Gear

The biggest challenge for an outdoors photographer is predicting what gear you’ll need without overloading your pack with excess crap. Generally I’ll take gear for two types of photography (i.e macro and landscape) and just suck it up if I miss a killer shot that I didn’t bring gear for. Often the more restricted your photography gear the more focused your work ends up being.

In terms of outdoors equipment I go for lightweight but robust, and most importantly comfortable! For me getting my pack weight down is always going to be hindered by all the camera gear so all that ultra light weight stuff is pretty pointless (and prone to getting destroyed in matagouri quick-fast).

One of the most important things I always take is Absolute Wilderness freeze dried meals, they’re super light weight but more importantly for me they don’t take up heaps of pack space. My personal favourites are Couscous Salad (cold water, super fast, tangy and tasty), Banana Porridge (solid oat breakfast) and Tom Kha Gai (Thai coconut chicken stew/soup/curry). They’re available in stores and online (www.absolutewilderness.co.nz) – if you’re in Nelson pop in to the factory for a chat!

Camera:

• Cameras – Nikon D300, Canon 6D, Nikon D750
• Lenses – Tokina 11-16mm F2.8mm, Tokina 100mm F2.8 macro, Canon 70-200mm, Nikon 70-210mm, Tamron 15-30 F2.8, Nikon 20mm 2.8
• Flashes – nikon and canon (various models)
• Lee filters (ND, GND hard and soft)
• Yongnuo wireless shutter/flash triggers and releases
• the lightest manfrotto tripod that will support the cameras

General Gear:

• Saucony shoes / tramping boots
• Absolute Wilderness meals
• Jetboil cooker
• Aarn Pack
• Marmot puffer jackets and Game Gear fleece jackets
• Moa Tech and Stoney Creek pants
• MAK Technology Antichafe