Inches & Ounces

I tried hard, I really did!  (To minimize what I packed, that is.)  But it was especially challenging considering that since this is primarily a photographic excursion, I wanted to take a considerable amount of photo gear — including a large, heavy tripod — and that I would be living out of a campervan (and therefore wanted to pack a few essentials, like a small container cooking oil, couple spices, garbage bags, etc., to avoid buying these there).  In the end, and after several repacks to eliminate non-critical items, it literally came down to a matter of inches and ounces to stay within Icelandair’s baggage/carry-on restrictions and avoid paying extra baggage fees.  Even then, I will have a fairly large checked bag, a decent-sized carry-on, and a small backpack which is crammed tight with my camera bodies and lenses.  So, transporting all this stuff from the airport, to a bus, to a taxi, and finally to the van rental company (and vice versa on the back end) will be an adventure in itself!

Since as I mentioned above this is primarily a photo trip, at least three-quarters of the baggage (both in terms of volume and weight) is comprised of cameras, lenses, camera accessories, a tripod and other photo related items (such as a laptop for image storage and editing).  The photo below gives you an idea of the photo gear that I am taking.*

Like most photographers going to a location for the first time, it’s hard to decide what to take and not to take since you don't know exactly what you will encounter ("You know, I just might need that lens!").  I easily could have taken more, but I really had to settle on what I was most likely to use and absolutely couldn’t live without.  But, no doubt there will be some lens or accessory that I will rarely use and could have left behind.  There's always next time!  :-)

Well, I could go on, but that's enough for now.  This is my final blog entry before boarding the plane, which as of this writing leaves in less than 8 hours.  (For those of you who are curious, I am on a direct flight out of Cleveland of all places.  The flight is approximately 6 hours in duration, and since Iceland is 4 hours ahead of us, I will land about 6:20 am.) 

Take care everybody.   See you on other side!

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*For you camera gear heads, here is a listing of the major pieces of equipment:

• Nikon Df body
• Nikon D700 body (I bought this used to serve as a backup to the Df)
• Extra batteries, chargers and memory cards
• Rokinon 14mm f2.8 
• Nikkor 16mm f2.8 full-frame fisheye (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Tokina 17mm f3.5 
• Nikkor 20mm f3.5 (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Nikkor 24mm f2.8 (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Nikkor 35mm f2.8 (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Nikkor 24-85mm f3.5-4.5
• Nikkor 100-300mm f5.6 (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Nikkor 2X teleconverter 
• Minolta spotmeter
• Haida 100mm x 100mm ND and graduated filters
• Various other filters and accessories
• Manfrotto 055XProB tripod with Manfrotto 498RC2 midi Ball-head and homemade leg spikes (for setting up on sand)
• LowePro Trekker 350 AW backpack
• Tenba Discovery backpack (why two camera backpacks?  First, my main backpack exceeds the size limits for a carry-on bag, so I had to put the cameras and lenses only into a smaller bag.  Second, there may be situations where a smaller backpack is easier and more convenient to carry.)