Part two of our photography series continues where the previous article left off. Now that we have an idea of the two main components involved with mountaineering photography we cover how to carry all this gear so it’s in easy reach.
If you haven’t already read part one of this series, you’ll want to start here.
Padded Cases
Now that you have an idea of what to carry, you need a way to hold you gear so it will get up and down the mountain unharmed. Unfortunately, there are no manufacturers that make backpacks geared towards the mountaineering photographer (or even the hiking photographer for that matter). Mountainsmith makes some photo backpacks, but none of them seem to have the correct blend of technical features and camera storage. So, we’re left to come up with our own solution.
In my mind, the one area a mountaineer shouldn’t make any compromises is in his or her summit pack. So, pick a backpack that you are comfortable climbing with and we’ll add the photo equipment on top of it. Specific tips on picking a pack are beyond the scope of this article, but you’ll be able to use nearly any pack for photography.
I highly suggest a holster style case for your camera. I use a Tamrac Digital Zoom 4 bag. Other manufacturers like Lowepro make a range of bags suited for nearly every camera The main feature you want to look for is belt loops on the back of the case. I thread these through the waist belt of my pack and loosen the neck strap enough that the belt can take a good portion of the weight. This keeps the case close to the body and leaves the area directly in front of you free for the task at hand.
The main problem I’ve found with this method is that it does reduce the amount of space you have for gear on your rack. Access to pickets or wands from your pack is still maintained, but a portion of the rack space is removed. I don’t usually have a very full rack and can move more of the gear to the other side to compensate so this generally isn’t a problem. If you are taking enough gear that this does become a problem, you’re probably getting to the point that a point and shoot is more appropriate than an SLR anyways.
So this leaves us with the problem of what to do with the other lens you brought along. In my experience, if it stays in the pack you will never use it. Thus, we need to find a way to mount it to the outside of your pack.
LowePro and Tamrac both make individual lens cases that are designed to fit on their own photo belts. I picked up a Tamrac lens case for each size lens I have. Lowepro also makes some very nice lens cases. The nice thing about these cases is that they have a very secure mounting method that includes both snaps and Velcro. I take the case and attach it to the bottom of the right shoulder strap on my backpack. This results in a very secure mount for a lens at approximately waist level on the opposite side of my pack as the camera. I can access this pouch without taking off my pack and it doesn’t interfere with my rack.
The only non-ideal part of this setup is that it can be somewhat of a delicate situation when swapping lenses as there is a chance that you can drop on of them. So, I tend to only change a lens when I’m in a safe area.
Batteries
When far from civilization for a few weeks at a time, batteries tend to be the limiting factor. While solar chargers are an option, they tend to be expensive, bulky and somewhat finicky. So unless you’re going out for months at a time I’d recommend just bringing along a handful of spare charged batteries.
Thankfully generic batteries for your SLR can be found very cheap on eBay ahead of time. For a two to three week trip, buy four to six spare batteries and charge them up before you leave. Make sure to test every battery for functionality before you leave as the occasional dud isn’t unheard of. This should be more than enough power to last through nearly any expedition with plenty to spare.
On summit day, leave all but one or two spares in your tent at base camp. Put a fresh battery in your camera and the spare in an inside pocket of your jacket. Camera batteries tend to be very susceptible to cold and keeping the spare warm with your body heat will make it last for quite a few more shots.
Storage
Now that you have all this power, you’ll need the storage space for the photos. I always shoot RAW and each photo is around 10mb in size. So, I go through quite a bit of space in day to day photography.
Do not bring hard drives for mountaineering photography. Due to the thin air, hard drive based solutions will not work at altitude and you will lose any photos you have taken. Flash storage is fairly cheap these days and it shouldn’t be too expensive to buy plenty for your expedition.
Since flash cards are cheap and weigh practically nothing, I tend to bring along twice the storage space than I think I’ll need. This will make sure that I won’t run out of space and is protection in case I lose a flash card on the trip to the mountain.
