I’ve been pouring over my list of details for our trip to Beausoleil Island. And I’ve just about figured out the bigger details that have been weighing on me.

Gear

I’ve spoken with the park and they’re letting us download memory cards and charge our batteries at the visitor’s centre – hooray! That’s a huge component that I don’t have to worry about any more.

I’ve been drooling over the laptop travel case that Chase Jarvis uses and I’m trying to figure out how to make one that would work for us that’s also cost effective. I love the idea that it’s waterproof, lockable, and can not only carry everything that we’ll need on location but we can also work right out of it – such a nice feature. Here’s what I think I’d need to make it happen:

• Pelican 1490 CC1 Case
• Portable External Hard Drive

We’ve decided to bring our bicycles with us, so now we just need to make sure they’re equipped with everything we’ll need. Mine’s going to need lights and some sort of rack so I can carry at least some of our equipment on it, but Darren’s is all ready to go.

Meet and Greet

The Meet and Greet is shaping up nicely, I’ve heard from lots of people who plan to visit the island over the weekend and will be popping by to say hi. There’s space for us to hang 3 framed pieces plus an easel on which we can display a fourth. Now we just need to figure out which photographs will be most appropriate and at what size.

Food

A friend of ours lent us Lipsmackin’ Vegetarian Backpackin’ for some food ideas and I’m so grateful! There’s a lot of basic ideas in there that I hadn’t though of and I think many of their recipes can be altered to fit with our eating preferences. I’ve only flipped through it quickly to see what it was about but as our trip approaches I know I’ll be referring to it often.

Wildlife

After reading a Parks Canada article about black bears and also Mountain Equipment Co-op’s Bear-Free Camping I’m feeling a lot more comfortable about being in their territory. We’re going to be really careful with our food storage, making sure not to invite them anywhere near where we’ll be staying. We’ll carry bear spray with us as a last resort and we’ll travel with bells on so we make lots of noise so they can hear us coming.

Having been in rattlesnake country before I’m not to worried about them. The Eastern Massassauga Rattlesnakes of Beausoleil Island are typically shy and non-agressive, so if we hear that rattle a-goin’ we’ll just give them their space.

What’s Left?

I’ve covered a lot of the things that are outside our area of expertise, so what do we still need to do?

• create our shot list
• determine if there’s any additional gear we need
• put together a schedule
• figure out how we’re going to pack everything we need to bring

I’m really happy with the progress so far, I feel like we’ve crossed a lot of unknowns off our list.

So what does your travel kit look like? What are your must have’s? Is there something you always bring but you’ve never used? Or something that you didn’t have but you really needed? What do you pack all your gear in? How do you keep it safe? How do you make sure you have adequate backups while you’re on location?

{map courtesy of Parks Canada}

If you’ve been staying up-to-date with us on Facebook and Twitter you’ll already know I am thrilled and honoured to be invited to be an Artist in the Park on Beausoleil Island in Georgian Bay National Park this summer. I am hugely thankful to be given an opportunity to spend a week on the island to make art in one of the most beautiful locations in Ontario.

As soon as I received my invitation a few months ago my head started swimming with all the things that I’ll need to get in order:

• little to no electricity
  • how will I charge the camera batteries?
  • or the laptop? – how will I download memory cards?
• what camera filters will I need?
• put together and prioritize my shot list
• meet and greet
  • what will I plan?
  • which photographs should I bring?
  • in which format?
• no fridge or stove, will have access to a barbecue and and ice
  • cooler
  • what will we eat for the week?
• how will we pack and store my equipment?
• pack list
• are we better to rent bicycles when we get there or should we try to bring our own?
• there are bears
• and rattlesnakes too

I feel like I’m a digital photographer entering into an analog world for a week. It’s going to take a huge amount of planning to get the most out of this trip and I’d like to take you with me through the journey of pre-production to final images.

Have you ever spent a week without electricity or a fridge? What did you eat? Are you a photographer that’s had to download and back-up memory cards without reliable access to power? How did you handle?