Ok, so here's the scenario... You're going to a remote island--where you'll shoot a lot of weddings, portraits, and random stuff that just makes you happy. Yet you have to travel light cause you only have one carry-on pack for your gear--and you always have to carry it with you or the monkey's will steal it (nasty buggers, they always go for the shiny stuff).

Since you don't want to develop back problems... and you have to run fast to avoid getting eaten by the cannibals. You decide to take as little gear as possible.

What would you choose?



Ok fine, the real scenario.
I'm building my kit for weddings, but I also know that my husband and I want to travel next year as he finishes up school. The thought right now is 2 weeks in Europe, 2 weeks in India, and possibly up to 6 months in Asia. As I build my kit, I want to plan for the potential that we might be gone for a while--and I want to put together something now that will serve me then

So I'd love to hear what you all would choose--from the bag to the lighting--if you were going to be doing some extended traveling. Something that would serve for personal use, but be flexible to handle potential professional opportunities. Also, light enough that you could take it with you most places--since hotel rooms are not always secure...

Thanks!

The best destination advice for any wedding photographer on the planet!
http://simplephotolife.com/video/episode52.mov

2 Bodies
50mm 1.4
85. 1.8
70-200 f/2.8
15mm Fisheye
100mm Macro
16-35mm f/2.8
Two/ Three Strobes
Strobe triggers

That is me... but i am a big guy... I would eat the cannibals..

for travel, i'd bring only two lenses.. 50 1.4 and 105 macro, plus camera body. everything would be natural/ambient light or paint with light..

for weddings.. well, you always need to bring back up equipment, even if you just leave it in the car or with your assistant, plus flashes, and a range of lenses that suit your shooting style... for me, i typically only use 2 or 3 prime lenses through the wedding, so i always travel light.. but i take along my laptop and back ups too.. so.. it just depends..

what equipment do you have now?

Jason would be the cannibal king!



cool thanks!

Right now we have, Olypmus E-System, 2 bodies, 14-45mm and 40-150mm lenses (2x conversion factor)
Fl-36 flash (slow ) and Vivatar 285hv. Reflector, tripod... yadda yadda yadda

We're moving Nikon this year and dropping one of the Olympus camera's (unless Oly comes out with something truly spectacular in the next few months--I love NEVER having to clean my sensor )) I play with the Fuji S3 and may pick one up for the weddings I have booked this summer. It's gonna be either the S3, S5 (if we decide to spend a little more), or the D200.

We're getting the 50 1.4 this month. I'm trying to decide on the 150mm 2.8 macro, or the 105mm 2.8--OR the 17-70 2.8 macro (suggestions anyone?). I want the 70-200 ok who doesn't?--we'll see if we do that this year or not (I'm thinking, probably not).

We're playing with the idea of the super-wide sigma 10-20...
And I'm gonna set up a super-lite strobist kit... for my portrait work here, but who knows, maybe I'll take it with me.

Oh yeah, and if I win the lottery, We're going 5D

Those are our ideas.


(I'm surprised more Minnesotan's aren't chiming in... the idea of an exotic island sound pretty nice in this sub-freezing temperature. )