A Cool Way To Store Your Stuff...

Pelican Cases are -- without a doubt -- the safest and most secure way of storing and shipping camera gear (along with a whole lot of other things) when traveling from some Point "A" to a distant Point "B". The cases themselves are incredibly sturdy, they're relatively lightweight, cause no major problems at airports (aside from the outrageous "overage" fees that the airlines are charging these days), and come with an honest-to-god lifetime replacement guaranty that Pelican actually honors. Truly great stuff...

Nowadays, clients don't really seem to be flying photographers and/or their gear around as much as they did in the past, and so -- for myself at least -- the need for a super tough shipping case (or cases) has been reduced quite a bit. Speaking strictly on a personal basis, I'm finding that gigs are becoming more and more locally oriented and (again, from my own personal experience) less gear intensive than in previous years.

Yes, budgets are getting tighter (that's a whole 'nuther topic right there), but at the same time, the need for two or three full-sized equipment cases filled with stuff (i.e.: power packs, ginourmous strobe heads, and back-up gear) is greatly reduced when the call comes in to do a bare-bones "in town" editorial shoot.

In the image that's posted to the right, you can see the most basic lighting kit that I throw in my truck when working on any sort of run-n-gun editorial project: Two Vivitar 285's, three Pocket Wizards, various correction gels, battery charger, two Nasty Clamps, and some spare "AA" batteries (just in case the charger doesn't work). This is a mean and lean package, and perfect for most quickie shoots.

What you're also seeing in this photo is a very cool way of storing and protecting that lean and mean lighting kit -- with a Columbia Sporting Equipment "Ice Wind" Cooler .

What's so great about this particular cooler? Well, the Columbia version that I own perfectly -- and I do mean PERFECTLY -- holds Vivitar 285 strobes. The interior width of the cooler is about 1/4 inch wider than two Vivitars placed side by side (leaving plenty of room for all of the extra doo-dads). And if the kit is reconfigured just a bit, four Vivitar 285's will drop right into the cooler, leaving just enough space on top for four pocket wizards (as can be seen in the crappy picture to the left).


These coolers are extremely durable, with a hard plastic shell hidden underneath the outer fabric. The front pocket is also extremely handy, and is the place where spare batteries, gels, battery chargers, and power bars can be stored.

Oh! Did I mention that these coolers are cheap? I found mine at an outlet store for $9.99.

Obviously, other coolers will work just fine, and I encourage you -- when you've got a bit of spare time -- to take a basic lighting kit over to some nearby sporting goods store just to see what might work out for your particular gear set-up. Let me be clear, a cooler is not a substitute for a heavy duty Pelican Case... You'll still need that when flying with your equipment. On the other hand, coolers certainly work as a cheap, durable, and portable means of storing small equipment set-ups.

Matt

P.S.: You can also use a cooler to keep your beer chilled... If that's the sort of thing that you like to do.

P.S.S.: The rest of my kit for a (very) basic local editorial shoot? Well, a camera (obviously), three lenses, four 4 Gig cards, three camera batteries, two Chimera softboxes, a tripod, and two lighting stands. The camera, lenses, and cards all fit into a backpack quite nicely. And to have ready access to my support equipment, the tripod, Chimeras, and lighting stands always hang out in my truck.

P.P.S.S.: About three years back, I actually had one of my Pelican Cases beaten and cracked by the baggage handlers at the Vancouver (Canada) Airport. Pelican replaced the case free of charge.

P.P.P.S.S.: The folks at Pelican wanted to know just what the idiots well-mannered baggage handlers had done to my case. It seems that Pelican tests their cases by dropping them from the roof of a multi-storied building, and so they (the Pelican folks) were stunned that the my case had been damaged by the idiots in Vancouver the well-mannered baggage handlers.