It used to be so easy. You just threw a couple of cameras and lenses, a bag of film, and few notebooks into a bag and got on a plane. But the digital age’s myriad of new storytelling methods, and the increasing requirement of journalists to work and collaborate in a variety of media, means that traveling “backpack” journalists often have little space in their bags for anything other than electronics. Here’s a photo of the gear Carolyn and I packed for a two-week reporting trip to Mt. Carmel, Israel. Fortunately, we learned long ago to carry a minimum of clothes so we could fit the gear we bring on overseas assignments. As the demands of our book/photo/video projects increase, we’ll soon be traveling with just the clothes on our backs and our bathing suits.
