my luggage. I have one in camera bag , personal bag, checked bag one on my wallet and keys. I love that I can in a second look at my phone and see where my checked luggage is. If if misplaces something while on the trip I can see where it is. This is pretty awesome and creates lots of piece of mind.

I hope you do get the chance to travel for a photography trip! It is such fun just to concentrate on just photography when traveling. You really get some memories that you couldn't get if you were just vacationing with the family. So until next week get out and shoot!

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 post there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link