The One Where they Plan To Take Gear on the Road

It's time to laugh, learn and take your photography to the

next level with your favorite Cowgirls with Cameras, Cara,

Kim, and Phyllis.

Hey everybody, it's Kim with Kim Beer

photography

and Cara with Fast Horse Photography

and Phyllis with Phyllis Burchett Photo

and welcome to Cowgirls with Cameras. Today

we're going to be talking about something that the three of us

are very familiar with. But I also know new photographers and

sometimes seasoned photographers struggle with and that is taking

gear on the road. So for me, I don't work out of my home hardly

ever. So I do have a small studio setup in here where I can

do jewelry photography, but other than that I almost

everything I shoot is out into the world. You gals the same

way? I think you probably are.

Well I shoot a lot of local and so I'm used

to just throwing everything in the backseat of the pickup

truck. So when I have to pack to travel, it's like a moment of

panic before I get organized. So yes, and I've had some crazy

experiences flying with gear so that'll be fun to talk about

today.

And for myself. I don't have a home

studio I pretty much am always flying with my gear. I rarely

shoot here local. I'm always on a plane it seems with gear. So

yes.

You're the expert.

No, well, no, no, I'm not an expert, but we

all have our way of doing things.

And I can guarantee you Phyllis's and mine

We do.

are exactly the opposite of each other. So you're gonna get

probably two ways to do everything today packing your

gear, but both ways work really well and it gives you a choice

as to what to do. It'll be interesting to find out where

Cara lands in the middle of Phyllis and I because if there's

a right and a left Phyllis and I are choosing the opposite doors.

But it makes it great. Okay, so Cara what's been up in your life

Well, it's been full on shooting for me the

lately?

weather has been so gorgeous here we had this break in the

weather where it went from like the high 80s into the 70s. So I

had almost a full week of shoots almost every night this last

week, which is rare for me I normally don't take on that many

sessions but it just worked out with reschedules and then the

weather was so pretty. It was a really good week of shooting and

it was very exhausting. And then on top of that I had the

previous few weeks shoots those folks coming in and doing

viewing and ordering appointments and then art design

and album design mixed up in that. And I actually designed

three photo albums yesterday so I spent a little bit more time

than I wanted to spend sitting in front of the computer this

last couple days and then on other news I had a birthday go

ahead and wish me happy birthday.

Happy Birthday to you. We will not torture you

with it

I had a birthday so getting another year

older and then my son's birthday is coming up so that's what I've

been doing is planning his birthday party. When I'm not

working I'm planning birthday party and celebrating birthday

and all of that good stuff so it's been super eventful. What

about you guys?

Well, happy birthday to Easton in advance

thank you he's gonna be nine and he knows

everything and I'm already the dumb momma. So. I didn't think

it happened this early. I thought I at least had until the

teenager years.

You do have a highly intelligent young man

there on your hands.

Oh yeah.

Yes, I agree.

Well, let's see for myself, well, I had a

guest episode on Photographing the West podcast with Kirby

Flanagan that aired that was kind of cool.

Oh, I bet that was fun.

Yeah, it was fun. He was he was great to be

on the air with it was very nice. This past Saturday I did a

presentation about equine photography for the Booth Museum

Photo Guild here in Cartersville, Georgia. I also

went to the Great American Horse drive so I've been kind of

sporadically trying to edit a few pictures from that. That was

fun getting to be with Corinne with equinephotographers.net and

Scott and Mark and Christie my friend and client here from

Georgia went with me and we stayed together and we had a

great time. A couple other gals that we wrote in the truck with

Joanne and Carol and so we had a great time.

I saw you had some good travel buddies.

Yeah, I had some really great travel

buddies. We had a good time, good food, good people, good

great horses, cowboys, cowgirls. It was just a really great trip.

A lot of images to go through.

How was it being back after COVID and that

not happening for a couple years? Was it just awesome

because I was having some major FOMO

biggest thing was their number of horses was down they had only

237 head in the drive itself because they had to

unfortunately sell off a lot of stock because of the loss of

income during COVID. So I think they're just now working on

getting their herd back up their numbers back up.

It sure looks like a lot of horses in the

pictures like that you guys took in on the videos that I saw of

the drive. It looked like a ton of horses still

Well, I mean 237 is still pretty impressive

sight to see. So it's not the numbers

Yeah,

that they've had in the past, I think they

pretty good. They didn't really have any breakouts or Renegades

that weren't easily controllable. So like they did

in the past when I'd been there. But it was it was fun. We had a

we had a good trip.

So I've been here at home, working hard on taking

care of my health, and then also setting up automations for both

myself and for my clients to help everything run smoother. I

have surgery on June the first so I want everything nice and

set up so I don't have to worry about work. So I've been

automating a few things, getting things set up so that it's all

running smoothly behind the scenes, been doing a lot of

writing and then also been doing a lot of Gestalt work. So I'm

very excited have clients coming up over the next week and a half

or so that are going to be here to work on their businesses and

work on their creativity and get out of their own way and in

finding the dream that they want to have. So that's kind of what

I've been up to and ranch work. The weather here has been

sporadically drenched in water, and then also very beautiful. So

all of those good days, we have exhausted ourselves and building

fences and taking care of horses and all of the ins and outs of

ranch work. I haven't had an opportunity to do much shooting.

But I have worked a lot on like ad design with the photos I

take. So a lot of my work is commercial. And then because I'm

a graphic designer, I go ahead and design the ads. So I've done

quite a bit of that over the last time since we've talked

Phyllis, you're headed back out again. Right?

I'm headed west tomara, I'm actually going

out a friend of mine Cheyenne glade Wilson, who is the Native

Cowgirl for any of you that may follow her she's picking me up

the airport and we're headed to the Tamale city to the bucking

horse sale for a few days. And I'm really excited about that.

And then from there, I'm actually going with her to South

Dakota, and I'm going to photograph their branding in

South Dakota. And then I'll come back to her Montana ranch and

where I've got to do some pictures of her for some big

magazine article that's coming up for her and then I'll fly

home on the 28th. So,

that sounds like so much fun.

Yeah,

You've got so much coming up. So you're having

to think about packing for that, Phyllis.

I don't think about packing I just kind of do

it without thinking anymore. But trying to figure out which which

lenses to take is my big you know, especially now that I have

the mirrorless and DSLR systems is like I'm trying to get my

head only thinking about mirrorless. But now I think this

arena is really big. I might need a bigger lens for this

arena and just having to think, rethink a few things is

difficult. Yeah,

yeah, I didn't think about that. But

when you switch to mirrorless, you suddenly have like doubled

the gear you have to try to pack into a carry on or is that not

true for you?

A little bit because I'm still using some of

my older lenses so I have to be sure I have the adapter for

them. And then if I want to teleconverter maybe for this

long lens, I don't know that I'll need one but I do have two

mirrorless camera bodies so that's what I'm taken to shoot

with. But everything else is just trying to figure out how to

pack it's almost like I'm going to be doing a portrait session

and wildlife kind of so. So you need both systems which just

made me think of something else I forgot to put in.

For you listeners. We're going to break

this down into small bites about taking your gear out on the road

and about traveling with camera gear. And the first thing we're

going to talk about is is actually packing the gear like

what are your choices around packing the gear? I believe we

all are in the same opinion that, and this is a common

question I get from from photographers who are just

getting started out and traveling with their gear, is do

you ever check your gear? And my answer is absolutely not. I've

refused to get on airplanes and asked to be rerouted to a

different plane if they will not let me keep my gear with me in

the cabin of the aircraft so I never ever check gear and to

date and I do fly a lot maybe not as much as Phyllis but I do

do my fair share of flying with camera gear. I've never had an

airline that couldn't accommodate now I've had to

throw a hissy fit a time or two but most of the time they've

been very good about putting up the gear and in my carry on bag

I completely agree Kim that the expensive

stuff always goes in your carry on. I think that should be your

number one goal is the safety of your your gear. If you're headed

out to a job and you've got your cameras and your check case and

it gets lost gosh you're really kind of out of luck and for me

I've actually had one time where I had an airline actually weigh

my carry on, fortunately it wasn't over but so it did get me

thinking about what if what if that did happen where they took

my bag you know when wanted to check it. And so what I've

started doing is I carry a little just a packable backpack

or tote bag that I can stick in my carry on just in case the

gate agent takes are asked to check that bag. That way if you

you know, if you need to you can pull out important items and put

them in the tote bag and carry it on with you.

When you're packing some of the things that

I think about is what could I survive without if it didn't

make it? So a lot of times I think to myself, like if I

can't, if I don't feel like I can fit everything into my

camera backpack that I that I know, fits on most planes at

this point. I know it's going to fit in the overheads if I think

to myself, if I can't, what types of things can I put safely

into my checked luggage, and if it didn't make it, I would

survive and still be able to get the job done? So I tried to

think about those things. And I have definitely checked things

like lighting gear, tripods, you know, different types of stands

for the lights, I've packed partial memory cards. So I'll

have some memory cards in my bag and some in the other bag, some

battery chargers in battery charger in my checked bag, and

then have charged batteries in my bag that I bring on. So I try

to think about that so that I don't end up being in the issue

with the weight or not being able to stuff my bag into a

small spot. So do you guys think about those types of things?

Like are there some things that you insist have to go in your

bag that you're carrying on and some things that could go into

your suitcase if you had to?

Yes, I totally agree with that, that a lot of

times like especially my tripod, my any kind of light stands,

lighting gear can go in check bags, or I even know a couple of

photographers that actually ship their lighting gear to the job.

So that's something to think about to ship it FedEx, your

bodies, your lenses, they always stay with me and your laptop,

your laptop, everything like that that's essential for your

job is going to stay with me it's not going to get put in the

hull of that plane. Years ago, when I started having to travel

on commuter planes, some of them were too small to put like a

rolling bag in the overhead so I did buy a pelican case. So that

way if they do take it at the gate, I know it's going to be

safe. I actually bought a Moose Peterson bag and it's by Moose

Peterson that's the photography and it will actually it is a

backpack but it will fit over your seat very easily in those

smaller commuter planes. And I've gotten to where now I just

put that on a rolling bag. So if they take it, I could stick it

up there too.

Oh, that's so smart. I have never I've never

heard of that brand. I'm going to have to check that out. I

would say too, one of the things that I have been kind of burned

on in this is on the past is I remember the camera bodies. I

remember the lenses. I remember the batteries most of the time,

but forgetting things like the little things like memory cards,

your batteries, your chargers. We head out westwards, really

dusty stuff to clean your camera, like all that stuff

needs to be included into your packing and having a system

definitely helps. I am not great about doing like a packing list.

But I know some photographers have a full list that they get

out that's got a checklist of all the things that they need to

take with them. And they just do a quick check off before they

head out on the trip because. I've been at workshops with you,

where I just totally didn't pack memory cards and had to bum a

memory card off of another photographer. And I was just

lucky that I was at a job where I, there was a photographer

there that had the types of cards that I use. So that was

that only happened once and that was like a big eye opener for me

to get myself a little more organized. So yeah, you don't

want to show up without all the things you need.

Make sure that when you pack your carry on that

one of the things that you absolutely get in your carry on

is any of your lithium ion batteries which most cameras use

these days because those can't go under the airplane. So that's

one thing that the airlines a lot of times I tell them, well

that's got lithium ion batteries in it and they're a little bit

less fussy about letting you take it on the airplane even if

they're fussy about it. But yes, cleaning supplies are so

important especially for equine photographers, I do carry

something called an Arctic Butterfly that allows me to dry

clean the sensor on my DSLR which has saved my butt I do not

know how many times. I'll be at like the Great American Horse

Drive is one of the most famous photoshoots for being really

really dirty because you're in the back of that truck and

there's like dirt flying everywhere and you get back and

you start to look at your pictures and you can just see

the monumental amount of dirt on your sensor especially if you

are not careful and changing your lenses somewhere where it's

not dirty so I do carry something to clean not only my

camera body but to clean inside of my camera and I've never

shown up without memory cards and here's what I do when I'm

packing. Before I leave my house I sit for a moment quietly and

ask no one to bother me. And then I imagine being at the

chute pulling out my camera, I have my routine, you know I

unzip my bag, I get my camera out, I get the lenses out, I put

my memory cards in, I put my batteries in, and I just kind of

mentally run over that in my head. And as I'm doing it, I

think, okay, I know where that's at in my camera bag, I know

where that's at in my camera bag, I know where that's at in

my camera bag. And then I know when I get to the shoot that

I've got everything because I've run over my mental checklist. So

I don't know, I do this weird exercise to make sure everything

is in the bag that I needed in my bag.

I think that's a great idea. Even I mean, even

if you have to have a written you know, a printed out

checklist, that's a great thing to do too. Whatever works for

you. It's going to be different for everybody. Everybody is

gonna have a little different system. But the biggest thing is

don't forget things.

And you know, we've been pretty lucky or I've

been pretty lucky that if I forget something, I have been

somewhere where I can amazon prime it, I've had battery

chargers fail on site, and had to have that done. And we've

been real lucky that we live in a world today where most of the

time we can get stuff pretty quickly. But then there's other

times when we're out on location that you're just you're not

getting prime and ain't come in the next day. And so you have to

be resourceful if you can't get your gear all there. So

I highly suggest that anybody that's a

photographer sign up for TSA PreCheck. That way you don't

have to take your shoes off, you won't have to take your laptop

out of your bag, it'll be it'll just make things go a little bit

faster. I personally have CLEAR along with TSA PreCheck which

sometimes is faster. Sometimes it's not. A lot of people have

signed up for CLEAR so they've gotten pretty busy too. I also

suggest to book your flight with an airline credit card I have

American Express that gives you a Delta, of course I'm a high

believer in Delta. I love Delta Airlines. And so with the

airline credit card with American Express, I get my first

bag check free and now I have two bags checked free with a

silver medallion. So you know when use that card to buy

everything. I mean I bought all my gear on it so that runs my

points up even higher. Another thing is that's real important

is insure your gear if you don't have your gear insured, and

you're not a member of the Professional Photographers of

America, you should be because you get I think it's a minimum

of $15,000. With your membership. If you have more

gear than that you can get a rider added on to get the rest

of your gear insured but you do get $15,000 worth of gear

insurance with your membership. Be sure you label and tag your

bags really well. I mean so well that you can see them coming off

that turnstile when they're in baggage claim and know that it's

black bags, be sure to use TSA locks. I also take with me just

to make sure now delta has gone up to 70 pounds for each bag,

but which I can't even imagine packing a bag 70 pounds because

I couldn't carry it. But at least I know now that if I get

over 50 pounds, which I was thinking it was still 50 up

until just a couple of recent trips that they're not going to

charge me so but I take a portable luggage scale with me.

It's a one I found on Amazon, it's all a digital scale. And

hardly weighs anything. So I take it with me everywhere and

too keep all those things in mind. But the biggest thing I

think is TSA PreCheck.

I still have not done that. And then you guys

have been telling me to do that for years. It's just so far for

me to go get it done. I have to really work for it. It's on my

to do list for this year, because we have so many things

planned this summer, so I'm getting it done. So I can share

a story one time when we were driving out we were flying out

to I think it was Powder Horn with the Equine Photographers

Network, we fly to Denver, and then we get on a little plane to

Casper, it's a little tiny plane to Casper. And I've always

traveled with my gear in the same bag and I've never had an

issue and on that plane. It's a really small plane, they just

told me that there was no way I was getting my bag into the

overhead compartment. And I was not happy about the situation.

But they after going back and forth and and I'm always one

that tends to err on the side of be kind, be polite, be the

friendliest person you can be like when you're going through

this process. And that just didn't work for me that day. And

they told me I had to check my camera bag. And so I ended up

you know, showing them, hey, I have all of this gear in here.

And they're like, We're sorry, there's just no room you're

getting on the plane. I was one of the last people on the plane.

So I didn't have any any overhead space left. So I wasn't

like Phyllis where I had a backup bag that I could pull

out. And so I had to pull my camera's out and I had two

bodies, two lenses and a laptop and I had to pull all of that

out and hold it in my arms. And because I was like I'm not

letting you check this so I carried it loose onto the plane

and I was just determined I had to get my gear there safely. So

I took it and I laid it all under my seat when I got on the

plane. So it was all like kind of shoved down where your feet

go. So you have imagined your camera bodies and your lenses

like rolling around down there. And so it was down there and I

had kind of tucked my jacket around it to keep it safe and

they were all sitting there and I'm flustered and I'm thinking

oh, what did I do wrong to get in this situation? And I

realized that I had four or five lithium batteries left in my

carry on bag that they put down under the plane. And so I sat

there and I said to myself, oh God do I say something? Do I not

say something? How big of a deal is this really? Am I going to be

responsible for crashing the plane, you know, I was like

having like a really moral dilemma in my brain. So I

finally flagged down one of the flight attendants. And it's a

big deal, y'all, they shut the whole plane down like the, like,

everything shut down, they had to open the door of the plane

again, after they're getting ready to take off, they got my

bag out of the storage the bag storage area. And they did, they

made this whole show of like walking it down the aisle to me

so that I could then get my batteries out of the bag. And

then they took my bag all the way back down and put it under

the plane. Again, so everyone is like, and that's why our flights

held up, I would just say that there are going to be times when

you might be on a flight. And they just don't think they can

get it on there. And I've always been someone that, you know,

tries to be the friendliest person dealing with those folks.

Because and most of the time by being that friendly person and

helpful and understanding that they're just doing a job, I can

usually get them to help me out. And that that has worked pretty

good. But I love Phyllis's idea of bringing a little bag. And

then Kim, I know you have something you want to say here

Yes, I do. So I had a similar situation when I

too.

was flying around doing photography for Best of America

by Horseback. We got on a very, very small, very little airplane

and they're like, you can't bring that bag on here. And I've

done a lot of research on my bag and we're going to talk about

that later, I spent oodles of research getting the bag that I

picked so I knew that it could fit in a multitude of situations

and I talked with the stewardess and I try to be a nice person in

general anyway, but I was like I'm a professional photographer.

I'm on a job. This is a place I've had camera equipment

damaged on airplanes. Is there anything you can do to help me

out and she was really really nice. She's like, you know what,

we have a storage area where we put our stuff it's not

completely full. If you don't mind, I'll put your bag in here

with our bag. I've also had them stash it in some of the smaller

jets, there's a space behind the very last row where there's a

pretty good chunky size of space back there and you can get your

bag in there. I've talked my way into having my bag stashed back

there, the bag that I have now I can put under the seat in front

of me and I'm going to tell you it is not comfortable for me I

am crammed into my seat to where I can't move my legs I can't

hardly walk because of arthritis when I get out if it's a very

long flight because I can't shift or move but I can get that

bag underneath that front seat so I yeah I believe what Cara

said be nice to them as much as you can. And yeah, I've never

had one like march stuff around to me but I definitely have had

to finagle my way into getting my bag and gear onto certain

aircrafts and I too am going to start packing a little extra bag

so Phyllis is like giving us a great pointer we're all going to

show up with our extra bags the next time we fly.

That insurance piece too that Phyllis

you mentioned earlier, is really huge because you know you think

it's going to get injured your gear is going to get injured if

it gets checked. But I have broken gear just getting out of

the truck at the airport. So I dropped my laptop just getting

out of the truck at the airport I was getting ready to put it in

the bag and it landed and I'm somehow still using it but it

makes a really weird crackling sound every time I pick it up so

it's on its last leg. But you know thinking about having the

insurance piece for your camera gear because you might do

something silly at the airport set it on a counter or someone

might bump it or you just never know. So that's so important and

I know lots of photographers have used that I need to look

and see if my laptop is actually covered in that because I could

probably I probably need to do a claim it is is it oh gosh I'm

making another note I gotta get on that.

Something I kind of scooted over a benefit

to booking your flight with an airline credit card with Delta

or on American Express that puts you in the first zone you know

and so that way you also get to board earlier and that's a big

plus for me is getting to board earlier before all those

overhead spaces get filled up. So think about doing that is if

you have to pay a little extra to to be able to get on earlier

course with with my airline credit card I don't have to do

that because it's included think about that, too, is try to get

on as early as possible. Before all those overheads are crammed

full of other people's gear.

Phyllis sold me on the American Express, and I

did it so I love it. I now have the AMEX and I fly Delta with

her so

So we do agree on one thing then.

We do, we do one thing.

So what about those of you guys that rent

gear? Because I've, have rented gear in the past and packed it

and brought it and whatnot. Do you rent gear and have it sent

to the location? What have you done that's worked for you?

So for me I have two rental companies I use. One

is BorrowLenses, which I think is very popular. Lots of people

use BorrowLenses. And if I do rent from them, I have the

camera gear shipped, usually to where I'm going. Because a lot

of times I have like, I'm either driving out there and it's a

couple extra days. Or it's maybe I don't need it until the middle

of the shoot and it actually saves me rental fees to have it

shipped to the location. And then I will find a UPS and ship

it back or pack it back with me and ship it when I get home. The

other company I use is called Rentglass. And they happen to be

local to Kansas City. And they're right on my way to the

airport. So I don't even have them ship it, I rent it. I stop

by their little location, pick it up, pack it in my bag, get on

the airplane, and then come back home. And I highly recommend

Rentglass. It's a small family operation. And they have great

equipment and they take really good care of their stuff. And

they're very, very kind to work with. So yeah, I I have two

different ways that I do that. So it's just so happens to be

I'm lucky enough to be in an area where I can pop in and

actually talk to the rental company.

Awesome. Now any tips on how to pack your

gear? Do you guys do anything special like different than when

you're just carrying your gear locally? Do you do anything

different when you're packing it on the airplane?

I personally do I always take the lenses off

my cameras. I think it it's way more space efficient to pack

cameras and lenses separately and it also limits potential for

any kind of damage to your lens mount. So that's my big thing is

take those lenses off the camera bodies.

What about you, Kim? Do you do anything

special when you pack?

No, I do the exact opposite of Phyllis I

leave on my lenses on my bodies. But I have a I have a matter of

fact, I will put loose lenses on bodies. But I have a different

camera packing system than Phyllis does. So I think if I

used the same system Phyllis uses where she has it like super

compartmentalized like my bag is set up for two cameras to be put

like one with a short lens and one with a 70 to 200 it's setup

so that those two cameras are in the center of the bag. And

they're super well protected, especially when they have their

lenses on because everything around them, like the way that I

pack it. I have a, so and I I'll talk about this now because we

do have bags on our list to talk about but my camera bag is a

backpack and the only thing I regret about that is a damn

thing doesn't have wheels, which means I have to pack it around

actually on my back. That wasn't so bad when I bought it 10 or 12

years ago, but I'm getting old. And it is heavy. And there's big

airports and it's just it's very painful sometimes. And I envy

that I think both of you have roller bags. And I know I've

been at airports with you where I'm like, I want one with wheels

so bad. But the upside to my bag is I usually have zero trouble

getting it even in smaller overheads. I also don't have as

much difficulty like getting it in other places that if it had

wheels, it would be impossible to get so I try to look at it

that way. But I my bag itself is a backpack bag. It has three

channels in it that I can compartmentalize the way I want.

And two bodies with lenses fit straight down the center. And

then the outside pockets I've got for my extra body. If I want

to bring in third body than any other lenses, I can pack in

there and I can get a monumental amount of gear in that thing.

And I can also get my laptop in the exact same bag so it has a

special laptop pocket in the front. If it's a small plane, I

have to take my laptop out because it won't fit in the

overhead with the laptop in it. But I can pull my laptop out

then and stick it in the pocket and the airplane and nobody

gripes about it. Because it all went on one bag when it walked

in the door.

What brand is it?

It's a low pro?

A low pro. Okay.

I think you say it low pro. But, yeah, it's a

low pro. I did, like I said I did a ton of research. I

actually went all the way to a PPA convention. I didn't go to

the classes or anything. I had a photo shoot in Baton Rouge,

Louisiana. And they had it in New Orleans that year. So I took

a little side trip to New Orleans had a fun day traipsing

around New Orleans shooting pictures and then I went to the

trade show for one day and my entire goal was to find a camera

bag that I liked. And I shopped that entire PPA convention trade

show for a full day I went through every single bag in

there I went back home to the motel that night did extra

research on is this the one I want? And this is the bag that I

picked. I paid I think close to $300 for it and I did that in

2009. So it's been with me a lot of years. And it has held up

really, really well. I love it because it has a zipper that is

dustproof. So when I zip it all of my camera gear inside of that

zipper does, there's no dust gets in there. I like the fact

that I can get up to a 17 inch laptop in the pocket. So I'm

able to carry a big laptop with me if I want to. It's got all

these little extra spaces for cards and stuff like that. My

only complaint is that I can pack it to be way too heavy for

me to be carrying around on my back. That's the only thing that

bothers me about it is that otherwise then that I can get

all my gear in there. I love taking it when we go out in the

rough and tumble. Phyllis, you have I know you have bag

recommendations because I've seen your equipment and it's awesome.

I'm way too old to be carrying that much

gear on my back all day through an airport, especially if you're

having to run from one plane to another. I'm just I'm too old

for that. Sorry, I highly recommend Pelican cases. But I

also have LoPro that I do stick the Moose Peterson backpack in

so it's a I put a backpack in a rolling bag. I also have

GuraGear, which I love and it is my GuruGear is similar to what

you're saying what you have, because I can put a laptop in

it, I can put lenses on the camera bodies, you know, and

keep them intact inside that GuruGear bag. But it's it's a

really heavy bag when, if I do that. I have a small Tamrac

backpack that I use like if I'm hiking and stuff sometimes.

Christie had a really cool bag on this last trip we were on

it's by K&F concepts and I'm looking into but I mean, I still

have the first bag I ever purchased. I don't get rid of

bags. I think when we're just starting out or even as as we go

through our careers as photographers, we're always

trying to find the perfect bag because like I said, I still

have all my bags and I'm still looking at a new one. So I think

two, my biggest goal is to be comfortable with whatever I'm

carrying on the plane. So that's why I choose to have a rolling

bag, I do have a separate bag that I put my laptop and

everything in and it's also a GuruGear bag, but it's more like

a little it's kind of like a briefcase but it's bigger than a

briefcase so I can actually put my laptop and I can put all the

accessories I can even put a camera body or a lens in there

if I need to. I use it, I put my billfold, I put everything in

there and it goes on top of my my rollin bag so that I can roll

them both I don't have to put anything on my back. You just

have to remember when you're in the airport and you're having to

wait and walk in between flights and are just to get to your

flight you know that bags gonna stay with you at all the time,

even when you go to the bathroom. So just think about

all this and your comfort your comfort needs to be thought

about too and I mean we all dread going to the airport so

let's not make it even worse.

I'm still on the search for the perfect bag.

I have a backpack one that I know will fit everywhere but

then my favorite bag is a rolling bag and it's wonderful

for almost every flight except for when you get stuck on one of

the smaller puddle jumpers that you know you have to get on and

it has given me trouble on those flights so I have a Think Tank

backpack that I really like and I've been looking at some other

Think Tank options but I'm going to check out this Moose Peterson

that you suggested and I've always wanted I've always wanted

a Pelican Case but they're so expensive. And I'm also

wondering do they make one that's small enough that you can

put it in the overhead and it you know that it works for

everything so I need to do a little more research on that. I

still feel like I'm I'm on the search for my gear bag soulmate.

My Pelican Case does go in the overhead,

but it won't go in overhead on a small commuter plane.

Yeah, I've owned a Pelican Case didn't like it.

Well on that negative note Kim...no I'm just

kidding.

I'm just gonna say, I'm gonna say what I said I

owned a Pelican Case. I didn't like it. I ended up and sorry,

Cara, it was before I met you. But I gave it away. I bought it

and then gave it to another photographer. Too bad you

weren't in the room that day because I would have happily

given it to you. It flustered me I didn't like the hard cases. So

I did end up giving it away.

I just think it'd be nice to have something

that if you had to check it at the gate you could you know? And

you would feel a little more confident but yeah, I think I'm

still on the search for sure. And I like you know Phyllis,

this list that you've given us and then the ones that you've

added Kim, I have to do a little more research. I'd love to hear

from some of our listeners though too like what they use

that they love because I am still on the search. So if

there's anyone listening and you guys want to share your favorite

bags that you use for travel, that would be an, it'd be

awesome if you guys want to do that on social media. You can do

it on Instagram or on Facebook at Cowgirls with Cameras. I

personally need some advice on a new bag. The ones I've got are

getting me through but they're not the perfect setup yet for

me.

I think we are all, I mean like I said before,

I think we're always on the search for the perfect bag, even

if we think we have what is working for us at the time. If

we see somebody else that has what we think looks like a

better system, we're always there. I was gonna also add that

I have just recently done a blog post on just this very topic and

pretty much covered everything we talked about what even you

guys added in and everything. It's all in that blog post, if

it was a very recent one a couple of weeks ago, if anybody

wants to check that out, too.

Oh, that's awesome. And you know, what

happens is you do get the perfect bag, and then you end up

buying a new piece of gear, and you're like, crap, now, nothing

fits into my bag the right way, I can't get the new piece of

gear in. And so then you're in this whole new place, again,

where you're having to either reconfigure your bag, find a new

way to pack it, take your lenses off, or put them on whatever

your choice is, you have to like reconfigure everything and find

a new bag. So that has also happened to me this year. And I

think that's part of the reason because I upgraded to a larger

body camera. And so now it doesn't fit the same way that my

old bodies did in the bag. So that's part of the reason I'm on

the hunt again. But this has been awesome. I feel like I've

got a lot of research to do now a new bag options.

I love it. I love it. Okay, so where are we ready

for the challenge for this week?

Take us into the challenge, Kim.

So we've talked all about packing and traveling

with your gear. So our challenge this week is to take a picture

away from your home studio and pack some gear up and go on a

hike or take stuff out with you. Or I know for us we do a lot of

traveling where we pack our gear on the airplane and then we get

to the shoot and we have to pack our gear again to go out to the

different shoots. So pack some gear up, get away from home and

shoot some photos out in the world and share them with us. We

would love to have you share them with us. So share them on

our social media channel and use the #CWCPhotoChallenge.

That's right. I want to see pictures of people

with their gear and their bags so that I can kind of see what

they're using. So,

I would love that.

Yeah. So Phyllis, you're leaving this

weekend. You're the first one of us traveling this week. So you

need to send me a picture of you with your bag or your gear all

together so I can post it on Cowgirls with Cameras. That's

your assignment. I'm pointing at you.

Oh, okay. Okay

I'm pointing at you. Kick us off.

I will try to remember to do that.

I'll send you a text to remind you don't

worry, I'm on it.

Okay. Thank you for that.

Awesome, this is an awesome episode. I hope

that folks are tuning in and enjoying the show. Once again,

hit us up on Facebook or Instagram at Cowgirls with

Cameras. Check out our website Cowgirlswithcameras.com. We do

still have two spaces left in our Cottonwood event that's

coming up do you guys have any other spaces on events that

you've got coming up anytime soon?

We do.

I just checked yesterday and we have two spaces

left for the Art of the Cowgirl summer event and Big Timber

Okay so there are some options out there,

folks are wanting to test out their travel with their gear

they can hop into one of those workshops and get traveling with

their gear to get awesome images somewhere else so yeah, I think

that's it anything else you guys want to add before we get out of

here?

Nope. Just happy shooting.

Alright, safe travels this week, Phyllis. Good

luck getting everything on the airplane.

Good to see y'all!

Don't forget that picture.

Or your memory cards.

Bye, love you guys.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Cowgirls with

Cameras. Don't let the laughter and learning stop here. Join our

community on social media. And be sure to visit our website for

more opportunities to fulfill your photography goals. Head to

Cowgirls with Cameras.com. That's cowgirlswithcameras.com.