Equipment list for vehicle based
landscape photography workshops
This page is intended as a suggest equipment and information page for photographers attending the vehicle based tours and workshops that I offer . On these events we’ll be staying at commercially established tourist accommodations like we do on the Canadian Rockies Landscape Photography Tour.
This is valuable information for people already registered for a trip. Please contact me if you have specific questions about your equipment choices for the event, use the contact form or call me directly at 1-403-763-1114.
Or, you can join me on a landscape photography tour or workshop. The next event is a Canadian Landscape photography Workshop. Check it out!
The Canadian Rockies Landscape Photography Tour
Pro Photographers’ Lifestyle Edition suggested equipment list
Suggested Equipment List
Camera Equipment
-One or two camera bodies.
-Extra charged batteries. There is nowhere to charge your batteries at the hut.
-An ultra wide zoom lens.
-A mid range zoom lens.
-A night sky photography lens f/2.8 or faster and 24mm minimum, or wider.
-A polarizing filter for your lens. One for each lens is best, except maybe for your ultra wide zoom lens like the Nikon 14mm-24mm or the Canon 11mm-24mm. You really don’t need a polarizing filter for these two lens.
-A short telephoto zoom lens (70mm-200mm in 35mm format equivalent) if you don’t mind the extra weight, but, this lens isn’t really necessary. The valleys are tight and the mountains are so close to us and high you probably won’t use it. It would be OK to leave this lens behind if you’re worried about the weight of your camera bag.
– Bring your longest lens. It is likely, but not guaranteed, that we’ll find roadside bears to photograph during the event. If we see bears we will stop to photograph them briefly if it is safe to do so. If there is already too many cars stopped on the side of the road we may not stop to photograph them. I need to emphasize that the event is landscape photography, but we’ll probably photography some wildlife along the way too.
-Tripod to be used for night sky photography and maybe macro photography
Clothing
-Hiking boots
-Coat, jacket, sweatshirt
-Gloves
-Hat or toque
-Long pants
-Rain gear
-Shirts (short and long-sleeved)
-Shoes (a pair for hiking and maybe a light pair of shoes for around the hut)
-Extra warm socks x3
-Sunglasses
-Underclothing (poly pro long underwear)
Additional equipment for tours based in rustic accommodations:
Personal
-Band-aids, antiseptic
-Contact lens solution, eye glasses and case (if required)
-Deodorant
-Skin lotion, chapstick
-Sunscreen
-Toothbrush & toothpaste
-Towel, wash cloth, soap
-Tweezers
-“Wet ones” or “baby wipes”
-Miscellaneous items of a personal nature
Cooking, Eating, & General Use
-All cutlery, plates bowls and glasses are suppiled
-Duct tape
-Headlamp or flashlight with fresh batteries
-Plastic zip-lock bags
-Water bottle
Sleeping Equipment
-Sleeping bag
-Earplugs (There is always someone in the group who snores. Come prepared for that)
Download and read Brian’s waiver:
Waiver for BmerryPhotography 2018
**Remember, I will have these waivers printed off for you tomorrow morning. We can’t accept completed waivers you bring from home. **
See you in September!
Notes for the Canadian Rockies “Pro Photographers’ Lifestyle” edition photography tour:
The Weather
The weather is always a wildcard when I start planning trips each year. The weather in the Rockies is forecast to be somewhat variable and warm. This means that we might get rain, or it might be clear. Hummm.
This forecast usually means that the photography of the grand landscape will be not so good, or it may be absolutely spectacular with clearing storms and and brilliant beams of side lighting bursting through the clouds. We won’t know until we pick up the Camera on location…
Make sure that you pack for all different kinds of weather. Since this is a vehicle pased tour you can over pack a bit. It is about a hundred meters from where we’ll be parking our vehicles to where we’ll be staying the night in the dorm style accommodations in the hostels. Be prepared to carry your own gear this distance please. There is bedding at the hostels and you can use their bedding. I encourage you to bring a sleeping bag as well though. Sometimes hostels managers do not allow you to use your own bedding for sanitary reasons. I suggest bringing your sleeping bag and leave it in the car if you don’t need it.
The Food/Kitchen Facilities
The HI hostels that we’ll be staying at have well equipped kitchens with all of the utensils that you’ll need. You won’t need to bring plates, bowls, glasses, cups, etc. Simply bring your food ready to cook and we’ll prepare meals together. We will be eating lunch on the road at restaurants/cafeterias. Bring cash and plastic to purchase your food with if you don’t plan on bring packed lunches. We’ll sit down for lunch together during the tour for about an hour on each day.
Co-Ed dorm style accommodations
The dorms are sometimes mixed gender, so bring appropriate bed clothes that you’ll be comfortable wearing in a mixed gender dorm. Please be respectfully of others in your bed clothes choices and changing in front of people. Most peole change discretely or even under their bed covers.
Clothing
It’s important to dress up warm for the sunrise and sunset landscape photography sessions. I suggest bringing a down jacket and warm layers for these sessions. But, expect the temperature in the afternoon to potentially be very warm. Basically, anything can happen with regards to the forecast. Mountain weather is unpredictable and it’s best to be prepared.
The Hiking
We will be doing minimal hiking during this event. Most of our walking will be around roadside pullouts, But we will be doing some hiking up to about 1 KM. For example, if the weather dictates that a photo session at Peyto lake is appropriate we will be hiking up the short ~800m paved trail up to Peyto Lake lookout
Stay comfortable
Staying warm and comfortable is important for maximizing the quality of your outdoor photography. If you’re cold then your creativity tends goes out the window as you struggle to keep warm. When you’re warm and comfortable then you tend to enjoy the beautiful scenery more and you can feel the landscape better as you create your compositions.
To that end, one of my most important pieces of photography equipment for shooting sunrises in the mountains is my down jacket. That’s no joke either. When the temperature is close to freezing I just slip on my medium weight down jacket and I’m instantly warm. Once I’m warm I can concentrate fully on my creativity. If you don’t own a down jacket, then I would suggest that you buy one this week at Mountain Equipment Coop, Coast Mountain Sports or a similar outdoor sports store. You can expect to pay about $200+ for a good light to medium weight down jacket. It will be worth the money and down packs easily into your backpack when you don’t need it.
Camera Gear
As far as camera gear goes I want to make sure everyone brings their widest zoom lens. A 24mm lens (on full frame cameras) isn’t wide enough. A wide angle zoom in the 17mm-35mm range (full frame) or 12mm-24mm (cropped sensor) is ideal. We are very close to the mountains in Lake O’Hara it will be impossible to squeeze everything into your frame with a standard wide angle lens. If you’ve been holding off on buying an ultra-wide zoom lens then now would be the time to buy it.
You should also bring a tripod, a medium range zoom lens (24~70mm) and a macro/close-up lens. You can bring your short telephoto zoom lens too in the 70-200mm range (35mm equivalent) but it would also be OK to leave that one home. That lens isn’t necessary in Lake O’Hara. However, if you don’t mind the weight I would bring that one too. A 18”-24” pocket reflector is a good idea too for close-up photography. If you have longer telephoto lenses then I would suggest that you consider leaving them home. You probably won’t use it very much and the weight of a long telephoto lens will be a bit of a burden to pack around lake O’Hara.
One more thing. A flash is something I always carry in my landscape backpack. Yes, I said a flash for landscape photography. A remote flash sync cord is useful too. I’ll show you why flash is important in landscape photography when we’re up there if you’re interested.
Night Sky/Blue Hour Photography
If you have an intervalometer you should bring that too. That will be useful during the night sky photography tutorial we’ll have,. This tutorial is weather dependant. My goal with this tutorial is to help you to learn the skill for night sky photography and help you to capture an image(s) for you to refer to later on your computer at home. The optional 30 minute or so night sky/blue hour tutorial will happen after it gets dark around 11pm.
Summary
You can see that there is a lot planned for you this weekend. The main objective is to bring you to some of the most beautiful landscapes the Canadian Rockies has to offer. And, I’ll also be coaching you on how to plan your own self directed multi-day trips for yourself, and for your own professional workshops and tours. Once at these locations we’ll help you take your photos of them. We’ll do this, and more.
The Canadian Rockies are a beautiful World class destination! I’ll see everyone soon!
Sincerely yours,
Brian Merry
Suggested Equipment List
Camera Equipment
-One or two camera bodies.
-Extra charged batteries. There is nowhere to charge your batteries at the hut.
-An ultra wide zoom lens.
-A mid range zoom lens.
-A night sky photography lens f/2.8 or faster and 24mm minimum, or wider.
-A polarizing filter for your lens. One for each lens is best, except maybe for your ultra wide zoom lens like the Nikon 14mm-24mm or the Canon 11mm-24mm. You really don’t need a polarizing filter for these two lens.
-You can bring a short telephoto zoom lens (70mm-200mm in 35mm format equivalent) if you don’t mind the extra weight, but, this lens isn’t really necessary. The valleys are tight and the mountains are so close to us and high you probably won’t use it. It would be OK to leave this lens behind if you’re worried about the weight of your camera bag.
-Tripod to be used for night sky photography and maybe macro photography
Clothing
-Hiking boots
-Coat, jacket, sweatshirt
-Gloves
-Hat or toque
-Long pants
-Rain gear
-Shirts (short and long-sleeved)
-Shoes (a pair for hiking and maybe a light pair of shoes for around the hut)
-Extra warm socks x3
-Sunglasses
-Underclothing (poly pro long underwear)
Personal
-Aspirin, band-aids, antiseptic
-Contact lens solution, eye glasses and case (if required)
-Deodorant
-Skin lotion, chapstick
-Sunscreen
-Toothbrush & toothpaste
-Towel, wash cloth, soap
-Tweezers
-“Wet ones” or “baby wipes”
-Miscellaneous items of a personal nature
Cooking, Eating, & General Use
-All cutlery, plates bowls and glasses are suppiled
-Duct tape
-Headlamp or flashlight with fresh batteries
-Plastic zip-lock bags
-Water bottle
Sleeping Equipment
-Sleeping bag
-Earplugs (There is always someone in the group who snores. Come prepared for that)
You must be logged in to post a comment.