Travel Whoas
Me with this weekend’s groom circa 2001 (I think).
I am sitting in the E Terminal of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on the way to my nephew’s wedding in upstate New York. As I pondered a topic for this blog, I thought back on my many video-related trips and the amount of gear and luggage I have had to haul.
As I’ve said before, they don’t tell you about the physical side of video/film production in school. It’s all about the techniques and theory and making movies. Until you get out and do a shoot, you don’t realize how physically taxing it can be. And then you learn more about it when you do “one man band” shoots where you have to run camera, sound, lights and direct and produce all at the same time. And, of course, move your own gear.
I think the first big shoot I did that involved flying was in the early 2000s. I remember having checked one bag of gear and clothes and carrying two others. I also remember having a very tight connection and sprinting through an airport with at least 50 pounds of gear in those two bags. I was quite happy I’d been working out with RJ! I don’t think I’d have been able to do it otherwise.
Another trip sent me to New York City to record the keynote of a legal conference. I was put up in the Hilton near Central Park and it was great while I was there. I took a cab in from the airport but was told the train was a quicker way back so I thought I’d do the adventure.
On its face, yes, the train is a great way to get to the airport. But, again, I had bags of gear with me and had a heckuva time getting through the first turnstile I encountered. Ended up denting a laptop that was in my backpack because I got wedged in the stile with all my stuff and had to strain my way out.
In the past five years I went to several Markets in Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago and New York. Again with a ton of gear, but this time usually with other people to help. We’d still have to make a plan to wrangle it all, and often I’d just cram my clothes in with the gear to keep bags to the barest minimum. It’s also generally a good idea to keep some of the gear as carry on so in the case luggage is lost, you can still shoot some video on the camera you carry on.
For one of the trips, the company decided it only wanted two of us to go, but with the same amount of gear. One of the cases we shipped weighed over 100 pounds and I had pulled my back slightly the week we left.
As we were wheeling the bag to FedEx at the end of the Market to ship it back, I lost my footing and ended up catching the brunt of the weight of the bag as it tipped toward me. I nearly passed out from the shock of pain. My fellow video pro told me my face had turned completely white. After that we made some changes and A) always brought more that two people and B) always paid the concierge to move that particular case.
Fortunately this trip I am on has little of that to deal with. We are carrying one bag and have two others checked. And none of them should throw out my back. I’ll let you know if it does.
