Traveling Light
Traveling light, by which I mean traveling with minimal photo gear, is not my modus operandi. I typically take all of my gear with me especially if it’s a place I haven’t been to before. It’s nice to have the flexibility of having the right equipment when you’re in unfamiliar territory. The worst feeling is when you keep saying to yourself, “Oh man, what a fantastic scene, I wish I’d brought my _____.” If I’m going to a place I’m familiar with or going out for a specific purpose, e.g. street photography, I’ll take just the gear appropriate to that situation.
Most of my traveling is by car so taking all of my gear is not a problem. Along with this, most of my destinations are at worst relatively short walking distances from the car. For those times when I know I will have a good walk I can limit my gear to that specific target. For example, if I know I’m hiking in to photograph a waterfall I’ll take my tripod to get some slow shutter speed shots and leave my long lens in the car. My long lens will still be available for the next shot location.
When I’m flying to my destination I take all my gear if I’m going to be getting a rental car. It’s basically a road trip with a flight at each end. Sure, I have to lug my gear through the airport but that’s a relatively short hike.
So far, this approach has worked out well for me. I’ve found it’s better to have the gear with you and not need it than to need it and not have it with you.
So Why Should I Change?
As I prepared for a recent two-week trip to Prague and Vienna my initial plans were to do the same as I’ve always done. After all, it been a successful strategy in the past for me even when traveling internationally. So why should I change? I wanted to take architectural shots (think tripod and a tilt-shift lens) and interior shots with low light (again think tripod). I could foresee taking architectural detail shots (think long lens) and shots where a wide-angle lens would be helpful. The thought of having all my gear was appealing.
As I thought more about the trip I realized that things would be different this time. First, we would be doing a lot of walking. We weren’t renting a car so we’d be walking (both Prague and Vienna are very walkable cities) or taking public transportation. That meant I’d have all my gear with me all the time. There’d be no car trunk to store my gear as I made short excursions. That backpack of gear can get quite heavy (more about that later).
Second, there are a lot of restrictions on what you can do. Many of places limit your ability to bring large backpacks in. Another common restriction is the use of tripods which can be a safety issue in crowded spaces.
Third, there would be a lot of people around making using a tripod difficult. Prague and Vienna are quite popular. Just walking through the throngs of people with a large backpack and tripod could be challenging. And don’t even think about going into a souvenir shop with them (think you break it, you buy it).
My Decision
After giving it a lot of thought I decided to go with a very minimal amount of gear. I took my camera (with strap), one lens (24-105mm focal length), and a GPS Receiver. That’s it. That’s all the gear I would be carrying while out shooting. I also packed an extra battery, storage cards, and battery chargers but didn’t carry them with me while out shooting.
This was a big difference from what I normally do. Perhaps the biggest difference was in the weight I’d be carrying. My minimal gear weighed just a bit over 4½ pounds. My normal carry of backpack, camera, 4 lenses, travel tripod, ND filters and miscellaneous items came in at just over 26 pounds! That’s a big difference.
The weight difference and knowing that there would be restrictions limiting my use of my equipment were what drove my decision. Nonetheless, it wasn’t an easy decision. I knew there were shots I’d like to get that I couldn’t get due to equipment limitations. At best, I might be able to get those shots with alternative techniques that were sub-optimal. Life (and photography) is all about choices. It’s best to consider you choices carefully. Ultimately, I embraced the concept of traveling light determined to make the best of what I could do with minimal gear.
Any Regrets?
For sure, there were some shots where I really missed having the “right” gear. But I have no regrets about my decisions. Not trying to walk miles carrying around 26 pounds of gear was great. The crowds were even bigger than I expected so not having all that gear was very helpful. In some cases the restrictions were even stricter that I envisioned. For example, a few sites not only banned the use of tripods and flash photography but also any type of photography. Imagine carrying all that heavy gear through the crowds only to learn you couldn’t even take a shot.
I do photography because I enjoy it. If I had taken all of my gear the frustration in dealing with it and not getting to use it in many cases would have been horrible. While traveling light can be limiting it can also be liberating. It allows you to adapt to what you are presented, it challenges you, and it doesn’t hold you back. There were times that if I was carrying all that gear I might have decided not to go up a hill or take a longer route back to the hotel. Traveling light allowed me to maximize the photo opportunity potential.
Any regrets? No, I made the right choice for me. I got a good number of shots that I liked (stay tuned for future posts). Perhaps the most important aspect was I enjoyed the experience.
In the end this became a good lesson in not focusing on equipment over getting the shot. If you don’t get the shot it doesn’t matter what gear you didn’t get to use.
Leave A Comment And Share
What’s your experience with traveling light? Do you regret not taking all your gear with you? Please leave a comment in the comment box below.
