Travel is the sexiest part of working as a photographer. I’ve been to Borneo with the orangutans, eaten bugs in China, run dugouts through rapids in Nicaragua, danced (white man style) with the Samburu in Kenya…also South Africa, Seychelles, Belize, Mexico, Ecuador, Canada, Jamaica, and all over the U.S. My passport is nearly full and I have free tickets and more on all my Frequent Flier accounts with all the major carriers. But it’s also the worst part of working as a photographer. From the sore shoulders, hung heavy with metal and glass (and batteries) to layovers longer than a day’s work (or worse, layovers shorter than a retail employee’s lunch) to the constant threat of all your gear disappearing from your trunk or hotel room…But it all pales next to the ridiculous pain in the ass air travel is. People always ask to see my gear list or what it looks like when I pack for travel. What I really needed to bring on this trip to Bahía Kino, a little fishing village in Northern Mexico on the Gulf of California, was three waterproof backpacks, four hard cases, and something for clothes and easy access on the plane. What I’m ending up shoving all my stuff into in the end is one waterproof backpack, a large pelican hard case, and a large briefcase style divider pack for everything else. All my clothes for the two weeks are packed into one Granite Gear XS Air Zippsack – about 550 ci. And it’s still way more than I want to haul through LAX as I sprint through international arrivals and customs to try and make the 1 hour layover during my return trip home.
