In this episode of Jeff and Angie Photography, Angie walks viewers through a detailed preparation plan for an upcoming Arctic photography trip to the Svalbard Islands. She emphasizes the importance of travel insurance (costing about 13% of the trip price) and outlines a comprehensive packing strategy designed to survive airline carry‑on restrictions, using F‑Stop inserts and modular roller bags. The video lists specialized cold‑weather gear such as oversized insulated boots, waterproof dry‑bag backpacks, and camera rain covers for use in Zodiac boats. Angie details her camera setup—Sony A7R IV with a 60‑600 mm lens, 24‑70 mm, and a 70‑200 mm, plus magnetic filters and a polarizer—while noting Jeff will use a comparable Canon kit. She explains power management abroad, including Type‑C adapters, a 220 V to 110 V inverter, and dual power strips, and highlights tracking tools like Apple AirTags and the Osprey Shuttle bag with an unconditional warranty. Emergency communication is covered with a satellite phone and a Zoleo texting device. Affiliate disclosures are presented for B&H, Promedia Gear, Luminar Neo, F‑Stop, and Topaz Labs. The video concludes with a promotion for an upcoming Caddo Lake, Texas fall workshop, encouraging viewers to sign up via the website. The overall tone is instructional, conversational, and enthusiastic, aimed at photographers planning remote, high‑risk trips.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of Jeff and Angie Photography. Today we are going to be talking about our next big adventure. We are going to take a trip to the Svalbard Islands and go photograph polar bears, Arctic foxes, miniature caribous, Various birds, species, walruses, seals, whales, and that's if we have an absolutely amazing trip. We're going to be on the MS Freya, and we set sail out of a little town that's about 500 miles from the North Pole. It is called Longyearbyen. It's on the Svalbard Island, and the Population there is about 2,500 people. So stay tuned, let's go see what we can check out. All right, so let's jump into this little PowerPoint presentation I kind of did up for you guys. Okay, so how to pack for your next big adventure. Everything from travel insurance to gear. When you're planning a trip, um, that costs as much as this one that Jeff and I are going on, I highly suggest travel insurance. For what we paid for this trip, the policy was about 13% of the cost. And travel insurance covers items like if it gets canceled, if you get injured or sick and you're not able to travel, if you get sick while you're out traveling, it'll pay for a lot of your medical bills, and even an emergency evacuation up to a certain dollar amount. It pays for lodging, missed flights, lost baggage. It covers quite a bit, and it's very well worth the 13% of your cost. So one thing, when you're getting ready for your trip, I highly suggest that you always prepare for the worst because the airlines reserve the right to check your carry-on bags if it's too small or they run out of space. So my backup plan is always to have a— I use F-Stop, the brand F-Stop, but lots of companies make the inserts. They fit inside of your bags, and inside the bag has the Velcro straps and such so you can strap it all in and put the padding in between. each of your cameras and lenses. And the reason I do that is because the roller bag is the maximum size for the overhead compartment. And sometimes you get on those smaller commuting planes and they ask you to check your bag because it's too big for the overhead. So you can pull it out of the over— you can pull it out of your bag and it reduces the size so it'll fit in the overhead. Or even underneath the seat, underneath the front of your seat in front of you. So, um, I always recommend that to all of my photographer friends, family, also all of my students. I tell them, be prepared, because the gate guards reserve the right to have you check your bag. And a friend of mine was traveling to Israel Here in— I think it was just a couple months ago, and she was flying a little commuter plane out of Corpus Christi, and they asked her to check her bag. So she just opened it up, pulled her laptop out, pulled her little compartment out, and put it in the overhead, put her laptop underneath the seat in front of her, and she was good to go. And then once they landed in Houston, they gave her back her roller bag and she put it all back together. And the rest of the flights were fine because they were full-size planes. So that is the plan. Always plan for the worst. Okay, so next, our big adventure that we're going on is the Svalbard Islands. The town that we'll be getting on our ship is Longyearbyen, Norway. It's a little town on the Svalbard Islands. That is 2,500 plus or minus people. And this trip is located about 500 miles above the Arctic Circle, so we did need some specialized gear for this trip. We do spend a lot of time in Yellowstone, so we don't need a lot of the Heavy coats and snow pants and stuff. But one thing that we did have to do is we had to buy some oversized snow boots. I mean, just look at this insulation on these things. It's incredible. It's like walking on air, and you would think they weigh a ton, but they're super light. Anyhow, Those are the boots we got. They take up half of my suitcase. So another thing I put in my checked bag is my lens hoods, because fitting them inside my roller bag is kind of tough. So I wrap them all in clothes, put them inside, and I haven't had anything happen to them yet. And on this particular trip, I'm only going to take a small tripod just because I think we have a layover in London for overnight, and I want to go take some pictures of the Tower Bridge and the red phone box booths or phone booths. So we'll do that, but otherwise I wouldn't be taking a tripod because they're not allowed in the Zodiacs, and the constant vibration of the boat. You can't really use your tripods on the boat anyways, so everything, all the video, everything is all going to be handheld. So, all right. Oh, something else that we needed to get for this trip, which I don't have yet. I finally found some. They are the— it's a backpack that's a dry bag that's waterproof. And that's for going out in the Zodiac, because the bottom of the Zodiac where you put your camera gear is going to be full of water. And then you also have to have the raincoats for your cameras, which those will stay on the whole time we're gone. And that'll cover— that'll protect the cameras and lenses from salt spray, snow, rain, whatever kind of element we run into. So while we're out on the Zodiacs, we'll be looking for polar bears, Arctic foxes, miniature caribou, walruses, seals, whales, and various bird species. All right, another specialized item that we need for our trip is a satellite phone and a Zoleo, uh, that is used for Texing. All right, so I use the Think Tank roller bag. This is the Airport Security International. The size is 8 inches by 15 inches by 21 inches, so it's the maximum size for carry-on, and that's why I carry My f-stop insert inside of it. So you got a little compartment here in the front where you can put your laptop, and then you also got a really big pocket for a whole bunch of junk. And so this is what I have in here. I have my, my 600. Without the lens hood because that's going in my suitcase. I've got my Sigma 60-600, the new Sony version, which is a phenomenal lens. And then I've got 1A1, and I did take my L-brackets off to help conserve weight. Because we are limited by weight when we get on the plane from Oslo to Svalbard. And then I also have my wide-angle lens tucked in here, which I'll use for landscapes and some wide-angle on some walruses. So I'm taking my 24-70. Um, I was really debating between that and my, my 14-24, but I think that might just be too wide once I get to London. So then another thing I have in here is my money, backup SD cards. And I have all my backup batteries. I just kind of stuff those in here all around the lenses. All right, so that is bag number 1. And so if they ask me to check my bag, all I do is Is I reach in here and I will grab this insert, pull it out, zip it up, and carry that on the plane with me. And I also pull my laptop out and slide my laptop inside of this bag as well. Oh, nice. And I give them that bag, and they check the empty bag. And this bag fits in the overhead quite nicely. So, on to my next bag. This is the bag that typically goes underneath the seat in front of me. It's just an inexpensive roller bag off of Amazon because I go through them pretty quick. So this one here also has one of the F-stop inserts which fits underneath the seat quite nice, and in that I have my lens cleaning kit. I got another A1. My A7R IV that's going with me is filming this right now along with my small tripod, so I cannot show you those 2. I got my little Sony speaker for doing some wildlife stuff. Here is the Zoleo I was telling you about. This is emergency text device and also just mere texting. You can get unlimited plan on it. And then I'm also going to take my DGA mic system and my 70-200. So that is my other carry-on. Don't forget about our affiliates. This is on our website. Um, we are affiliates for B&H, Promedia Gear, Luminar Neo, F-Stop bags, Topaz Labs. And if you click this right here, this will take you to a list of all of our gear. Our rep over there, Abe, was kind enough to put all this together for us. Okay, so this here is just kind of a little rundown. It shows the Sony gear that I plan on taking along with some polarizers, filters for the, for the landscape lens. I have magnetic filters, Freewell filters, and then I also have a polarizer for the 60-600 since that'll be mostly my video lens. And And then Jeff, he'll be taking his Canon gear, his R5, R7, R3, his 600 with 2x and 1.4x teleconverter, just like mine except Canon gear. Pretty much the same thing. Um, so, and then next, laptop, iPad, hard drives, memory cards, chargers, and batteries. You want all that? In your carry-on bag. And when you're traveling overseas, another thing you need to keep in mind is that they do not have the same power outlets that we have. They— every one of the countries have a different one. Where we're going, that uses a Type-C adapter, and it's just 2 large prongs. It plugs into the wall, and then we have an inverter that plugs into that. that takes the 220 volts and turns it into 110, and then we plug in one of our power strips that we'll take from here, the US. It has all US plugs on it. We carry one in our carry-on and we carry a second set in our checked bag because sometimes if you have a long layover, you might need to charge your phone or your laptop And you never know, they might lose your bag, which they've done before. Um, oh, and another thing you should put in all of your checked bags is, um, if you have an Apple phone, get the Apple AirTags. Those help you locate your bags in the event that they come up missing. They've come in handy at least Twice since we've started using them 3 years ago. And our check bag of choice is this Osprey Shuttle Bag. It's the 36-inch size. It has large compartments. It's got big roller wheels. So it rolls over all terrain. It's lightweight, and best of all, they offer an unconditional warranty on their bags. So not if, when the airlines completely trashes your bag, you call them up, they ask for pictures, they send you a new one, you destroy the old bag, and there's no charge for you. So a few other accessories that we're gonna take. I'm gonna take my GoPro so I can get some, maybe some underwater footage of whales swimming. Wouldn't that be cool? I think it would be awesome. Ew, wind! Gotta take a swimsuit too because I'm doing the Polar Plunge with the GoPro. All right, so That is all of the slideshow, and I think I have covered it all. I have Caddo Lake, Texas fall workshop, November 10th through the 12th. I'm working on all of the details right now, putting them together, but if you want more information, hit that button, and as soon as I post it You will get an email telling you all the details, um, what all it's going to entail. I know that we are going to have boat rides in DeKalb Lake, sunrise and sunset, and then a couple midday adventures. So go check out our website, get signed up for more info, and hopefully I will see you on our next one. Workshop. Thank you for watching, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Thank you.
