When you have a long day of shooting, you hope for good weather. The one thing you don’t want to hear is:
“Windy with rain diminishing to a few showers late. High 73F. ENE winds shifting to NW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Locally heavier rainfall possible.”
That’s what the weather channel has planned for tomorrow. The brief blurb says 80% chance of heavy rain/wind. This is of course hurricane/tropical storm Ike now that it has made its way on land.
Great.
I am shooting the St. Charles Marathon tomorrow. Marathons go on, rain or shine. That means photographers work, rain or shine. I am shooting with the Action Sports Images team out of Kansas City. We are all digging up our wateproof shoes, finding rain protection for our gear and getting ready for a long and wet day.
Since I have to be up around 5:30 am, I decided to pack my bag tonight. Luckily I am shooting for specific shots and don’t need to bring a slew of gear.
Included is:
- Crumpler 7 Million dollar home (a waterproof bag of course)
- Canon 1d Mark II in a plastic rain cover
- 3 spare batteries
- monopod
- memory cards in a hakuba case inside of a ziplock
- sunglasses (which I pray that I need)
- Camelbak Blowfish (when you are standing around shooting for 4-5 hours, you want water!)
- A variety of energy bars.
- Rain jacket (the white thing in the bag)
Not pictured are my energy drinks, waterproof boots, microfiber shirt, light weight pants…etc.
The marathon starts at 8am. If it is raining hard all morning and very windy, it could get cold very fast. Last year, I stocked up on chemical hand warmer packs. I might bring a few just in case.