This post is part of a series that briefly describe an inspiring expedition to Picos da Europa, Spain, during the Spring of 2015. The complete series follows:
- Picos da Europa national park photo expedition journal
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: T-9 days
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: T-8 days
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: T-7 days
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: T-6 days
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: T-5 days
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: T-3 days
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: T-0 day
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: day 1
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: day 2
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: day 3
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: day 4
- Picos da Europa expedition 2015: day 5
Decisions, decisions…
If you have seen my last post with an image of what is going in the bag, you probably thought something in the line of “WTF!! Get a mule!” 🙂 .
One camera too many?? 🙂
The screening process of what to take, at least for me is a hard one. I don’t want to take anything I won’t use BUT I want to be sure I will take anything I will need, and if it is a critical component, take spares.
There are some things that are quite easy to answer like tripod and… well, coming to think of it, that is the only easy question…
Let’s go over some of them that popped into my mind while deciding what to take:
- Film or no film: I’m a huge fan of film. Not competent enough to own a large format, but I like to think I can occasionally make an interesting medium format capture in 6×7 with my favorite machine: Mamiya RB67 ProS. The destination is a perfect scenario for this kind of media. The problem is… volume and weight. I know someone (Nanã Sousa Dias) that will probably trash my decision in a couple of minutes, but to be honest, I’m not comfortable at this point to just take the medium format and taking DSLR + MF is just too much. Although I know I will be loosing a fantastic opportunity to make unique film captures, not taking the DSLR would put me in a very stressful spot, where the question “what if I screw up and don’t make a single decent image??” would constantly be in my head. Not ready.
- Flash: no thanks. I just don’t use it. I shoot a lot in the dark with (VERY) long exposures and light painting techniques.
- Remote trigger: a must: I can’t shoot without it. Taking a spare one also, just in case the main one breaks down.
- Filters: a must. No spares here.
- Batteries: a must. Take all I can. Night shooting/long exposures eats batteries like crazy.
- Which lens? wide angle: certainly; small telephoto: may be handy; 50mm with 1.8 aperture: its small, light and very fast, so won’t take much space and probably I’ll use it during the night shots
Making these decisions implied some level of commitment with myself, so I could leave the decision at ease and also being able to sleep. Here are some compromises I have assumed:
- Although it is the second time I will be in the area, it will be the first time I will be exploring it. I will be back, again, this time comfortable enough to bring the family
- DSLR will enable me to get good quality images that I can later process into acceptable B&W (I know it is not the same thing, believe me, I KNOW!!) images
- I will be ready to shoot in the rain!
Lets see what tomorrow brings…. 🙂
This post is part of a series that briefly describe an inspiring expedition to Picos da Europa, Spain, during the Spring of 2015. The complete series follows:
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