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A funny thing happened to me on my way to Ireland . . . I was asked by a company to come to Dublin to photograph a brochure for their wine company. I had met one of the partners when she was in the Napa Valley, my home ground, and she had liked my photography of the vineyards, grapes and general product work.It was a lovely surprise to be invited overseas to shoot. My first time. I had to take virtually all of my studio equipment and took great pains to pack my lighting stuff and cameras so that nothing would be damaged. My camera tripods and lightstands had to be custom packed in a long box 48" by 11 x 9" to come in under the airlines requirements. We wrapped the legs in a sheet foam to minimize scratching too. I have a good tip for any first time travelers with camera equipment. Make an inventory list with serial numbers and piece descriptions. Then, arrive early at the airport and have the customs office stamp it with their logo and date. This is to be of great benefit when you come back into the country and have to prove that you didn't purchase it overseas. Also, it came in handy for me on two other occasions. One, when we took our hop from London to Dublin my tripod package didn't show up. As you know there has been a bit of hostility between Northern Ireland and England, and they are particularly wary of things that are long, sound like hollow pipes, and are padded at that. I believe they thought I might be running weapons. I would have expected them to have x rayed it. They called the following morning and asked quite a few questions beating around the bush and finally asked what do I have in the long box? I said that I was a photographer, and the box contained tripods, which they should feel free to open . . . my list could prove that point. So all went well. They were delivered to me in good condition.My associate and I spent 11 of 14 days shooting ( with cameras ) the picturesque country side with products and an old, really old B&B- from the 1700's. - interiors with lighting.
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IMPORTANT: Remember to take a
transformer, or rent one to convert your equipment to European voltage. The power varies
from country to country. We were fortunate to find an electrician with a huge, old, heavy
one. A life saver he was. At the end of each day we saw our "Dailies" ( at the
E6 lab ) and would approve them and move on to the next several sets for the following
days schedule. All in all a successful trip. Ah, the second reason to have that list.
Coming through customs in America it was easy to show what was in each suitcase and that
it was not newly purchased and taxable merchandise. Otherwise it could take some
time and discussion particularly if any of your equipment looks new. Also, when I unpacked
I found one of my umbrellas with a curved shaft, not a straight one, and that my new Bogen
tripod was without a leg - broken clear off. It must have been a big drop to cause that.
The airline company was terrific and had them replaced within a week. I understand that
sometimes airlines are a hassle in this area, so I would heartily recommend Virgin Air
since they were so accommodating and polite. I will always use them as I will never have
to worry about damages. They also had comfortable seating, and really GOOD food. I very
much enjoyed my chance to shoot on foreign soil and hope to do it again next year.
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