Traveling in general you have to be prepared, don't forget the extra underwear, your tooth brush or toothpaste! So when you have to make your business mobile it's worth your while to make sure you are prepared to travel. If you forget something, kind of defeats the whole purpose of you going out in the first place. I put together a bit of a check list to help keep things in order for my fellow photographer.
0. Make a list of what you need and want to take. This will completely cut down forgetting something by like 95 percent. This only works as long as you don't forget to put something on the list. Other than that, it's organized and allows you to be side tracked and not forget what you where packing when you come back to it.
1. Pack your clothes and your equipment separately. Doesn't matter which you start off with first but if you handle your clothes and personal items first and then your work equipment you will have a lot less confusion and you are less likely to forget something.
2. Make sure you have correct packing equipment for your work equipment. If you have tripods and light equipment you want to make sure it either all fits or you have a safe way to travel with it. You don't want to forget anything, you don't want to lose anything and you don't want to break anything. Too many bags you might risk losing in the process of travel and delay your work. You don't want things to break, that just sucks all around and too many packages might even cause you to forget something. Never a fun feeling. If you are packing light a suitcase might just do fine. It's one thing to check, supposed to a bunch. It's as secure as you make it. If you think you can fit it all into a carry on, you might be deceiving yourself. Unless you are taking hardly anything at all, it might work. That leads me to my next point.
3. Try to travel light. Now with bigger jobs, that might not be an option. But for simple easy work that you are more familiar with like an artist portrait or a wedding, try to be light. I was able to keep my flash kit with my clothes and it all fit just nicely. I didn't need to take extra reflectors or this or that. Just a flash kit, two lenses and a camera. I can see taking a spare camera but not much more. Granted this was for an out door wedding so light wasn't much of a concern to me. Another thing this helps with is most likely you are traveling alone. Carrying 5 bags by yourself can never really bring pleasure or joy, at least not for me.
4. If you are traveling by car it's very important that you don't keep your camera equipment, such as your camera and lenses, in your trunk. It's not a well ventilated space and the heat or cold might ruin your electronics. If you are taking a film camera to the airport be sure to let the TSA security know. Letting your film go through the x-ray machine could ruin your film. Your digital camera will be fine. If you DO NOT want your equipment to run through the machine request a bag check. Tell them you don't mind your bag to be checked but since it's thousands of dollars worth of equipment you rather be the one to handle the equipment. This might not always work but you can always ask them to treat your equipment with care.
As far as I have experienced these tips have helped me a great deal. If you have any further tips, please feel free to leave it in the comment section below!
