Packing for international travel: Rome
I’m attempting to stick with the less is more theme I set for myself in 2010 and not taking a lot of gear to Rome with me this week. I’ve been around to a few continents: Africa, South America and Europe before and each time I change my strategy of what I take with me. I’ve lugged everything from a fully loaded lowepro backpack filled with lenses, portable lights and pocket wizards to making day trips with nothing but a Canon G10 point and shoot.
When deciding on what to take it really comes down to what you will be photographing while your there. For me, I’m going to Rome for a few days for a relaxed photo vacation. I’ve decided not to mess with a lot of stuff and just stick with the basics.
Here’s a list of the major items:
Canon 5D Mark II (never leave home without)
35 f/1.4 (sharpest lens I’ve ever used)
50 f/1.4 (can’t go wrong with a 50)
100 f/2 (sharp as can be and has awesome color)
Other than a body and three lenses I’m also taking along the following:
2 Western Digital 500 gig external passport harddrives (keep these in separate places or you might as well just take one)
USB Compact Flash card reader
Colorchecker passport
Flashlight with some gaffers tape
Plastic bags (in case of a weather emergency)
30ish gigs of Compact Flash Cards
Macbook (duh)
It’s tempting to want to lug around a 16-35 or 70-200 but I’ll leave that for covering football games. Shooting with primes helps me focus and think more about the picture. Since you’re always walking around (because your feet are your zoom) you might as well try something different and make a better picture. Hopefully I make some nice pictures with this set of gear.
