Getting excited ! it is almost time… What needs to be done?

[perfect_quotes id=”290″]This year a larger group of us is doing fall colors as a group.  We are reasonably compatible, although getting up before sunrise is easier for some of us than others.  Some of us have better knees than others for walking up and down Lembert Dome (below, and map at end).What needs to be done to get ready to go?

• Motel reservations (see post re: first fall colors trip)  We use Boulder Lodge on June Lake loop because of its central location and inexpensive.
• Get a AAA map of the Eastern Sierra.  If you are a member of AAA
• Get the car serviced ahead of time
• Make sure that all of the batteries are charged, and that you have chargers for batteries
• Clean the camera (filters, mirror, sensor, etc)
• Write a LISTS.  Each of the lists has a mandatory part, and an optional part, depending on the mood I’m in.
  • Car list
  • Camera List
  • Clothes / travel list
  • Other List
  • Group List
• Watch the weather.   The weather ranges from below freezing to low 90s.  This requires careful consideration of what to where, and often a change of clothes.  Note both snow and sunshine….
• Arrange for time off work

Most of the places we go for fall colors are dusty.  There is nothing more tiring than cleaning dust spots with Lightroom or Aperature  for picture after picture.  So, why start out with any spots?   It takes a little time, but for me it is satisfying, and much easier now than an hour before sunrise.   Get yourself some lens cleaning fluid and some paper and start there.

Below is my camera list.  I usually bring everything, and each year I use a subset of it, and each year the subset varies. I keep my lists in Excel for convenience, you can do it however you want.  I then shade each item as it is packed.

Camera	Clothes	Travel	Other	Group
Tripod	Wind Pants	Pillow for the   car	Alarm Clock	Walkie   talkie (s)
Camera backpack	Wind Jacket	AAA map	Toiletries	List   of phone numbers
Bag of lighting stuff	Warm Jacket	GPS hand held or   car	Computer	Release   forms
Camera cleaning & repair stuff	thin gloves	Flares	MIFI
Lens-Macro	thick gloves	Toilet paper	USB sticks
Lens-24-105	Hiking boots	munchies	Water bottles
Lens 100-400	Outer socks	paper towels
Lens 500 & sidekick	Inner socks	jumper cables
Lens 16-35	extra day of   clothes	Dark glasses
headlamp	Sun hat	Cash
Camera Rain cover	Dark glasses	Towel for car
Camera vest	Warm hat	Water bottles
Spare Flash drives	Long Sleeve   shirts	Blan ket
Filers for lens	T shirts	Sunscreen
ND filters	Jeans
Reflectors	Tennis shoes
Flash drive backup	Sandles
Battery charger	Bandanas
Extension cord	Under clothes
Panorama head	Walking shorts
Camera	Rain gear
Point and shoot
GPS for camera
Flash

 

[latestbyauthor author=”Patrick” show=”3″]