Destination Wedding Photography - Tips on Traveling

Hey all! It's time for another installment of tips and tricks :) Andrea Dozier asked me to chat a little bit about how I travel for weddings.  Thanks for reading Andrea!

This past season, I travelled for nearly half of my weddings and, since I had a brand new nursing baby, that meant he came along as well.  It was definitely a challenge (and I thank my lucky stars that Doug was able to come along and help with the baby).  But after a full season of juggling the baby, my equipment and the never-ending pile of work back home, I have a pretty good system/

Firstly, when it comes to equipment, I travel LIGHT.  I take two bodies (one to shoot with and one for back-up) and a nice range of lenses, usually a 28mm, a 45 TS-E, a 24-105 (for groups), a 50 1.2 and my 70-200 f/2.8.  I also bring two 580 EX Speedlights and my battery chargers.  That's it.

Everything goes in the Tamarac 5263 CyberPro Express case, which also holds my MacBook Pro.  I am a firm believe that you should NEVER check your equipment.  Between loss, theft and damage, there are just too many risks with checking your cameras.  So, I take this bag as my carry-on, which just barely fits in the overhead bin (and good luck actually lifting it in to the bin! Ladies, I recommend a short skirt and big smile on travel day ;) )

If you're lucky (and crazy!) enough to travel with a little one I highly recommend the Ergo Baby Carrier.  Yes, it's ugly and would go dandily with a pair of Birkenstocks, but it is THE best way to carry a baby through an airport. With the Ergo, I can wear Max and drag my equipment behind me. Wear sparkly earrings (ladies) or a fancy bowtie (men) and your baby will be happy as a clam.

Secondly, I like to stay connected while I travel.  One unforeseen cost of doing a lot of destination weddings is that you are missing out on office time.  The emails pile up, the voicemails start rolling in and you have no way to connect with your clients.  Next thing you know, you are a week behind and it's time to get on another plane.  I take my laptop and my iPhone with me whenever I travel.

The laptop is great for checking emails, entertaining baby on the plane and for backing up your cards at the end of a shoot. If you're feeling particularly ambitious you can even drag it to the reception and show a same-day slideshow (although be careful, as guests are likely to fall in love and then it's back on a plane to shoot their wedding!)

I especially love the iPhone for traveling.  Aside from all the usual features like voicemail and email, it has GPS, which has served invaluable when I show up in a new city and have no idea where I am going.  And, when driving in those ever-so-creepy cabs all by myself, I've been known to obsessively follow my route to the hotel, just in case the Cabbie plans to dump me off in some ditch somewhere (I wish I was kidding right now....)  The iPhone also serves as an excellent chew toy for teething babies and, in a pinch, you can play Rockabye Baby tunes for the little one.

Some other things that keep me sane while traveling (in no particular order) -
-Virgin America (they are THE best in terms of service AND they have TVs, which make for happy babies)
-The Bumbleride Flyer Stroller (all the features of a big stroller, but it folds up small; plus, it comes in awesome colors!)
- The Bubbles App for the iPhone (fun for kids AND adults)
- The Shootsac (great lens bag and it folds flat in your luggage!)

So, there you have it! Tips and tricks for surviving destination weddings! 

Don't forget to leave any questions or ideas for future posts in the comment box below!

delightfully,
Chenin

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