Preparation

I love the preparation before a photo trip.  Whether I’m going for just a morning, or for a multi-week adventure, I enjoy the physical and mental preparation leading up to the trip.  I wrote about this previously and it’s a topic that has grown in enjoyment for me since then. I know some people think the time leading up to a trip is a pain, having to juggle normal life and put things aside to make time to photograph.  I get it, I do too.  I have my office work, family and all that that needs to be managed to allow me to head off to my happy places to photograph.  I am in a huge period of preparation right now as I have activities stacked on top of one another for the next 1 1/2 months, so I need to be thinking well in advance for my preparation so I don’t leave things to the last minute and end up forgetting something, like a camera or tripod :-). Let me share a few thoughts about how I view preparation for a trip.  I’ve come to see and value the pre-trip preparation as part of the trip and one that can I can derive enjoyment and benefit from.  Just like in photography when folks talk about “pre-visualization”, my preparations are that pre-visualization period.  Then there is the trip (photo capture) and the post trip (processing/printing).  Preparation before a photo outing is part of the total cycle of the outing and I’m a believer in enjoying it as much as the trip itself.

Begin the trip early!

I have found that the act of preparation is a way for me to start thinking about my upcoming trip in a positive manner and essentially begin the experience early, before I’ve even left the house.  As a trip approaches, I will start to organize some items in an area of my office, sort of a collection zone.  If it is a big trip, I’ll let my OCD run free and start making a packing list, thinking of things I will, or may, want to bring.  As I move about my days before the trip, as something comes to me, I’ll add it to the pile or write it down on the list.  There is always an undercurrent of thought thinking about the trip, which is how items pop up in to my head.  This undercurrent of thought starts to bring me to my trip and the happy thoughts/experiences of that trip. Which itself will brighten my days as I take care of all of my responsibilities at home.  Starting preparation early also means you won’t be rushed the night before a photo trip, running around trying to collect everything you need (and forgetting things you shouldn’t).   The bigger the trip, the earlier I start my travel preparations!  For me, the preparation process is an extension of the actual trip.  And, the anticipation heightens the experience when it actually begins!

Get Your Head in the Game!

Along with the physical preparation of gear and clothing, I find that starting a preparation process early before a trip and visualizing some of the experiences I may encounter helps me to get my head in the game when I get in the field.  Transitioning from hectic home life in the city to a tranquil sunrise in the mountains can be quite jarring mentally, which could hamper my creativity.  Be beginning my mental preparations before the trip this transition from “normal” life to “creative life” is less abrupt and let’s me slide in to the “zone” much more easily.  I can slow down faster, get connected to my surroundings easier and start to feel the flow of what I’m trying to do on location much easier if I am already prepped mentally.

Slow Down!

As I mentioned above, I collect items or make a list gradually over the days or weeks before a trip.  I am slow and methodical in my preparation, which then helps me begin my trip in a more relaxed, slow, less stressful mental state.  I’ve done it and I’m sure you have too, running around the night before departure trying to remember everything you need to pack, finding that stray filter or pair of wool socks, and on and on.  Being harried the night before a trip introduces stress to the trip and undermines my mantra of “slow down” in the field.  When we are rushing around, either packing or composing an image, moving fast means that we miss subtle details and nuances or flat out don’t “see” something and will most likely miss an opportunity.  The last time I was harried before a trip to the beach to photograph, I actually forgot my tripod!   I had to make a 3 hour drive to find and buy another tripod so I could shoot the photographs that I came to shoot.  Since that point, I practice slow preparations so I’m not harried and forgetful on the eve of a trip.

Double Check!

I’ve found that building a pile/list of items I want to take on a trip is like a “first pass” at packing and when it comes time to actually pack, putting my pile in my luggage acts as a double check that I haven’t forgotten anything.  It also acts as a bit of a sanity check because I may have put a lot of items in my pile thinking “I might need that” but when I come to packing, I do a bit of a reality check on myself and discard items that I probably don’t need and won’t miss.  It helps me keep my luggage smaller and lighter.

Develop Repeatable Patterns!

Many of  you reading this take multiple photo trips per year, as do I, and having repeatable patterns to preparation helps ease the mental and physical strain of preparing for a trip.  As an example, my camera bag is packed with the same gear in the same location so all it takes is a cursory glance to make sure I have everything.  When I get home from a trip and download images and clean camera gear, I make it a point to put it back where it belongs in case I need to quickly grab my camera bag and have everything with me.  I’m not one to have lenses scattered across my office and need to remember to grab them before I leave.  I always keep my essential lenses packed and ready to go, with a few speciality lenses sitting on the shelves waiting for use.  Other repeatable patterns are packing all of my different charging cords in the same zippered pouch.  As I travel, when I’m dead tired, I don’t have to think about where my different cords are…if I can find my pouch, I know all my cords are there.   Repeatable patterns helps us reduce the amount of mental and physical energy required to prepare for a trip and definitely helps us find stuff as we travel.

I may be an oddball in that I enjoy preparation so much so that I wrote this blog article about it.  This topic is top of mind for me right now as I’m facing the busiest period of the year, both personally and photographically and being prepared is essential for me to make it through this period with hopefully some nice images to show for it.  I’m showing at an art show this weekend, then home for one day before I leave to lead a photo workshop in the Palouse for a week.  I return from the Palouse and after 4 days begin a two week trip to Greenland aboard a sailing ship.  When I return I have a 1×1 that week and another 1×1 the following week, both with vastly different subject matter (mental task switching!).  After that is my Portland Garden workshop and then I can take a breath in mid-September.  I’m on the eve of this crazy schedule and I have multiple staging areas for the different trips so I can quickly transition off of one and on to the next without hopefully forgetting anything.

I’ve found over the years that preparation is a key part of the overall experience and why not enjoy it as much as the “during” and “post” phases of the trip.  I can mentally begin transitioning to the experience while I’m still at home, bringing some of that good energy my way.  It helps me slow down, get my head in the game so I can create better photographs earlier in the trip without having to struggle with the transition between “normal” and “photo” life.