Traveling Light as a Photographer

Näytä täysikokoinen

I was extremely close to get myself a Sony a7 before leaving to Albania. I actually had a seller who was ready to get rid of his used a7, before fate stepped into play and prevented the deal. 

Now a month after returning to Finland I’m actually happy this trade never happened, because the saved money allowed me to continues my travels for much longer, which in the end is much more important than a few hundred grams less weight in the backpack.

A lot of people were wondering how I managed to pack everything in such a small backpack on my travels. I’m more pondering how exceptionally little you could travel with if you didn't photograph? For me all the photography gear still takes way more than half of the weight, even when going minimal. What kind of stuff did I then travel around the Balkans with?
 

Canon 5D Mark III

My trusty body that I clicked over 2000 frames with during the trip. An amazing companion in every situation, the only downside is the slight overweight.
 

Sigma 35mm f/1.4

An even more important friend, who’s attached to my camera pretty much wherever I go these days. I've learned to see situations in 35mm eyes and realized how versatile this lens can be. For me this focal length only becomes a slight problem when taking closer portraits, because in these you sometimes have to be uncomfortably close to your subject. 
 

Hähnel Ultima Plus

A pretty ugly and strange looking charger for both my camera and cellphone, which is a little space saver because it can do both. 
 

UV filter

A quality uv filter replaces my lens cap while traveling, except for when my camera is hidden in my backpack. Makes the camera shooting ready at all times. 
 

SanDisk 32GB CF card

Nothing much to say about this one. A beautiful golden memory card, which can easily hold a few days worth of photos without a problem, which can become important while traveling. 
 

Kingston USB 3.0 card reader

A true weight hacker would have gotten a SD card, that would have fitted straight to my laptops card reader.
 

Transcend 2TB hard drive

I considered to leave without this one, but gladly used some common sense and decided otherwise. This drive and my laptop goes in the same bag, so this backup wouldn't save from theft, but I still think the added 204 grams is worth it.
 

Burton Annex

The most perfect travel bag for me. I could fit everything I needed during the 1,5 months. Having a backpack fit into hand baggage also takes a lot of stress out of flying.