Sometimes a photographer will decide that a road trip is a means to an end. It could be that the final destination is a photographic goal or that the journey will present a number of known photographic opportunities. Many photographers will have something like a “bucket list” of locations or subjects that they would like to photograph some time in their career. This road trip may fulfill one of those photographic goals. Or they may substitute airplane travel for a portion of the road trip to save some time, especially if the ultimate destination is some distance. In any case, when the primary goal of the trip is to take photographs, often the gear chosen will reflect that. It will usually mean packing a high level bridge or super-zoom camera or an interchangeable lens camera (with lenses) as well as the appropriate extras (flash, tripod, etc) that will help produce the desired photos.
Depending on the purpose of the trip, a photographer will need to make a number of decisions about the gear they may want to pack. Choices abound and the photographer needs to carefully assess their equipment. It is even possible that this trip and subject is so important that a new lens, tripod, or second camera body is needed. Usually the gear already owned will be enough. But most photographers I know have GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and any excuse to purchase more equipment is good enough. As just one example, I own four tripods and a monopod, plus one specifically designed for a cell phone. Often the choices will involve choosing less gear, not more, for the trip. Remember that whatever is picked and packed will need to be carried, sometimes for long distances. Choose wisely.
For another example, I’ll detail the specific choices I have made to prepare for my own recent photographic road trip. This is not because I speak for all photographers, but to provide one example of the types of choices and the rationale behind those choices. Many photographers will go through a similar process and will take equipment to fulfill their goals. The process is more important that the specific gear.
My first choice is an interchangeable lens camera body along with three particular lenses. On this trip I had opportunities for urban and small-town street photography, some macro photography at a well-known rose garden, and the potential for some landscape shots. To accommodate those possibilities, I chose a somewhat wider angle zoom (18 – 55 mm, f3.5), a 50 mm fixed lens (f2.0), and a longer zoom lens (70 – 200 mm, f4.0). These lenses would permit me to cover most of the shots I planned while giving some flexibility for unknown opportunities. Since I was driving, I chose to bring two tripods, a mid-weight aluminum and a small Griptilian style. These two would add stability when needed while still being light enough to not be a burden to carry all day if I needed to do that. I also packed an adapter what would allow me to attach my cell phone to either tripod. These choices gave me a good amount of flexibility to cover the range of opportunities that I expected to encounter as well as the potential to get a shot I didn’t know about in advance.
By selecting those three lenses, I knew that I could cover almost anything from an extreme close-up to a somewhat distant bird or animal. My needs were appropriately accommodated and my wants were reasonably filled. My medium-sized shoulder bag weighed about 8 pounds with the camera body and the three lenses, with the weight increasing to about 13 pounds when I added the aluminum tripod. I also brought a padded insert that I could add to my daypack if I wanted to carry every piece I had brought for a full day of photography. I had a manageable light weight and gear flexibility to take photos all day long under a variety of conditions. Those choices helped make this trip enjoyable, and the gear produced a good number of high-quality images.
