P#36: A Shot of the Photo Gear Used for Mountain Photography

The Essentials

Ed Cooper: This photograph shows the actual photo gear that I took in a backpack to the Trinity Alps in 1990. After I got home I thought, "Gee, it'd be a good idea at least to take one picture of all the photo gear that I took on the trip." It was the only time that I ever did that. I spread the photo gear out on a card table, and here it is. (click the image for a larger version)

You can see I've got the view cameras there, a small backpacking tripod, a changing bag, boxes of extra film that I brought along, and then 35mm camera, extra 35mm lens, extra 35mm film, a Polaroid film holder together with Polaroid film, and there's a black and white film pack to use to take black and white pictures as a 4x5.

There are probably about a dozen film holders I took along, and of course I needed a changing bag to change the film once I had used the film holders. Then, in the lower left, it shows the lenses I carried for the view camera, four different lenses to select from, and then all the filters and whatnot, and filter rings just below that.

Oh, and then the red back is where I carried the 35mm equipment for quick access. You can see that the weight really adds up here and why I don't have much room for traditional backpacking equipment.

Audri Lanford: This is really amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this picture. It really gives depth to understanding what you had to take along.

In Closing

Thing taking pictures of the mountains is little more than taking along a point-and-shoot digital camera? Not if you want to take pictures like the pros. This photograph of Ed Cooper's photo gear gives us some insight as to what it really takes to make it in the world of mountain photography.