Today I'm heading off for about a month. During the coming time away I will be heading off to Easter Island, Patagonia and Bolivia. It looks all set to be an interesting month ahead for me doing some personal photography on Easter Island, and then running photographic safaris in Patagonia and the Bolivian Altiplano.

It's been a while since I was back in Torres del Paine national park in Chile. It is without doubt one of my favourite places on Earth. I've been busy packing for the trip for about a week now - I always seem to forget something, so in a vain attempt to not leave home without something important, I start to pile up a small mountain of equipment to take on the trip.

I've got two camera bags to take with me. I love the ThinkTank Airport International and Take-Off bags - you can see the content of my bag here:

I've got my Mamiya 7II plus three lenses, and a Hasselblad kit too in this bag, along with all the Lee filters and light meter that I use. This bag is purely used to get me through the airport-circus and around most of the heavy traveling I'll be doing.

Once on location, I prefer to go out shooting with a smaller bag and one outfit only - doing this makes me more focussed on working on the landscape and less on thinking of which system to use. I use a small shoulder bag for the outfit I use on location, because quite frankly - I detest backpacks - if I can get away without using them - I will. Backpacks mean I have to stop, take the bag off my back and lay it on the ground. I prefer a bag that I can access things from the top without everything spilling out everywhere and a smaller bag means I take less, and if I take less, I'm more mobile, and less burdened down by the weight and choice of what to use once I've found my spot.

I'll try to post some things on the blog over the coming month, but I'm not so sure I'll be able to do that, as we will be in remote regions with little or no communication.