Lists | Photography

Its six years now since I bought my tripod and I count that as the start of my ‘proper’ photography journey. Most of my early ‘learning moments’ are from making mistakes and thankfully the digital mistakes are far cheaper, quicker and easier to spot than film ones.

One mistake that happened several times is setting off on a photography trip and not having the correct gear that I need, here are a few of my magical moments:

• Taken my camera and tripod to take night shots in Leeds and forgotten to attach the Manfrotto base plate.
• Driven 70+ miles to Whitby with a nearly flat camera battery, no charger and no spare.
• Headed into the wilds on a freezing windy day with no hat or gloves.
• Got caught in a storm with no lens cleaning cloths and no dry bags.
• Had no bug spray in a infested horsefly area

And thats just a few…

A recent solution that works for me is creating lists for each type of trip I go on, if its e.g. summertime bug spray and suntan cream would be on the list and if its winter Merino layers, hats and gloves would be on it.

I also have slightly different lists for different types of camera gear for different shots e.g. Astro photography

I start with a basic list and then when I head out on my trip if there’s something I’m missing, I add that to the list once I’m back home, hopefully creating the perfect list.