On packing

On my instagram @photo_by_baard some of you have asked me what I carry when I am out shooting. So here we go. 

For a start, different locations call for different packing, but that aside. Let me share with you my basic setup when I go out to shoot landscape locally. 

And just to be clear from the start, I am not sponsored by any of the brands. So, this is just me sharing my setup. 

I have had my eyes on the 31-liter Wandrd backpack for some time. Or to be honest, as my wife says, I had seen an unhealthy number of YouTube videos on photo back packs, and to both our relief, I managed to get my hands on a secondhand Wandrd 31 this summer. 

Wandrd 31, an incredible versatile back pack.

The Wandrd 31 liter is a very versatile backpack, after I have filled it with my photo gear, there still is plenty of room for warm clothing and a coffee mug. The backpack has an easy access to the camera on the back, which means that the front, that is covered in some sort of pvc prevent the backpack from getting wet. 

The back opens for easy access.

As most photographers I probably carry too much, you kind of want to have a backup this and backup that. The last thing you want to experience is to miss a shot because you didn’t have a backup in a time of need. 

Ok, enough about the backpack, lets dive into the all-important content. 

Look at that, all lined up.

So here you go. this is the content of the backpack that I brought for this morning's shoot. Let's start form the top. 

Sirui carbon tripod with a ball head. I am no expert on gear, but this tripod was a nice upgrade I did last year. It isn’t too heavy, but still quite stable. I take a lot of seascapes and the tripod needs to take on both wind and the occasional wave. And so far, it has not let me down. 

The tripod needs to take on both wind and the occasional wave.

Then we have the Bose earplugs for suiting music. On the right you see the release wire that fits both the cameras. I normally use the remote app for my Fujifilm XT-3. But it's good to have a backup when the technology fails, as it does way too often. The green cloth is a face mask as a Covid-19 precaution. Then there is the compass. As mist and fog is a photographer's wet dream, I felt that a compass is a clever tool, at least when shooting in the mountains. The matches are a compliment to the brown leather case containing two Cubans. When the shot of the year is captured it calls for a celebration.  

Moving on we come to an essential part of the gear. The microfiber cloth. Never leave home without it. The Lacie Rugged is for onsite backup if I get paranoid and caught by fear of losing a great shot. The Fujifilm x 100s is my backup camera (with an extra battery and a couple of extra memory cards). It is kind of cheesy to refer to the x100s as a backup camera, because it is a brilliant camera in itself. I bought my x100s back in 2013 and its thanks to this camera that my photography got serious. Nothing has made me develop as a photographer as the Fujifilm x100s. To this day it's my go to camera for street photography and its brilliant for snap shots in conditions with poor lighting. If you are looking to get into photography but do not want to spend a fortune, look for a x100s. You can probably get your hands on a good one for around 400$. Then we have my main camera, the Fujifilm XT-3, for those of you with a sharp eye you will spot that I still shoot with the kit lens XF 18-55. Yes, I do want to upgrade. But for a kit lens it is pretty amazing. Bear in mind that most of the landscape photos you see here on my web is taken with this lens. It has a decent dept of field and the optic is really good. The XT-3 comes with the battery grip and carries three batteries. As you can see, I carry a couple of extra memory cards for my main camera as well. In addition, I have an extra eye muff and the black metal box contains lens paper and q-tips for the camera and band aid for me. Notebook glasses and a pen, just in case the poet in me get busy. Then there is the mini tripod for the x100s and a dust blower to keep lenses and sensors clean in the field. Cable and charger for the battery. And finally, the Fuji-non 100-400. I bought this lens for my first trip to Zimbabwe. It was a big step, and I had to dig deep into my wallet. But boy do I love that lens. Wildlife in Africa, pin sharp. Even shooting handheld. And for the zoomed in landscapes, its perfect. Heavy, bulky, but extremely sharp. I really love this lens.  

So, there you have it, this is my basic setup, always packed and ready to go. And while I have your attention, may I ask you to follow my other Instagram gallery as well; @BY_BAARD for pure landscapes. 

Buhera - where no road can take you

January this year my wife, Hildegunn, planed a visit to Buhera, a region in rural Zimbabwe. She runs the company Savannen, a Scandinavian interior company, and Buhera is where the beautiful Buhera baskets are made. The baskets are made of braided roots, an old craft passed down in generations. The visit to Buhera is part of our road-trip in Zimbabwe, were we visited places like Binga, Hwange, Victoria Falls and Bulawayo. And me? I tag along as a driver and photographer. 

Traveling in Zimbabwe calls for planning, a shortage of fuel and cash in the country, makes it crucial to know where the next fuel stop may be. An extra can of fuel is always placed in the trunk of the car. We spend the evening planning for the trip to Buhera on the patio at a lovely Airbnb in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. 

Hildegunn is planing the trip to Buhera in detail and I try to act all casual after running back from the self timed camera.

The trip from Bulawayo to Buhera is supposed to take four to five hours. As far as we can see from the map, the last hour will be on dirt roads with unpredictable standards. And as this is the rain season, although it has been dry as summer so far, the weather could shift in minutes. Turning the roads into rivers. To be on the safe side we decide to leave early next morning, leaving before sunset. 

We get up early as planned, the power in Bulawayo is shut down and the headlight come in handy to find the way to the bathroom across the courtyard. Before light brakes, we are in the car and on our way to Buhera. The rental car we ordered, a 4x4 Landcruiser, turned out to be Honda shuttle, a city family car. Not the best car for road tripping in Africa. But that is all forgotten as we hit the main road. Nothing beats the feeling of freshly brewed coffee, homemade breakfast in a paper bag, the greatest travel companion, and the endless African roads. 

It turns out that only a couple of hours is spent on tarmac and soon we are off into the bush on dusty roads. 

The dirt road take us through an amazing landscape. And now and again we pass a village.

The landscape is constantly changing, shifting from savannah to more rockier hills. In some areas the rocks are stacked in a manlike manner, except the rocks are gigantic and not possible for any human to stack. I am still trying to find out how the stacks is made. Which nature force has balanced this gigantic stone blocks on top of each other? 

An example of the stacking stones.

As we have been on the road for seven hours straight, I start to wonder if we have driven too far. Hildegunn is constantly texting on WhatsApp with Charlie, our guide on this trip that never made it to Buhera as he is stuck in an endless queue at the South-African border. Hildegunn tells me that in the next village there is supposed to be a guy waiting for us and show us to the home of the grandmother. The grandmother and her family that is making the beautiful baskets. I feel a slight irritation as I think to myself, how are we going to find this guy, we do not know were to meet him. But I say nothing. 

Well there were absolutely no reason for me to get irritated. Entering the next village, which consisted of a grocery shop without much groceries, a bar and a hardware store, there is only one man standing by the roadside. He waves at us as he sees the car. As I bring the car to a halt, he jumps in the backseat, a short presentation than we hit the road again, or not! 

The village, which consisted of a grocery shop without much groceries, a bar and a hardware store.

Our new guide which name also is Charlie, tells me to make ha right turn. I hesitate as there is only one road, and that road is heading straight ahead. But Charlie insist that I should head straight into the bush, even thou there is not a single tire mark in the dry mud. So, I make a right turn. It turns out this is the start of a 20 minutes' drive through fields of dried out crops and riverbeds. 

On our imaginary road we passes a herd of cows.

But finally, after close to eight hours strait driving, we arrive. And what a welcoming, the grandmother, all dressed up for the occasion, throws her selves in the arms of Hildegunn. It all happens so fast and spontaneous. I cannot help myself, I burst out in tears. Even now, writing this, half a year later, I cannot hold back the tears. It was such an emotional experience and a clear proof of how important her business relation with Savannen.no is to her and her family. 

Witnessing this moment is one of my lifes greatest experiences.

(The grandmother, Hildegunn and Charlie the off-road guide.)

The lovely grandmother and her little family start gathering the baskets and tells us the story of how she learned the craft. As she speaks Shona, the language of the Hera ethnic group, most of the communication is nonverbal. But hand gestures, smiles and sounds makes it an easy to understand and captivating story. 

When you buy a Buhera basket at Savannen you become part of Savannens Fairtrade and can rest assured that the producer is pay rightly and that the money goes directly to the grandmother and other producers in Buhera. This visit alone supplied the grandmother and her family with more than half a year's income.

The grandmother takes a keen interest in how Savannen.no customers are using the baskets as interior details. She really enjoys the pictures Hildegunn shows her on Instagram @savannen_no. I can sense that she is proud to see here craft travel across the world to end up as an artwork in someone's home. 

The grandmother takes a keen interest in how Savannen.no customers are using the baskets as interior details.

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Inspecting the beautiful hand craft.

Counting and thinking about how to fit all the baskets in a small Honda….

We manage to fit most of the baskets in and on the car. The people of Zimbabwe really know how to pack a car. and soon we are ready to head back to Bulawayo. Dark is only hours away, and we were hoping to be back on tarmac before the sun sets. The traffic is deadly at night, as lorries and other heavy machinery plows through the night with a parking light or a left turn signal as only light source. 

This story ends as we finally reach the main road, dark has arrived and I do my best to keep up with the traffic, speeding to 110 km/h trying to keep out of reach for the oncoming traffic. Thats when I hit a big hole in the road. It feels like the wheel is ripped off the car. I stop roadside. Luckily only a puncture. Well, it is only one thing to do. Empty the car of all the baskets to get to the spare wheel, avoid getting hit by a passing truck or eaten by lions even bitt by a snake and get back on the road ASAP. This poor quality video kind of sums it up. I just love our African adventures! 

Like a virgin in Zimbabwe

2019 I had my first experience shooting wildlife in Africa. Actually it was my first trip to Africa for any reason, and what a journey it turned out to be. I knew that the name of the game in wildlife photography—whether I was trying to capture a herd of elephants by the water hole or seals in my backyard—is patience. Wild animals are going to do what they’re going to do. Unfortunately, I can’t ask them to look this way, do something cute, or stand where the light is better. I have to be there, and ready, when they decide to look cute or do something interesting. Patience is my soar spot, and this being my first encounter with wildlife in Africa, I was way to eager to shoot. I hope I’ve learned my lesson when I go back to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe later this year. I am prepared to wait, and wait, and wait—it takes a long time to get good wildlife shots, even longer to make great ones.

But it was not a waste of time. I managed to get a couple of decent shoots. And most important I learned something new for every photo I took. The longer I spend with an animal or a group of animals, the better I get to know them and their habits. I get to see the personalities of different individuals, and hopefully I will get to the point where I can anticipate what they might do at a particular time of day or in a certain situation. Going back I will make sure to have my friend and guide, Vuza, to learn me more about animal behavior and that way, hopefully, I will get more life into my photos.