As summer approaches, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, a lot of us begin to make plans for our summer vacations (or the organized among us are getting ready to go on vacations they planned months and months ago). As photographers, though, we have a bunch of extra stuff we have to bring with us. Sometimes our point-and-shoot camera will do the trick, but depending on where you’re going, you may be packing most of your gear: a dSLR body or two, a bunch of lenses, filters, a cleaning kit, flashes, and a whole bunch more. But I can’t really tell you how or what to pack – we all have different bags, different gear, different destinations, and different photographic priorities. Instead, here are some general tips on traveling with your gear (from deciding what to bring, how to bring it, and what hotels to book).

Before you even head out the door, you’ve got a lot of planning to do. First, you need to decide what gear you may need (and how much room you have to pack it). If the trip is more than a couple of days you’ll need to consider what image storage requirements you will have. Do you take a lot of photographs? Do you have a laptop or an external storage device to move your images to from your memory cards? There’s nothing worse than having to delete images off your card(s) to make room for more shots. Take advantage of the digital format by taking a lot of shots – don’t limit yourself by not bringing a place in which to store your images aside from your memory cards.

Assuming you have your memory card/external storage issues figured out, the next thing you need to consider are your batteries. Do you have more than one? Will that be get you through a day? A week? The whole vacation? Are you traveling overseas (you may need a power adapter to charge your batteries each night)? If not having enough storage space is not frustrating enough, imagine having the space, but dead batteries. That’s a killer. I know we’ve all done it before (I’ve left my chargers at home on more than one occasion myself – right next to the charger for my cell phone, leaving me with no camera, and no phone… not a good combination). Trust me: make sure you have at least 2 batteries, your charger, and applicable adapters.

In fact, my third tip should help with the second. One thing I learned quite a while back was to do a “practice run-though” before I left on any lengthy vacation. Pack your bag with what you think you need, then bring that bag with you outside to a park or something, then go through the various situations you’ll be photographing on your trip. Change your lenses, your filters, your flashes. Pretend you’re photographing the sunset on the cruise ship, or taking a photograph at that special dinner on the patio at night. Are you missing anything? This is usually the point where I realize “Oops, I’m totally going to need that graduated neutral density filter, or that diffuser for my external flash or whatever.” The best way to avoid this happening when you can’t go back home to get it, is to prepare ahead of time. You may feel a bit stupid “practicing” ahead of time, but you’ll feel even worse when you realize you forgot ______ at home.

It may seem a little silly, but if you’re traveling with your gear, you have to keep in mind where you’re staying. Some hotels are better than others with regards to safety and security for not only you and your family, but also for your gear. If you’re traveling abroad, keep in mind weather conditions as well. If it’s really humid, you’ll need a cool place to store your gear. If you’re traveling to places in “less than safe neighborhoods,” you’ll want to make sure you book a hotel that has security in mind. If you’re coming to visit me, I know of lots of great hotels in Barrie, Ontario, but if you’re traveling abroad, you may want to research the best hotels in Rome before you go. If you thought not having enough storage space, or a dead camera battery that you can’t charge, or forgetting the lens you wanted at home, imagine coming back to your hotel room to find your camera damaged, or even gone. Talk about a ruined vacation.

Even if your trip is a spontaneous road trip, it won’t take much time to make sure you’re prepared. If you care about the quality of your photographs at all, it will be worth it a hundred times over.