In the excitement to go take pictures sometimes we forget things, I know I have. Yes, I have a story about that. I once took a train with family up to Montana to visit Glacier National Park. Well, the park was pretty amazing. We got there late and there was a big fuss about our rooms. We ended up having to change rooms twice and luckily we got an upgrade. But, by the time we got settled in I was too tired to get anything sorted after riding a train 80 hours straight. The next morning I got setup to copy files off my card to my computer so I’d have empty SD cards for the upcoming hike. Well, family members kept distracting me and low and behold, I walked out the door, out to the car, got in the car, drove to a hiking spot, met up with everyone, and went to take a picture and… you guessed it. No memory card was installed. It was still sitting in the SD card reader in my computer back at my hotel room. And my other memory cards? They were sitting in a SD card case by my computer as well.
I ended up borrowing a memory card from another photographer on the hike. It wasn’t the end of the world but it sure felt like it for a second. I actually would have been ok not taking any pictures on the hike because it was such great scenery, but, it seemed kind of pointless to be carrying my gear on a 5 hour hike and not take a single picture.
After that I made it a point to put a couple spare SD cards into my camera bag and just leave them there at all times, only to be used in that rare and terrible instance when I left all my memory cards hours away.
That’s just one tip I have for travelling but here are a few more I’ve learned over the years:
1: Keep memory cards around, lots of them. Don’t be weird about it. If you have extras, stick them in a zipper pocket in your bag, heck, put one in your car’s glovebox, ask a significant other to carry one in a purse pocket or bag. It’s not about having other’s look out for you, it’s about having as many memory cards around as possible. I actually have them stuck in 2 places in my bag just in case I ever use one and forget to put it back. When it comes to memory cards you can’t be too paranoid!
2. Never delete anything on your trip, ever. Travelling can be very tiring, immensely so at times. When people are tired they make mistakes, that’s just how it is. The simple solution is the easiest one to implement… just don’t ever delete anything. Avoid that delete button like the plague.
3. Expanding on point 2, even when a memory card is full, should it be emptied? No. Bring enough memory cards to cover your whole trip and put the full one’s in a case after COPYING the files to your computer or external hard drive. I always am sure to have two copies of all my files on any trip I go on. 1 copy is the original file on the memory card, and the other copy is the file on the computer or external drive.
4. Don’t shoot video unless you’re really serious about video. With today’s cameras its all too easy to start shooting video on a trip since they all do it very well. The reality is, video takes a lot of space. Shooting with my R5 I can easily fill a 1TB card in an hour of video shooting. EASILY. I could fill 10 of them EASILY in a day if shooting 8k or 4k 60. The reality is most people don’t have that kind of storage with them so if you’re only planning to do photography, just do photography. Don’t waste precious space on crappy videos you’ll probably delete anyway.
5. Don’t overdo it on hikes. A big mistake I feel I’ve made on hikes is bringing too much gear with me into the field. It’s ok to bring what you can fit to your hotel, but after that you should try to strategize as much as possible. If you carry too much gear you’ll eventually end up on a hike that seems like it will never end. You’ll be miles from where you started and fantasizing about lying down in a pile of pine needles and just going to sleep. I’ve been there. You might have the strength to finish that hike, but, the next day your body will fight you every step of the way.
That’s about all I can think of right now. If you’re reading this, I hope you found somewhere cool to go take pictures. Good luck!
