I don’t know about you all, but I have WAY TOO MUCH camera gear! Ask my wife if you don’t believe me!  And, sometimes, I think it really weighs me down, not just in terms of the weight I lug around with me to an URBEX shoot, but also creatively.  Far too often, I often end up with six or seven lenses in the bag, in addition to my Nikon D700 dSLR, though I rarely use more than three lenses on any trip.  So why drag it all along?  Perhaps it’s because, thinking back to my years as a Boy Scout, I’ve always got to be prepared for absolutely anything? Maybe.  Maybe not.  Truth of the matter, though, is that I’ve found myself far more creative on those trips where I take fewer lenses, which I had hoped to do today.

Today was the day I had intended to do just that, but again I took too much.  And, as expected, I really only used two lenses, for the most part: my URBEX workhorses, the Nikkor 24mm f/3.5 PC-E (tilt-shift) and my Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8.  I have to admit, though, that I was glad I brought along my Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP AF Macro Lens (great lens!), as a came back with a great shot of some tiny morphine ampules (still full) I’ll post in the next few days or so.  I also had my Sigma 50mm 1.4 along, which I mounted once, composed with, but did not shoot, as well as my Nikkor 16mm f/2.8 fisheye (which also did not clear leather today).  Were I to do this again next week, I’d probably  pare down to four lenses, leaving the fisheye and macro lenses at home (but dang they’re so small, it’s easier to just take them anyway!).  Lenses aside, I have some essentials that are always in my Domke F-2 Ruggedwear shooter’s bag when I’m on URBEX these days, including: my Gitzo GT-1541T Traveler 6X Carbon Fiber Tripod, a Really Right Stuff BH-40 LRII ballhead, a Promote Systems Remote Control, an X-Rite ColorChecker Passport, a Surefire G2 LED Flashlight, a Petzyl Tikka XP2 Headlamp, a Leatherman Wave tool, two cell phones, a GPS and chalk (to mark ingress/egress routes in unfamiliar buildings (basements, tunnels, etc.).  And, believe it or not, it ALL (minus tripod and ballhead) fits in the aforementioned Domke F-2!  Sweet!  Like I said, everything but the kitchen sink!  What do you take on URBEX?