Carrying your gear through Airport Security - All you need to know.

Flying with my gear was always an issue to me since I never know how many gear will I carry for the assignment or where to carry it.

Then there is always the problem of Airport Security and Check-ins on different airports, the sizes of the bags are never the same (at least here in Europe) and you do not want your personal gear to travel "unguarded" since this will imply that when you arrive at your destination it will never arrive or some gear maybe missing.

For this kind of things there are always someone peaking at you to see if they can catch you distracted or if you leave your "precious" somewhere off handy...

I'm always mumbling around some of this stuff during my travels and fortunately never miss a piece... uFFFF!!!

But never say never!! I somehow manage to take some of my gear with me on a computer backpack or on some small photo bag but then again came the computer and cables now rule the backpack or bag and when going to check points nowadays they always want the computer out and will check most of the cables.

Sometimes I got tempted to shout out loud - "IT'S A BOMB", but then again you will loose your gear :)

Anyway, I found out that Steven Frischling, also known as "Fish" (not the Ex-Marillion singer) splits the majority of his time between his home on the Connecticut Shore and his client base in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to working around these two primary bases of operation, "Fish" documents weddings and photographs editorial, corporate and commercial assignments around the globe for his diverse client base.

After rolling through Steven Frischling blog I saw a lot of those answered questions that a lot of us keep asking about how to carry our gear through Airports Securities around the world.

This "Fish" guy is a heavy miles fly !!!

Nothing better than having him, who as done more than 420,000 miles in 10 months, to show us through the process and I can guarantee you that he has actually have done it and pass through it.

As he says on one of his blog "conversations" - "My bag was in my hands at 7:30pm on Monday and my first flight of this eight flight, five airline, five different aircraft type (ranging from the medium sized 737-500 to the "heavy" 777-200 & 747-400 and the tiny Dash-8 Turbo prop) three continent, five country, approx 34,000 actual flown air miles, crossing the Pacific twice , the Atlantic once and 10 trips through immigrations counters was to begin 10.5hrs later."

So follow all this on his blog while he explains how he get passed security with all this equipment:

---Quote---
"The following is a list of everything I have brought with me, all of it is pictured, with the Mountainsmith backpack it got loaded into:

Baseball hat ; tooth brush/tooth paste ; belt; four pairs of socks ; four pairs of underwear ; stick of Right Guard ; zip-lock bag of toiletries ; pack of sani-wipes ; pack of tishues; container of powder ; CF card reader ; retractable USB cord; iPod cord ; in-ear noise cancelling headsets ; on-ear noise canceling headsets; APC power inverter ; APC emPower (in-seat power) adapter ; Canon 1D ; Canon 85f1.2 ; Canon 14f2.8 ; Canon 50f1.4; Holga Lens (modified to fit Canon EOS mount) ; Newswear Press Pouch ; Canon 1D battery charger ; 4 Canon 1D batteries ; Motorola USB phone charger (for both Motorola phone and Blackberry phone) ; power cord for 1D battery charger ; 3-way power splitter ; MacBook power supply; Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket (limited edition "SportsShooter" version with 10 CF cards); Canon 70-200f2.8 ; iPod (in Red Sox sleeve) ; multi-country power-tip adapter ; hair brush ; sunglasses ; pen ; pack of tishues ; roll of Gaffers tap on a strap; two TSA approved locks on a zip-wire; Blackberry ; Motorola Razr; zip-lock with "Kim Wipes" (lint free cloth to clean lenses); four button up shirts ; North Face A5 cargo pants ; Timbuk2 mobile phone holser ; Passport ; wallet ; business card holder ; magazine (Photo District News) ; 12-slot flat DVD sleeve ; fleece vest ; Apple MacBook.......................and of course the Mountain Smith Parallax bag

**Not pictured are a pair of New Balance sneakers and the Canon 1Ds and 24f1.4 I used to shoot this photo."
---End of Quote---

There are a lot of information concerning Airport Securities and travel tips for photographer around the world.

He also suggests some carry on bags and backpacks.

Flying Fish is the name of the blog with loads of information that would make you loose some good sleeping hours.

So what are you waiting for go check it out and next time you travel by airplane you would not have an excuse not to bring your equipment.