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Yosemite Trip Gear

Lesson 3 from: FAST CLASS: The Outdoor Photography Experience

Chris Burkard

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Lesson Info

3. Yosemite Trip Gear

Lesson Info

Yosemite Trip Gear

We're in my kind of part of my office, and I'm just going to go through the essentials. So I'm bringing with me a tripod, lightweight. Nice one that I can backpack with if I wanna go out in the wilderness for a couple of days. I'm also gonna bring a small JOBY just something that I can basically throw on a ledge maybe shoot a time lapse, something like that. Panel heads. I've used before and it's really nice if you're using mirrorless cameras. Something that I could do a stitch across the valley or something like that. And then I have my camera bag. So camera bag's here. F-stop, one of their new mountain series packs. In here, I've got... I'm just kinda go through the basics, but I've got three headlamps. I always bring extras 'cause usually the people I'm traveling with forget them. So I try to bring extras for that reason. So three headlamps, Petzls, and a Black Diamond. Side pouches, filter kit, just a little MindShift filter kit bag which has got a variety of filters as well as a g...

rad in here. Kind of a backup graduated neutral density filter. I also bring like a pretty nice LucrOit graduated neutral density filter as well. I got that as well for the trip. Let's go to the other side here. This side pouch has just have lens cleaning cloths. And I usually just kinda leave these in my camera bag. One of my favorite things to do and, like I said, I'm really all about practicality with photography and with approaching scenes because for me, some of my best imagery has come from spontaneous off the cuff road trips where I'm just in an environment that inspires me. So always wanna be kind of prepared for these moments, and never really, for me, at least focusing too much on the tech side of things. And I think there's little things that can help go a long way in that regard. And this is just like a micro fiber blanket or towel rather, that I just cut up and use the camera cloth. Really soft, works great. Plus, it has an awesome little like, little clip basically that you can put it to any little piece of equipment. So things like this, they come in so much handy. You know just get 'em in any outdoor store. Going through the gear. So in here, I've got two things. I have my, basically my everyday camera kit. Just everything I need pretty much right in this little guy right here. And I've this like this because I'm not the type of person that wants to hike with my backpack to a spot, set everything down, pull it out. Usually when I'm shooting and I'm pretty actively shooting in one area, I'll just have a shoulder bag where I can grab my cameras in and out of constantly be kinda shooting and moving around. So this provides me really cool opportunity to basically just take this out of my backpack and shove it into a tiny, little Mountainsmith shoulder bag. And this thing is great. Just pops into here. And then I've got an awesome little thing that I can hike with. It's a full on lumbar pack. Works really good. So, what's inside this? Well, let's explore that. I have my 16 to 35 Sony A72 with a polarizer. And I have a 24 to 70 with a polarizer. Also have memory cards, which I will keep in this bag as well. (zipper zips) In addition to that, I've got a f-stop ICU that can kinda sit basically inside my bag. I guess if I'm actively shooting, I'm gonna be pulling stuff out of here and putting in into there and replacing it. So if it's nighttime, I'ma come to my camera bag and say, "Okay, it's nighttime. "Now, I want to shoot with a A7S." It's the optimal camera to shoot evening stuff or higher ISO. And I have a couple of lenses that I've kind of brought for that. I have the new 28 millimeter f2 Sony lens that has a fisheye adapter on it. If I wanna shoot f2 ultra wide landscapes or something like that. This is on my A7S. I also have my kind of my go-to nighttime lens which is this 24 f/14 rooking on lens. So most of my evening stuff, I'll shoot with this lens as well. Of doing timelapses of stars or something like that. Also have in here a small, little Nikon waterproof camera. So I don't really plan to go there and shoot with my underwater housing, but I love this little camera because if I'm gonna be somewhere where I just need to shove something into the water, I'll bring this or a GoPro or an action cam and I'll be good to go. So it gives me the opportunity to basically just get a creative angle on a cool waterfall or get a creative angle on a cool space that I haven't been before, or maybe shoot someone in the water with a kayak or this and that, and this can kinda do that. So just something simple. If the weather turns to crap as well, it's a great camera to have on hand. Blower, a little Arctic Butterfly brush just to clean the sensor just in case. And then a big grad that I can use for shooting landscapes and whatnot. So that's the basic camera kit that I'm bringing. Let's move to I guess the outdoor gear, so you can kinda see what essentials, and like I said, there's a multitude of different things you could shoot in Yosemite Valley or really anywhere in sierras or outdoors, but for me it's more about finding a balance between two things. First of all, enjoying the place that you're going to, since this isn't a commercial shoot or it's not an editorial shoot. As well as bringing enough gear so that you kind of have what you need just in case, right? 90% of this stuff, probably won't use. Most likely, and I think most photographers would agree they end up bringing all this gear. They end up using one lens, one camera the entire time. But at the same time, you never really know. So being prepared for those situations is kinda crucial. So that's that. Salomon shoes, they'll go with me. I'll have a tiny little bag that just has a laptop and some chargers in there. It's got like camera chargers and some other things. Gold Zero chargers I can also charge my cameras with. Just in case if things kind of, I start depleting a lot of battery, maybe I'm running a lot of timelapses or something, and I need some extra juice. This is just stuff so I can stay on the road, be out on the field working rather than go back to a car, use 12-volt or something like that. Also my laptop and some other chargers in this Arturo bag. Like I said, really, we're just going on a, on a kind of a road trip. So we're not planning to do a big strenuous hike or anything like that, but in fact that opportunity arises and we wanna get an awesome view of Vernal Falls or Nevada Falls at night, I'ma bring that gear as well. So I'll bring ultra light kinda backpacking backpack. This is like a Arturo Compski backpack where I have side access in case I wanna put a camera bag in here a little IC I can shove it inside here, along with my tent, sleeping bag, and some essentials. Trekking poles, Black Diamond trekking poles. And then basically this is kinda of a, a road trip car camping sort of duffle that has my sleeping bag, its got a pad, NEMO pad, its my whole tent unit in here which is a NEMO two-person tent, as well as a hammock. So kind of all the essentials just kind of put into this big bag because 90% of the time, we're car camping, we're camping 10 feet from our car. But if in fact I need to go somewhere, I can shove all of this into my backpack with a camera, and I can go hit the trails. And that's of the objective here I think is to be prepared for both. Bring enough gear where if I have some other awesome opportunities to shoot some stuff, I'm prepared for that. But also if I need to go super lightweight and pare down, I can do that as well. The only other thing I'm gonna bring is this guy which looks like a box, and it is a box. It's a kayak that kind of builds out into a kayak, just a portable unit so it's really fun to get on the water, maybe I wanna shoot a perspective of Half Dome I've never seen before, and I wanna get on the water in the Merced and shoot a perspective or shoot somebody kayaking through a river. This is kind of a cool little tool to have along the way and it doesn't take up much space in my van. So yeah, it'll come with me. And that is pretty much, that's pretty much that. So I'ma get to packing.

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