Gear to Go
[by Judy Herrmann]
About 8 years ago, after 12 years of being strictly studio photographers, we shot on location professionally for the very first time. Preparations were stressful, to say the least. We were so nervous about not having something we’d need that we practically brought the entire studio along. We got through the shoot without using half the stuff we brought and decided there had to be a better way.
As we unloaded from the shoot, we launched my favorite outlining application and created a master list of everything we’d brought. Before a given shoot, we save a copy of our master gear list and edit it based on the needs for that job. We keep our lists organized by container – each case gets its own category and the items it contains are nested within. If we edit the gear down to where some of the cases are partially empty, it’s easy enough to drag and drop items into a new “container category” so we’re bringing the minimum number of cases needed and all are full.
As we pack up, we tick off the items so we know when each case is ready to load. Then, we tick each case off when it’s loaded into the car.
What I love about outlining apps is that they let you create broad categories, nest items within them and track what’s already been done. They’re a perfect way of organizing location gear lists, especially if you’re not the only person packing up! Unfortunately, my favorite app for this, Omni Outliner (shown below) is only available for the Mac but PC users have told me that VIP Simple To Do List offers similar functionality.
Triangles let you toggle categories open and shut, hiding or revealing nested items. A click in the box creates or deletes the check mark. You can drag and drop items from one category to another. Tab and shift+tab let you indent or un-indent items.
One Response to 'Gear to Go'
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Thanks Judy. The program sounds like a good one. I’ll need to look it up. Organization is certainly one of the keys to a successful location shoot and this program looks great for that. Do you put the lists inside the cases (like taped to the inside top) for assistants to refer to? Also, when traveling internationally can you use these lists for your equipment declaration lists (for customs or insurance)? Just realized you included a link to the program… Thanks Judy.