Photo Trip Checklist

Imagine, there you are behind a blind of bushes watching a fawn and its mother in the woods. What a great picture it will make! You reach for your camera and realize you have a wide angle lens on the body. To get a really great picture of the deer you will need your telephoto. You reach in your camera bag every so quietly. You feel around. You feel some more. In a quiet panic you realize the lens is not there. Then you remember, you cleaned it last night and left it on your workbench. You were so excited to get out into the woods that you forgot to pack it. The fawn and its mother look at you as if to say, “We have posed long enough! If you are not going to take our picture we are leaving!” With one last look they run off into the woods. The great picture is gone, for today anyway.

Whenever I prepare to go on photo trip, whether it is near my home or across the country, I always go through a basic checklist to ensure that I have everything I need for my trip. I actually have multiple checklists since I shoot a Nikon digital SLR camera and a Nikon film camera. I tend to be a minimalist when it comes to gadgets and equipment. I only bring those things I really need. Here are my checklists:

Digital

* Nikon D70s camera body
* Battery charger
* Extra Battery
* Lenses: 300mm and a zoom lens (18 to 70mm) mounted on the camera
* Memory Cards: I usually bring three 512 cards with me. I use 512 cards because I can burn a full card on a CD on my laptop. That is about the full capacity of a CD.
* Laptop with CD burner: I generally down load the digital images to my laptop and burn a CD. This gives me backup while I am shooting. This is just a measure of safety to protect the images I have just taken.
* Blank CDs
* Camera manual

Film

* Nikon camera body
* Fresh batteries in camera
* Extra set of fresh batteries as backup
* Lenses (some will work with my digital camera as well)
* Film: I bring twice as much as I think I will actually need.
* Camera manual
* Lens shade


For both Cameras

* Cokin P filter holder
* Polarizing filter
* Graduated neutral density filter
* Exposure meter
* 18% Grey Card
* Tripod
* Lens cleaning kit
* Rain protection
* Soft cloth for wiping down camera bodies
* Mini Cassette recorder to record field notes as I take each shot. This is great when you are cataloging your images. It helps you remember the time and places images were made.
* GPS
* Maps of the area
* Research on the area I am visiting

These lists work pretty well for my style of shooting in the field. They ensure I have the equipment I need for my photo trip. As I gain new experiences, I tweak the list to add those things that will improve my experiences in the woods.

You have to develop your own list to complement your style. It begins with trial and error. Develop your first list with the things that you believe you will need for your photo adventure. When you come back, review the list. Add things you wish you would have taken with you and remove things that you did not need. As you refine your list, you will find your photo trips will be much more enjoyable and much more productive. Make sure you use your checklist every time you go on a photo trip, near or far. As the old saying goes, success is when opportunity and preparation meet.

Thomas T. Dean has been an avid photographer for over 30 years. Visit his website for more information and photographic examples. http://www.thomasdeanimages.com