Preparing For A Long Road Trip 2016; Part I

Route 66, Cool Springs, Arizona (click to enlarge)
Nikon D800E, Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 40mm; 1/1600th sec. @ f/10; ISO 400

Its that time of the year again.  Time to set out for some travel.  ROAD TRIP!  I prefer not traveling in the summer months as there are too many people on the roads, too many people in the national parks, too many people visiting attractions and the weather is too hot in most places for me to spend a significant amount of time outside enjoying myself. Fewer people, less congestion, better weather and no stress traveling.  That seems to be an optimum formula for me nowadays.  I must be becoming a curmudgeon.  It all goes with retirement and getting older, I guess.  Next thing you know I'll be shouting, "Hey you kids—get off my lawn!"  LOL

I have written in the past what I do to prepare for a road trip, but I'll repeat much of it over the next few posts for the benefit of new readers.  I take traveling seriously and like to make the most of my time and efforts, so as with most things about my life, I prepare extensively.  I prepare through researching where I may be going as well as prepare as to what gear I anticipate I will need to take.  My general travel philosophy over the past several years has been less is more—smaller, lighter, maintain versatility while preserving excellent image quality and, most importantly, having fun!

If you are an enthusiast photographer, or just want to record your road trip for good memories, how does one prepare?  Before you even leave, how do you go about ensuring you have everything you need to successfully find, create and bring back the images that may be the only tangible items of a once-in-a-lifetime trip?  How do you avoid disaster or disappointment?

As soon as I decide I will be taking a road trip, the future journey starts rolling and rolling through my mind.  This is a subconscious process, it just starts happening.  I suppose it is from a lifetime of being a planner-type of person.  I don't do much that is last minute or which is not thoroughly thought through.  In other words, I'm not too much of a spontaneous individual.  Even weeks before I go, I start thinking about all aspects of the trip, especially photographically.  So the process starts.  Hopefully, it ends with a great trip and wonderful memories as well as great images.

Preparation is key.  I'm not talking about preparing the night before.  I'm talking about preparing earlier rather than later--weeks, even.  I've learned some lessons on not being as prepared as I had thought I was.

The end game is to bring back good images (memories), for our lives are a succession of personal stories which we want to remember as well as tell our family and friends.  Photographs help us remember and recount those stories as well as give a visual representation of events.  Also, I want to be able to travel as light and quickly as possible but take enough equipment to cover the majority of opportunities as well as not miss key images (I don't try to make sure I can capture every photographic opportunity that arises, just the vast majority of them)--and, with whole process being stress free!  Good luck!

To photographically prepare for an upcoming road trip, here is what I think about.

First, I ask myself a very basic question.  What is the primary purpose of the trip?  Is the primary purpose making photographs or traveling with family or friends with the making photographs secondary to the experience?  Answering that question puts me on one of two paths because the goals of those two types of trips are much different.

I then ask myself a series of preliminary questions:

What are my photographic goals for this trip?
What will be my photographic style be for this trip?  (all handheld, time for tripod work, anticipating any night photography, up before sunrise, etc.)
How long will I be gone?
How much time will I have to photograph?
How will I feel if something goes wrong and I lose the photos through my own negligence or some external force?
Do I need to take a laptop to edit images while gone?  Do I intend to post on this blog?
Have I researched the areas I will be traveling to know what opportunities I will encounter?
When, generally, is sunrise and sunset each day for where I'll be traveling?
What weather and humidity can be expected?
How will I travel?  By air, train, car?
What other considerations do I need to be aware, such as the number of bags, luggage, size, weight that might restrict what I can take?
Is there anything I need to do before I go such as getting a permit or are there any restrictions on photography (usually with large DSLRs only) in the places I might visit?

More later on this topic.  Again, my general photographic travel philosophy is going lighter, faster and taking less is better.  I cannot tell you how many trips I have taken and not used most of the gear I carried.  My advice is don't try to anticipate everything.  Don't take equipment and prepare for EVERY possible photograph that may present itself to you.  Its okay to miss some.  Its okay just to enjoy a scene and let the experience etch into your memory unencumbered by trying to make photographs.  You don't have to bring the kitchen sink just in case.  If you research properly, you should already know what you may list as the highlights of the areas you plan to visit.

I love exploratory travel, wandering, especially road trips.  I try to fully enjoy the trip while setting time aside for making some good images.  The process can be as easy or as stressful as you like.  I like easy.

More in my next post.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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