September 4, 2023 • 15 mins
Hey, it's Robert Massey, and I'm back with another episode of the Travel and Adventure Photography School podcast.
Today, I'm sharing the five essential non-photography items that always find a place in my camera bag. We're talking about portable battery banks, cleaning kits, versatile light sources, snacks, and raincoats. I'll explain why these essentials are game-changers and how they can elevate your photography adventures.
Tune in and get ready to pack like a pro!
Join us bi-weekly as we explore the world through the lens, uncovering hidden gems, and sharing insider tips to elevate your photography game. From capturing breathtaking landscapes to immersive cultural portraits, each episode is packed with practical hacks, creative ideas, and inspiring stories to fuel your wanderlust and unleash your creative potential.
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Find all the show notes and connect with Robert:
Website: robertmasseyphotography.ca
Instagram: @robertmasseyphotography
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Robert (00:00):
How's it going everybody?
(00:02):
Welcome back to another episodeof the podcast.
I'm Robert Massey.
This is the Travel and AdventurePhotography School.
Thank you so much for joining meout here today.
Super excited to be here withyou.
This week was an interesting oneto try and find time to record.
Admittedly, brought the micswith me on a few different
adventures.
Some kayaking, some hiking, someAurora shooting last night, and
(00:22):
honestly, every time I was outthere I got totally distracted
that I totally forgot to recordanything.
So instead you get a little walkaround town where I am a little
less distracted and a little bitmore focused, and hopefully
gonna be able to give yousomething better than random
ramblings.
So, we're currently walking onsome little side streets in
Banff up towards the BanffCenter.
(00:44):
It's gonna be a good little walktoday.
So what I wanna talk about issomething I realized last night
when I was heading out to shootthe Aurora, and it's five things
that I always keep in myphotography bag when I'm heading
out shooting that aren'tactually related directly to
photography.
Most of us have the gear that weknow we need to have with us
when we're shooting.
(01:05):
If we need filters, if we need atripod, anything like that.
We know the photographyaccessories that we need to go
out and create the photos thatwe want to create.
What this is, is things that Itend to always have in my bag
regardless of what type ofphotography I'm doing.
That's because these arecritical needs for creating
pretty much any good photo.
But also just making sure that Ican actually go out and continue
(01:26):
to create what I need to, nomatter what the situation is
that I run into.
Alright, so it's a list of five.
The first thing that ends up inmy bag is my portable battery
bank.
This is basically a largecharger that allows me to
recharge my camera on the go,allows me to recharge my
headlamp my phone or anythingelse, I need to.
I made sure to get one that hada USB-C port in it and a USB-A
(01:48):
port, so I could chargebasically any devices I need to.
But the USB-C port was reallycritical to be able to charge my
Sony camera at a high rate so Icould keep my camera going a
little bit longer, leave itsitting for 20 minutes, get a
little bit of extra juice out ofit if the batteries die, or if
all my extras die.
I haven't had that happen, butit's nice to know that I can
(02:09):
make that happen if I need to,and that I can recharge my
batteries, if somethingunforeseen happens, I have
another backup in caseanything's there and I'm not
missing my opportunities toshoot.
So one of the things that youmake sure that you want to
include when you're purchasing abattery pack is to make sure
that it's strong enough toactually charge your camera.
So what this means is the littletiny stick ones that you get
(02:31):
that can charge your phone mightnot be powerful enough to
actually give your camera enoughof a boost to keep it going.
So when you're choosing whichone to buy, just make sure that
you get one that's got enoughumph to it that you'll be able
to charge your camera and do itrelatively quickly.
If you have one that's a prettylow amperage, you won't actually
be able to easily charge yourcamera, easily charge your
devices while you're out on thego.
It'll go too slow.
It won't actually allow you tocharge things very quickly.
(02:53):
And then the other thing thatyou wanna make sure that you
watch out for is that it has theUSB-A, USB-C ports.
It has the right ports that youcan actually charge your camera
with.
So make sure that you areactually going to be able to
plug it in.
I would suggest right now,always go for USB-C.
USB-C to USB-C is going to be byfar the fastest charge that you
can get with what we haveaccessible to us on the consumer
market.
(03:13):
So, check out for those thingsand always just throw it in your
bag.
Remember to charge it up whenyou get home and you're charging
your batteries, toss it back inand you're good to go.
All right.
The second thing that alwaysends up in my bag, and this
might be common for a lot ofpeople, but if you shoot in a
studio setting or anything likethat, this actually might not be
something you think of, but whenyou're out traveling and you're
out adventuring, having acleaning kit, just a little tiny
one can make all the differencein the world.
(03:36):
So I don't mean bring along likethe massive rocket blower and
all of your pieces of cleaningequipment that you would have
sitting around your house orthat you should have sitting
around your house to clean yourcamera.
What I mean is a lens cleancloth, preferably two in case
one of them gets wet or verydirty if you've dropped it in
mud or something like that.
They're very small.
They're very light.
Always have two of these thingson hand.
I think I have them tucked intomost of the pockets in most of
(03:58):
my bags'cause I have so many ofthem at this point.
So I always have a lens cleancloth with me.
You wanna make sure that youhave some way to blow dust and
dirt off of the front of yourlens as well.
So just a little tiny rocketblower is really helpful as
well.
And maybe a little bit of lenscleaner if you end up getting
spots.
That won't come off if you're,say, shooting in the rain,
shooting near a waterfall oranything like that, where mud or
(04:20):
water can come up and grime thefront of your lens.
So not a big kit that you wouldneed to have with you but can be
so impactful to your images.
You can almost always cleanthose kinds of things out in
post, but man, can they getannoying and irritating and
really suck in your time whileyou're editing.
If you don't clean them up rightthen and there, if you don't get
it right in camera, you're endup sitting in front of a
(04:41):
computer for a lot longer thanmost of us probably want to.
And that being said, sometimesyou can't clean those water
spots out.
If you end up with one directlyover top of your person's face
and you don't have another angleto be able to do a face
replacement, or it ends up goingover exactly the wrong spot in
the image and it could actuallyruin your photo.
So just keep an eye on the frontof your lens and always have a
(05:02):
cleaning kit with you.
Mine is super small.
It takes up maybe a pound in mybag and smaller than a credit
card.
So if you can have that withyou, fabulous.
If you know you're gonna bechanging lenses a lot and you
know you're gonna be in asituation where there's lots of
dust blowing around, lots ofother things, kind of possibly
contaminating your sensor thenyou might wanna consider having
some sensor cleaner with you aswell.
(05:23):
So the issue with that, youobviously can't clean your
sensor while you're outside.
So if you have somewhere thatyou can go, that's not gonna be
blowing dust around then havingsomething like that with you is
a great idea.
I didn't really find this to bea problem when I was shooting on
Cannon, but now that I shoot onSony a lot more.
It's a problem.
Sony sensors are giant, sucksfor dirt.
They suck in dirt all over theplace, and I just, I don't know
what's going on with them.
(05:44):
They're beautiful sensors, butman, they get dirtier far faster
than any other sensor I've everseen.
So, if you're a Sony shooter,this actually might be way more
important to have something withyou where you can sneak off
somewhere and clean that sensorwhen it does get really dirty,
because that seems inevitablenow with the way that Sony's
cameras work.
All right, so point number two,bring a cleaning kit with you.
It doesn't really change much ofthe weight of your bag, and
(06:06):
honestly, it makes a hugedifference to your images.
All righty.
Number three.
We're just plowing through thesetoday.
It's a light source, so thelight source definitely changes,
but I always have a light sourcein my bag.
It doesn't matter if I'm headedout at noon and I'm shooting
until like three o'clock in theafternoon.
I always have a light sourcewith me.
That's because they canmassively influence an image
(06:27):
just by painting a little bit,something extra onto somebody's
face or adding a little bit oflight to a piece of scenery.
Just adding that little bit ofsomething extra to light up your
scene can actually make a huge,huge difference to making your
image just pop.
The type of light I bring withme does change quite frequently,
but it's always there.
Let's take last night forexample.
(06:48):
I was out, we were shooting theAurora till about three in the
morning.
It was fabulous and before Ileft, I made sure to throw in my
RGB LED tube.
This is a multicolor, basicallytube of LEDs that is about 20
inches, 50 centimeters long thatI can easily tuck into a
backpack, but it's bright enoughthat I can use it to add a
(07:08):
little bit of lighting onsomeone's face if it's midday,
or I can use it to paint in alittle bit at night or add a
really cool glowing effect.
I can also change it intobasically any color I want.
So it's this super versatilepiece of kit that is actually,
honestly, fairly cheap.
Cost me about, I think it was 60bucks Canadian, 70 bucks
Canadian to buy one, and itcharges on the same U S B C
(07:29):
port, so I can just plug it backinto my battery bank when I need
to charge on it.
And it works great.
I threw in there last night whenI was out shooting the Aurora.
I didn't actually need to useit, didn't see a point for when
I wanted to, but it's great tohave that additional, pretty
bright, pretty nice lightsource.
And the other light source Ithrew in my bag last night was
the constant, my headlamp with ared light on it.
So I obviously always have myheadlamp with a red light for
(07:51):
shooting at night.
So I don't affect my nightvision too badly.
I know the camera does do thatwhen but at least when I'm kind
of standing around not lookingat the screen, my eyes can
adjust a little.
I'm not totally throwing themoutta whack.
But that headlamp is beautiful.
I made sure to get one that hada spot function on it so that
when I wanted to create thosehead, looking up with the
spotlight going off your head inthe middle of the night kind of
(08:11):
photos, I had that available tome without having to do a lot of
extra work in post.
You'll find I am a huge believerin not having to do extra work
in post if you don't have to.
If you can get it right incamera and then just do the very
minimal tweaks and very minimalediting, then you get to be
outside more.
You get to be adventuring more.
You're not wasting your lifebehind a computer.
So adding light now rather thanhaving to do it after the fact
(08:33):
is huge, and it makes a hugedifference to the amount of work
that you're going to have to do.
All right.
Other light sources that Itypically throw in my bag, just
depending on what I'm doing andwhere I'm going.
I have some magnetic Lume Cubesthat are daytime temperature
that I can stick onto things.
They're fully waterproof, so Ican attach'em inside of canoes
and boats and have them in thewater with me.
They're not bright enough tocounter-act the sun or add fill
(08:53):
light during sunny days.
But what it does do is allow meto paint in a little bit light
on people's faces or tuck it upunderneath of somebody's body
while shooting at night or setit up against a piece of ice or
anything like that.
Just add a little bit ofinformation and add a little bit
of detail.
Lume cubes are fabulous becauseof the fact that a lot of them
are waterproof.
You can actually do a lot morefun things with them, especially
(09:14):
in the winter, by like tuckingthem into snow banks and
illuminating certain features.
And then at Blue Hour or atsunset, using them to illuminate
pieces of your foreground thatyou want, to add a little bit of
depth and dynamics to yourimage.
All right.
And the fourth one we won'tspend a lot of time here is
snacks.
I never leave the house with mybag, not having snacks in it.
(09:35):
It's basically a necessity forme to keep shooting, whether I'm
out on a shoot with somebody orI'm shooting on my own.
Snacks are a must.
What I bring depends on who I'mwith and what I'm doing and all
that kind of stuff, butdefinitely always have them in
there and I always make sure tohave one that will allow me to
rebuild my electrolytes if we'reexpecting to do something that's
really active and reallypushing.
So honey stingers or cliffblocks or anything like that are
(09:56):
great especially when you'reshooting because rebuilding your
electrolytes are basicallycritical to keeping you going,
keeping you able to think andmove at a high rate of speed.
And then some sort of highcalorie, highly dense, something
that's also very tasty.
So I'll actually want to eat it.
So Hornby Bar or cliff bars tendto be my go-tos for on-the-go
quick and portable snacks.
I also obviously always bringfruit, veggies, things like
(10:19):
that.
And then if I'm out shootingwith kids and I know them and I
know the parents won't mind, Iactually typically bring some
healthy candy.
Healthy being a relative term,obviously because it's candy,
but we always make sure toinclude something like that so
that we can keep the kids goingand give them high, high amounts
of sugar.
You'd be amazed how often I wantto stop being somewhere or I
(10:40):
want to be out, or I want tostop shooting or go home, or I
start to get grumpy and mycreativity just starts of fall
and.
Then I have a snack and life'sbetter again and life's good and
I want to keep going and I wannakeep shooting.
So yeah, snacks can, snacks cansave your shoot.
So don't forget them, don'tneglect them.
They go right hand in hand withwater, obviously.
Whatever your snack is ofchoice, whatever is gonna perk
(11:02):
you up and keep you going andgive you brain energy, not just
energy, where you're gonna bebouncing off the walls.
We don't want the person who'shad eight cups of coffee
bouncing all over the place,unable to focus kind of energy.
We want something that engagesyour brain, gets your creativity
running, gets you up and going,and if you don't know what that
snack is for you do some work.
(11:22):
It's made a huge difference forme to understand how my brain
responds to different foods andwhat foods actually give me the
right kind of energy to becreative in certain situations.
All right, and the last thingthat goes into my bag, this
isn't always there, but I wouldsay it's in there 75% of the
time is some sort of raincoat.
I have two different types ofraincoats, so which one makes it
(11:43):
in, tends to be about thesituation that I'm heading into
or what it is that I'm going tobe shooting in, so I have one
that's pretty lightweight,really not meant to survive much
more than a decent rain showeror protect it from more like mud
and things like that.
I purchased it for when I wasout shooting rodeos and I needed
something fast, light, and easyto put on, take off and keep on
(12:04):
my camera and clean it offreally quickly when it did get
soaked in mud.
And then I also have a much moreheavy duty one that almost
protects the camera from littlenicks and scratches as well.
It's a little bit more rubberbased and definitely protects
the camera a little bit morefrom not just torrential
downpour rain, but all sorts ofdifferent types of weathering
conditions.
If I'm out shooting in the snowor I'm expecting heavy rain or
blizzard, then that's actuallythe one I pull on because I can
(12:27):
leave it on when I have mycamera on a clip, and then if I
do fall over into a snowbank,hopefully I don't, it has a
better chance of protecting thecamera from that fall than the
little plastic one that I have.
I almost always have some sortof rain gear for my camera
whenever I'm out shooting.
And that's just because youdon't know what the weather's
gonna do.
You don't know the situationthat you're gonna end up in.
You don't know anything alongthose lines of what might be
(12:49):
presented in front of you.
So, if you have a rain cover foryour camera, then you're always
gonna have it protected.
I get that our gear is verydurable.
It's very weather resistant.
I don't really have too manyconcerns about having my camera
out briefly in the rain orbriefly getting snowy on it or
anything like that.
But why take that risk if youdon't need to?
You can easily purchase a 15,$20little something that works and
(13:11):
protect that, multiple thousandsof dollars piece of equipment.
One of the last things that I'mgonna talk about here, a little
bonus piece, is actuallysomething that does live in my
bag all the time, but, I need toremember to take out of it,
especially if I'm headed intothe city, getting on an airplane
and that's my bear spray.
I have one that lives on theshoulder strap on my camera bag.
It never leaves it.
(13:32):
I always have it on there so Idon't even have to think about
it before they leave the houseand wandering around Banff not
unusual to have bear spray onyou.
Wandering around Calgary.
That's illegal.
Wondering in a lot of citiesthat's illegal.
You can't have bear spray onyou.
Try and get onto an airplanewith bear spray, that's not
gonna happen.
And so I always make sure tothink about where I'm headed and
pop the bear spray off if I'mheading into the city to shoot
(13:54):
or if I'm, you know, getting onan airplane somewhere.
But it's something I have tothink about because it does live
in my bag.
But depending on where you live,that's not gonna be a good idea
to keep it in your camera bagall the time.
Now, if you live in amountainous region, if you live
somewhere where bears frequent,and it's pretty common for
people to have bear spray onthem, of course it's not illegal
to have bear spray on them.
Keep it on your bag.
I think it is an incrediblyhelpful device to have.
(14:16):
I thankfully have never had touse it.
I've pulled it out many, manytimes, but every bear I've
encountered has been lovely andnice, and I've never had an
issue.
But you definitely could have anissue very quickly, and it's one
of those minor things that.
That's easy to carry around andgreat to have when you
desperately need it, it couldsave your life.
So yeah, keep your bear spray inyour bag permanently if you live
(14:36):
in a situation where you needthat, kinda like a place like
Banff or Canmore or Jasper.
But if you live in a city or ifyou, if frequently go through
airports or anything like that,remember to take it outta your
bag so you don't get yourselfinto a lot of trouble with
various different authorities.
Or so you don't have to throwout that$50 can of bear spray,
which oh, would be heartbreakingto have to do if you showed up
(14:58):
at the airport with it andforgot you had it in your bag.
Alrightyy.
And that's it.
That's my quick and dirty.
This is what I have in my camerabag with me at all times that
aren't photography accessories.
Because these are kind ofcritical things that can keep
you going on a shoot that cankeep you actually being able to
produce images and incrediblycritical if you're out on a paid
production.
If we're out screwing around andcreating images for ourselves.
(15:19):
It's sad when we have to turn ithome, but not super detrimental.
We can always go back out andit's kind of just on us, but if
we're being paid by clients orif we are being expected to
complete something, having theselittle extra things in there can
elevate the chances of your daygoing well, and the more often
you can do that, the betterchances are that your shoot's
gonna go well.
The better images you're gonnaproduce and the better off
(15:41):
you're gonna be.
Thanks so much for tuning intoday.
If you want to chat, if youwanna send me any ideas or
questions that you have, you canreach out to me on Instagram at
Robert Massey Photography, oryou can find us online at
robertmasseyphotography.ca.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
Get out there, explore this big,beautiful, wonderful world of
ours.
Bye for now.
How's it going everybody?
(00:02):
Welcome back to another episodeof the podcast.
I'm Robert Massey.
This is the Travel and AdventurePhotography School.
Thank you so much for joining meout here today.
Super excited to be here withyou.
This week was an interesting oneto try and find time to record.
Admittedly, brought the micswith me on a few different
adventures.
Some kayaking, some hiking, someAurora shooting last night, and
(00:22):
honestly, every time I was outthere I got totally distracted
that I totally forgot to recordanything.
So instead you get a little walkaround town where I am a little
less distracted and a little bitmore focused, and hopefully
gonna be able to give yousomething better than random
ramblings.
So, we're currently walking onsome little side streets in
Banff up towards the BanffCenter.
(00:44):
It's gonna be a good little walktoday.
So what I wanna talk about issomething I realized last night
when I was heading out to shootthe Aurora, and it's five things
that I always keep in myphotography bag when I'm heading
out shooting that aren'tactually related directly to
photography.
Most of us have the gear that weknow we need to have with us
when we're shooting.
(01:05):
If we need filters, if we need atripod, anything like that.
We know the photographyaccessories that we need to go
out and create the photos thatwe want to create.
What this is, is things that Itend to always have in my bag
regardless of what type ofphotography I'm doing.
That's because these arecritical needs for creating
pretty much any good photo.
But also just making sure that Ican actually go out and continue
(01:26):
to create what I need to, nomatter what the situation is
that I run into.
Alright, so it's a list of five.
The first thing that ends up inmy bag is my portable battery
bank.
This is basically a largecharger that allows me to
recharge my camera on the go,allows me to recharge my
headlamp my phone or anythingelse, I need to.
I made sure to get one that hada USB-C port in it and a USB-A
(01:48):
port, so I could chargebasically any devices I need to.
But the USB-C port was reallycritical to be able to charge my
Sony camera at a high rate so Icould keep my camera going a
little bit longer, leave itsitting for 20 minutes, get a
little bit of extra juice out ofit if the batteries die, or if
all my extras die.
I haven't had that happen, butit's nice to know that I can
(02:09):
make that happen if I need to,and that I can recharge my
batteries, if somethingunforeseen happens, I have
another backup in caseanything's there and I'm not
missing my opportunities toshoot.
So one of the things that youmake sure that you want to
include when you're purchasing abattery pack is to make sure
that it's strong enough toactually charge your camera.
So what this means is the littletiny stick ones that you get
(02:31):
that can charge your phone mightnot be powerful enough to
actually give your camera enoughof a boost to keep it going.
So when you're choosing whichone to buy, just make sure that
you get one that's got enoughumph to it that you'll be able
to charge your camera and do itrelatively quickly.
If you have one that's a prettylow amperage, you won't actually
be able to easily charge yourcamera, easily charge your
devices while you're out on thego.
It'll go too slow.
It won't actually allow you tocharge things very quickly.
(02:53):
And then the other thing thatyou wanna make sure that you
watch out for is that it has theUSB-A, USB-C ports.
It has the right ports that youcan actually charge your camera
with.
So make sure that you areactually going to be able to
plug it in.
I would suggest right now,always go for USB-C.
USB-C to USB-C is going to be byfar the fastest charge that you
can get with what we haveaccessible to us on the consumer
market.
(03:13):
So, check out for those thingsand always just throw it in your
bag.
Remember to charge it up whenyou get home and you're charging
your batteries, toss it back inand you're good to go.
All right.
The second thing that alwaysends up in my bag, and this
might be common for a lot ofpeople, but if you shoot in a
studio setting or anything likethat, this actually might not be
something you think of, but whenyou're out traveling and you're
out adventuring, having acleaning kit, just a little tiny
one can make all the differencein the world.
(03:36):
So I don't mean bring along likethe massive rocket blower and
all of your pieces of cleaningequipment that you would have
sitting around your house orthat you should have sitting
around your house to clean yourcamera.
What I mean is a lens cleancloth, preferably two in case
one of them gets wet or verydirty if you've dropped it in
mud or something like that.
They're very small.
They're very light.
Always have two of these thingson hand.
I think I have them tucked intomost of the pockets in most of
(03:58):
my bags'cause I have so many ofthem at this point.
So I always have a lens cleancloth with me.
You wanna make sure that youhave some way to blow dust and
dirt off of the front of yourlens as well.
So just a little tiny rocketblower is really helpful as
well.
And maybe a little bit of lenscleaner if you end up getting
spots.
That won't come off if you're,say, shooting in the rain,
shooting near a waterfall oranything like that, where mud or
(04:20):
water can come up and grime thefront of your lens.
So not a big kit that you wouldneed to have with you but can be
so impactful to your images.
You can almost always cleanthose kinds of things out in
post, but man, can they getannoying and irritating and
really suck in your time whileyou're editing.
If you don't clean them up rightthen and there, if you don't get
it right in camera, you're endup sitting in front of a
(04:41):
computer for a lot longer thanmost of us probably want to.
And that being said, sometimesyou can't clean those water
spots out.
If you end up with one directlyover top of your person's face
and you don't have another angleto be able to do a face
replacement, or it ends up goingover exactly the wrong spot in
the image and it could actuallyruin your photo.
So just keep an eye on the frontof your lens and always have a
(05:02):
cleaning kit with you.
Mine is super small.
It takes up maybe a pound in mybag and smaller than a credit
card.
So if you can have that withyou, fabulous.
If you know you're gonna bechanging lenses a lot and you
know you're gonna be in asituation where there's lots of
dust blowing around, lots ofother things, kind of possibly
contaminating your sensor thenyou might wanna consider having
some sensor cleaner with you aswell.
(05:23):
So the issue with that, youobviously can't clean your
sensor while you're outside.
So if you have somewhere thatyou can go, that's not gonna be
blowing dust around then havingsomething like that with you is
a great idea.
I didn't really find this to bea problem when I was shooting on
Cannon, but now that I shoot onSony a lot more.
It's a problem.
Sony sensors are giant, sucksfor dirt.
They suck in dirt all over theplace, and I just, I don't know
what's going on with them.
(05:44):
They're beautiful sensors, butman, they get dirtier far faster
than any other sensor I've everseen.
So, if you're a Sony shooter,this actually might be way more
important to have something withyou where you can sneak off
somewhere and clean that sensorwhen it does get really dirty,
because that seems inevitablenow with the way that Sony's
cameras work.
All right, so point number two,bring a cleaning kit with you.
It doesn't really change much ofthe weight of your bag, and
(06:06):
honestly, it makes a hugedifference to your images.
All righty.
Number three.
We're just plowing through thesetoday.
It's a light source, so thelight source definitely changes,
but I always have a light sourcein my bag.
It doesn't matter if I'm headedout at noon and I'm shooting
until like three o'clock in theafternoon.
I always have a light sourcewith me.
That's because they canmassively influence an image
(06:27):
just by painting a little bit,something extra onto somebody's
face or adding a little bit oflight to a piece of scenery.
Just adding that little bit ofsomething extra to light up your
scene can actually make a huge,huge difference to making your
image just pop.
The type of light I bring withme does change quite frequently,
but it's always there.
Let's take last night forexample.
(06:48):
I was out, we were shooting theAurora till about three in the
morning.
It was fabulous and before Ileft, I made sure to throw in my
RGB LED tube.
This is a multicolor, basicallytube of LEDs that is about 20
inches, 50 centimeters long thatI can easily tuck into a
backpack, but it's bright enoughthat I can use it to add a
(07:08):
little bit of lighting onsomeone's face if it's midday,
or I can use it to paint in alittle bit at night or add a
really cool glowing effect.
I can also change it intobasically any color I want.
So it's this super versatilepiece of kit that is actually,
honestly, fairly cheap.
Cost me about, I think it was 60bucks Canadian, 70 bucks
Canadian to buy one, and itcharges on the same U S B C
(07:29):
port, so I can just plug it backinto my battery bank when I need
to charge on it.
And it works great.
I threw in there last night whenI was out shooting the Aurora.
I didn't actually need to useit, didn't see a point for when
I wanted to, but it's great tohave that additional, pretty
bright, pretty nice lightsource.
And the other light source Ithrew in my bag last night was
the constant, my headlamp with ared light on it.
So I obviously always have myheadlamp with a red light for
(07:51):
shooting at night.
So I don't affect my nightvision too badly.
I know the camera does do thatwhen but at least when I'm kind
of standing around not lookingat the screen, my eyes can
adjust a little.
I'm not totally throwing themoutta whack.
But that headlamp is beautiful.
I made sure to get one that hada spot function on it so that
when I wanted to create thosehead, looking up with the
spotlight going off your head inthe middle of the night kind of
(08:11):
photos, I had that available tome without having to do a lot of
extra work in post.
You'll find I am a huge believerin not having to do extra work
in post if you don't have to.
If you can get it right incamera and then just do the very
minimal tweaks and very minimalediting, then you get to be
outside more.
You get to be adventuring more.
You're not wasting your lifebehind a computer.
So adding light now rather thanhaving to do it after the fact
(08:33):
is huge, and it makes a hugedifference to the amount of work
that you're going to have to do.
All right.
Other light sources that Itypically throw in my bag, just
depending on what I'm doing andwhere I'm going.
I have some magnetic Lume Cubesthat are daytime temperature
that I can stick onto things.
They're fully waterproof, so Ican attach'em inside of canoes
and boats and have them in thewater with me.
They're not bright enough tocounter-act the sun or add fill
(08:53):
light during sunny days.
But what it does do is allow meto paint in a little bit light
on people's faces or tuck it upunderneath of somebody's body
while shooting at night or setit up against a piece of ice or
anything like that.
Just add a little bit ofinformation and add a little bit
of detail.
Lume cubes are fabulous becauseof the fact that a lot of them
are waterproof.
You can actually do a lot morefun things with them, especially
(09:14):
in the winter, by like tuckingthem into snow banks and
illuminating certain features.
And then at Blue Hour or atsunset, using them to illuminate
pieces of your foreground thatyou want, to add a little bit of
depth and dynamics to yourimage.
All right.
And the fourth one we won'tspend a lot of time here is
snacks.
I never leave the house with mybag, not having snacks in it.
(09:35):
It's basically a necessity forme to keep shooting, whether I'm
out on a shoot with somebody orI'm shooting on my own.
Snacks are a must.
What I bring depends on who I'mwith and what I'm doing and all
that kind of stuff, butdefinitely always have them in
there and I always make sure tohave one that will allow me to
rebuild my electrolytes if we'reexpecting to do something that's
really active and reallypushing.
So honey stingers or cliffblocks or anything like that are
(09:56):
great especially when you'reshooting because rebuilding your
electrolytes are basicallycritical to keeping you going,
keeping you able to think andmove at a high rate of speed.
And then some sort of highcalorie, highly dense, something
that's also very tasty.
So I'll actually want to eat it.
So Hornby Bar or cliff bars tendto be my go-tos for on-the-go
quick and portable snacks.
I also obviously always bringfruit, veggies, things like
(10:19):
that.
And then if I'm out shootingwith kids and I know them and I
know the parents won't mind, Iactually typically bring some
healthy candy.
Healthy being a relative term,obviously because it's candy,
but we always make sure toinclude something like that so
that we can keep the kids goingand give them high, high amounts
of sugar.
You'd be amazed how often I wantto stop being somewhere or I
(10:40):
want to be out, or I want tostop shooting or go home, or I
start to get grumpy and mycreativity just starts of fall
and.
Then I have a snack and life'sbetter again and life's good and
I want to keep going and I wannakeep shooting.
So yeah, snacks can, snacks cansave your shoot.
So don't forget them, don'tneglect them.
They go right hand in hand withwater, obviously.
Whatever your snack is ofchoice, whatever is gonna perk
(11:02):
you up and keep you going andgive you brain energy, not just
energy, where you're gonna bebouncing off the walls.
We don't want the person who'shad eight cups of coffee
bouncing all over the place,unable to focus kind of energy.
We want something that engagesyour brain, gets your creativity
running, gets you up and going,and if you don't know what that
snack is for you do some work.
(11:22):
It's made a huge difference forme to understand how my brain
responds to different foods andwhat foods actually give me the
right kind of energy to becreative in certain situations.
All right, and the last thingthat goes into my bag, this
isn't always there, but I wouldsay it's in there 75% of the
time is some sort of raincoat.
I have two different types ofraincoats, so which one makes it
(11:43):
in, tends to be about thesituation that I'm heading into
or what it is that I'm going tobe shooting in, so I have one
that's pretty lightweight,really not meant to survive much
more than a decent rain showeror protect it from more like mud
and things like that.
I purchased it for when I wasout shooting rodeos and I needed
something fast, light, and easyto put on, take off and keep on
(12:04):
my camera and clean it offreally quickly when it did get
soaked in mud.
And then I also have a much moreheavy duty one that almost
protects the camera from littlenicks and scratches as well.
It's a little bit more rubberbased and definitely protects
the camera a little bit morefrom not just torrential
downpour rain, but all sorts ofdifferent types of weathering
conditions.
If I'm out shooting in the snowor I'm expecting heavy rain or
blizzard, then that's actuallythe one I pull on because I can
(12:27):
leave it on when I have mycamera on a clip, and then if I
do fall over into a snowbank,hopefully I don't, it has a
better chance of protecting thecamera from that fall than the
little plastic one that I have.
I almost always have some sortof rain gear for my camera
whenever I'm out shooting.
And that's just because youdon't know what the weather's
gonna do.
You don't know the situationthat you're gonna end up in.
You don't know anything alongthose lines of what might be
(12:49):
presented in front of you.
So, if you have a rain cover foryour camera, then you're always
gonna have it protected.
I get that our gear is verydurable.
It's very weather resistant.
I don't really have too manyconcerns about having my camera
out briefly in the rain orbriefly getting snowy on it or
anything like that.
But why take that risk if youdon't need to?
You can easily purchase a 15,$20little something that works and
(13:11):
protect that, multiple thousandsof dollars piece of equipment.
One of the last things that I'mgonna talk about here, a little
bonus piece, is actuallysomething that does live in my
bag all the time, but, I need toremember to take out of it,
especially if I'm headed intothe city, getting on an airplane
and that's my bear spray.
I have one that lives on theshoulder strap on my camera bag.
It never leaves it.
(13:32):
I always have it on there so Idon't even have to think about
it before they leave the houseand wandering around Banff not
unusual to have bear spray onyou.
Wandering around Calgary.
That's illegal.
Wondering in a lot of citiesthat's illegal.
You can't have bear spray onyou.
Try and get onto an airplanewith bear spray, that's not
gonna happen.
And so I always make sure tothink about where I'm headed and
pop the bear spray off if I'mheading into the city to shoot
(13:54):
or if I'm, you know, getting onan airplane somewhere.
But it's something I have tothink about because it does live
in my bag.
But depending on where you live,that's not gonna be a good idea
to keep it in your camera bagall the time.
Now, if you live in amountainous region, if you live
somewhere where bears frequent,and it's pretty common for
people to have bear spray onthem, of course it's not illegal
to have bear spray on them.
Keep it on your bag.
I think it is an incrediblyhelpful device to have.
(14:16):
I thankfully have never had touse it.
I've pulled it out many, manytimes, but every bear I've
encountered has been lovely andnice, and I've never had an
issue.
But you definitely could have anissue very quickly, and it's one
of those minor things that.
That's easy to carry around andgreat to have when you
desperately need it, it couldsave your life.
So yeah, keep your bear spray inyour bag permanently if you live
(14:36):
in a situation where you needthat, kinda like a place like
Banff or Canmore or Jasper.
But if you live in a city or ifyou, if frequently go through
airports or anything like that,remember to take it outta your
bag so you don't get yourselfinto a lot of trouble with
various different authorities.
Or so you don't have to throwout that$50 can of bear spray,
which oh, would be heartbreakingto have to do if you showed up
(14:58):
at the airport with it andforgot you had it in your bag.
Alrightyy.
And that's it.
That's my quick and dirty.
This is what I have in my camerabag with me at all times that
aren't photography accessories.
Because these are kind ofcritical things that can keep
you going on a shoot that cankeep you actually being able to
produce images and incrediblycritical if you're out on a paid
production.
If we're out screwing around andcreating images for ourselves.
(15:19):
It's sad when we have to turn ithome, but not super detrimental.
We can always go back out andit's kind of just on us, but if
we're being paid by clients orif we are being expected to
complete something, having theselittle extra things in there can
elevate the chances of your daygoing well, and the more often
you can do that, the betterchances are that your shoot's
gonna go well.
The better images you're gonnaproduce and the better off
(15:41):
you're gonna be.
Thanks so much for tuning intoday.
If you want to chat, if youwanna send me any ideas or
questions that you have, you canreach out to me on Instagram at
Robert Massey Photography, oryou can find us online at
robertmasseyphotography.ca.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
Get out there, explore this big,beautiful, wonderful world of
ours.
Bye for now.
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