As someone who uses photography and video to tell stories, and considering the fact that after the race I would like to get involved in some kind of media ministry, I decided to search out a current racer who is using a good camera while on the race and ask for their advice.
After a bit of searching I found Brianna Danese. Brianna has captured some great photos on the race, and has also run into some photography troubles on the race.
I sent her an email giving her a little bit of background about me and asked her for advice, here's what she had to say:
Thanks for the email. Here's how I handled the "photographer going on the WR" dilemma:
I have this bag: http://products.lowepro.com/product/CompuDaypack,1922,16.htm I really like it. It's definitely important to have a daypack that will hold your body, lenses, computer and such, and has padded compartments for each.
I brought three lenses (50mm 1.8, 24-105 kit lens and 19-35 wide angle).. I don't regret bringing three and I doubt you would regret bringing your 70-200mm. That's a great lens and I think it'll be so beneficial on the Race. Perfect for portraits and public situations when you don't want to have your camera up in someone's face. It'll be bulky, but I bet there will be millions of times on the Race that you'll wish you had it once you're out. You can probably bear hauling it around on travel days to make sure you get awesome shots during the month.
I haven't had problems with the daypack as a carry-on when we fly. Regulations on weight and such really depend on the airline and you'll fly different ones each time. I've always been under weight and sometimes the electronics hold me up in security, but no major problems.
What kind of laptop are you bringing? And what kind of post-processing do you do now? A lot of people on my squad brought netbooks, which are great for travel, but I brought my regular one because I needed the disc space and Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for my photography. So if you do post-processing at home, you definitely want to bring all that with you.
Something I wish I brought is a smaller shoulder camera bag that could hold my body and maybe one extra lens. Sometimes if I'm going out to ministry for the day, I don't want to bring my full daypack, but since it's my only camera bag right now, I don't have any other options.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Brianna
