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Photography on the Road
A slightly tangential post this week...
I do quite a lot of traveling, either on commission or going to conferences, and am a notoriously heavy packer. So, what do I pack and why? And what’s this got to do with Aperture?!?
Computer Stuff
MacBook Pro.
Spare MBP battery.
Mains adapter/charger plus plugs for whichever countries I’ll be in.
Triple-interface pocket drive, normally stored in the camera bag to keep it separate from the notebook.
FW cable for above.
Spare FW cable for above, in the notebook bag.
ExpressCard CF reader.
FW CF reader as backup.
USB mini cable.
USB phone cable instead of carrying another mains charger around.
DVI-VGA adapter cable if i’ll be going anywhere near a projector.
Camera Stuff
Canon 5D.
70-200mm f4L.
15mm f2.8 Fisheye.
Batteries.
Mains battery charger.
Sometimes a 12V battery charger as well.
Small & cheap GPS logger.
USB mini cable for above (also as a second backup for getting images off the camera, and as a charger for the GPS).
Multiple CF cards.
Multiple lens cleaning cloths.
Bongo ties.
Cable release.
There’s usually a tripod and a panorama head (or two) floating around somewhere as well. It sounds like quite a lot but it will usually fit in a photo rucksack and a small laptop bag - minus the tripod I even managed to travel to the Netherlands without any hold luggage a couple of weeks ago!
So what has this got to do with Aperture? Well, one thing you’ll have noticed is that there’s lots of duplication in there. This repeats in my workflow on the road - I download images as soon as possible as referenced files on the external HD, then use ChronoSync or similar to copy them onto the internal drive as well. I'll often export the current project as well and burn it to a DVD if it's small enough. One thing I’m thinking of trying is importing as managed files and then keeping a Vault on the external drive to try and reduce the amount of copying files around.
The memory cards don’t normally get wiped until I’m at home and everything is backed up again, so the images (hopefully) exist in three different physical items.
Similarly, the external HD contains a fully-bootable copy of the MBP system partition, including Aperture - if the MBP dies for some reason I can plug it in to any other Intel-based Mac and carry on almost as if nothing had happened.
I suppose what I’m getting at is reliability - when you’re working as professional photographer one of the main things you are being paid for is reliability. You can’t afford to turn up and then say ‘Sorry, I can’t do the job, I left xxx behind’, or later on say ‘The notebook HD died, so the images got lost’.
When setting up your overall workflow with Aperture (or any other digital workflow for that matter) you need to plan for the worst, setting up your equipment and data storage in a way that that will gracefully degrade if something goes wrong.
May your hard drive never die,
Ian
Hi Ian
I too travel a lot and am on the road sometimes for 3 months at a time in remote parts of Asia. I have found what works for me is to have two Lacie mobile hard drives that I use as vaults with Aperture.
Thus my workflow is that each day, I download the photos using a CF reader to a temporary folder on my MacBook Pro laptop where I cull the obviously bad images. I then use an application called "A Better Finder Rename" to rename the acceptable photos using my naming convention including date with a sequence number for the day such as "SCR_20080430_0001". At this point, I import the photos into Aperture as managed photos adjusting the date/time for the time zone that I am shooting in. Note that I leave the camera date/time setup for my home timezone, such as PST. Once all the photos are imported, I update the two vaults stored on my mobil hard drives.
I can then make image adjustments and add metadata at my leisure making sure to periodically update both of my vaults.
The two Lacie hard drives are small enough that I always keep one on my person (in a backpack), while the 2nd one is packed in my main photo bag or suitcase at the hotel or vehicle. That way, even if my photography equipment is stolen at the hotel, I still have a copy of my photos on my person.
Only after updating both of my vaults, do I reformat my CF cards. I find carrying two small mobile hard drives a much more convenient solution than burning DVDs.
Back at home, I then export the project from my laptop and reimport it into my centralized Aperture database on my graphics workstation and relocate the masters. All my digital negatives are now stored on a DROBO unit that I recently purchased as a more reliable unit than my BuffaloTech NAS.
Having lost files from CDs/DVDs while traveling, even when creating two copies, has caused me to use mobile hard drives as more reliable. It is too easy for CDs/DVDs to get scratched while in transit.
And yes, may your hard drive not fail, but with dual mobile hard drives and a DROBO at home, even if one drive fails you can easily replace it and not lose your photos.
Steve
Curious to know what GPS you use. I assume you use it for geotagging?
Your kit actually seems fairly light for a pro. Your probably don't need 3 or 4 (if you count the camera) ways to get the photos off your cards. I usually carry my computer and charger and mouse + Install DVDs. Currently I carry the DVDs and my internal HD partitioned for my regular work and an install DVD mirror which also included the Aperture and iWork installs and a couple other useful apps. I also have a bootable USB (I want a FW soon) drive which contains a vault. And I totally agree bout the mini-USB cables; they are incredibly useful!
Well first I should say I'm a teenagers so my stuff isn't that impressive. If it's use my camera (a compact) then I've got it batteries a charger, couple cables and memory and readers in a relatively small Pelican case. When I bring (my dad's technically) 30D I have a 17-85 and a 70-200 2.8 IS + 1.4x extender. Plus a flash batteries, reader, charger, etc. It's a heavy kit, but it works.
I don't think the kit matters it we have our images and if we have a way to keep them safe.
If you are geotagging with the 5D, I would be interested in reading about that. Thanks.
I would also be interested in learning more about how you use the geologger. Do you add the coordinates to the metadata of each photo file and, if so, how? Thanks.
Steve - some good tips there, especially for people travelling for longer periods.
Michael - yes, that's the 'light' kit. Normally I'm in a van and carry a load more gear, including a 4.5 metre tripod and a remote-operation panorama head...
Geotagging - I'm using an i-Blue 747 which is a pretty basic logger. It's not very well supported on a Mac, but a bit of searching around got me some drivers and either some open source software (fast but buggy) or Mac Travel Recorder (painfully slow but pretty reliable).
Currently I go: download GPS log, import images via Image Ingestor Pro which backs up onto a separate HD and also geotags the Master files, import into Aperture.
I'm in the middle of adding proper geotagging from log files to the pro version of GPS2Aperture which will cut out several steps.
Ian