As a Studio Photographer I have spent the last 15 years of my
professional life doing things in a certain kind of way. During this time i
owned small photography studios, or had access to bigger ones, depending on the
kind of work I was doing, and I guess I took for granted all the equipment I
was using by then, because all of that was there and ready to use whenever I
needed it. Even when I had to photograph out of the studio, I used carry most
of the equipment on a van like a mobile studio and run on battery power for the
lighting equipment. Most of the time I worked in a small team of 2 or 3
persons, so it was easy and fast to manage the logistics of a photoshoot and
get the job done.
Recently I moved from Portugal to Luxembourg and instead of
studio photography, my line of work is much more oriented to editorial
photography right now.
I travel a lot around central Europe and most of my work is done on the go, so I really had to rethink the way I was used to do things. All that
equipment that was always available in the studio, is not an option anymore.
Nowadays, I spend so much time in aeroplanes that everything I
carry with me needs to be compact, lightweight and airline friendly so that
really made me go back to the basics, as far as photographic equipment.
In the beginning I tried to work with a simple shoulder bag with
a camera body, a couple of lenses, a speedlite flash and a laptop for image
storage and editing on the go, but I was always finding myself limited by
equipment when I wanted to do simple things like a portrait with some nice lighting or a longer
exposure with a tripod.
I got to a point where I was no longer disposed to compromise
the quality of my work because of equipment logistics, so I had to figure out a
way to have all the stuff I needed inside a TSA approved hand luggage sized
bag and be able to travel with it.
Of course this turned out to be a meticulous, and sometimes
nearly obsessive mission, where the size and weight vs utility of everything
was the main key.
All this work wasn't done overnight and I truly consider it a
constant work in progress where I always try to upgrade the gear I use and the
way things are organized.
I'm not saying that you need to have all this equipment or carry
all this to a photoshoot, in fact, I believe that the best images are usually
the most simple ones and that the equipment should not be a limitation, but
when it comes to professional photography work I don't want to feel I'm
compromising on anything or leave with the feeling I could have done better.
The setup I came up with is what works better for me and I truly
believe that having this things available and organized this way, makes me feel
a lot more creative and confident on the way I photograph.
The
"less is more" approach I'm having here is going to sound like a joke
to most people, because in fact I carry a lot of stuff with me, but I guess
you'll understand the concept once you realize that every object I carry has in
fact a lot of different uses and allows me to produce images that would be impossible
to do any other way.
So
here is what I usually carry with me most of the time:
It’s a Peli Case 1510 and a tripod bag.
And this is what’s inside:
This is a fantastic setup that weights around
15Kgs for the Peli Case with all the camera gear and around 6,5Kgs for the tripod bag with all the
tripods and hardware.
This allows me to travel with all the stuff
that I need to be prepared for almost anything.
In the tripod bag I have:
- Army Antenna Bag (has the perfect size to be used as a tripod bag)
- 3x Manfrotto 001B that I use for off camera flash support
- 3x Westcott 43” Collapsible White Satin Black Removable Cover Umbrellas
- Magic Arm 7”
- 2x Manfrotto Nano Clamps
- 3x Flash Support Brackets
- Fotopro C-5i Camera Tripod
These items have been carefully chosen to allow me to have an off camera flash setup that is easy carry and fast to assemble and the camera tripod is the best relation between size, weight and stability I could find for the camera i use.
In the Peli Case (top to bottom, left to right) I have:
- Black Peli Case 1510 with dividers and lid organizer
- Canon 5D III with vertical grip
- Sekonic Dualmaster L-558 with Pocket Wizard Transmitter
- Canon EF 80-200 2.8 L
- Canon EF 24-70 2.8 L
- Canon EF 17-40 4 L
- Canon EF 8-15 4 L
- Canon EF 50 1.4
- 2x Canon Speedlite 580EX II
- Canon Speedlite 580EX
- Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2
- Canon RC-1 Wireless remote
- Canon Compact Battery Pack CP-E4
- Case with Sandisk SD and Compact Flash Cards
- Sanyo/Eneloop XX 1,2V 2450mAh AA Batteries
- Sanyo/Eneloop battery charger
- Digital Battery Tester
- Canon LP-E6 Battery Charger
- Canon Remote Switch RS-80N3
- Canon OC-E3 Off-Camera Shoe Cord
- 4x Canon LP-E6 Batteries
- Multi-card reader
- 4x Phottix Atlas wireless triggers
- X-Rite Color Checker
- TYLT ENERGI10KGY-T Charger
- Selens SE-31 Triple Flash Support
- 2x Flash Grids
- Sto-Fen flash diffuser
- TP-LINK TL-MR3040 to use with DSLR Controller
- Trigger Trap with Canon cable
- Filter Pouch with B+W circular polarizer filters and an Expodisc
- Lenspen and fiber cloth
- Peli silica gel desiccant
- Sea to Summit Lite Line Clothesline
- Apple Lightning to USB Cable and charger
- 2x TSA approved locks
- Leatherman Multitool
Everybody asks me how am I able to fit all
this stuff inside a Peli Case and I really don´t know how to answer that, but
that fact is that it fits and it works great for me because it is easy to keep
it organized and its fast to pack and unpack.
In the next article I will talk about how I
use each and every one of this items in my work, so keep posted!
About the author:
Ivo Guimarães
Porto, Portugal
Photographer and Educator.
Master in Artistic Contemporary Creation.
Professor and investigator of Escola Superior
Artística do Porto photography’s department.
Specializing in digital photography
(capturing and editing), develops professional activity in the area for
Portuguese market leader companies.
