Preparing and packing for commission travel

[Chris Saper]

Via a request from Jane Bradley, I'd like to start a thread describing how painters prepare and pack for commissions when they will be traveling. I would love to hear form others with more experience!

My experience is REALLY limited (one). Here's what I did.

First, I spent a lot of time talking to the client on the phone, understanding what she was looking for - this really guided me a great deal in preparing. She wanted an outdoor sunlit picture, had color harmonies in mind, described the clothing,

I figured out how to carry on everything I would need in case my luggage didn't arrive. (Of course you could ship stuff UPS in advance.):

-digital camera, extra chips, batteries and battery charger
-portable 4" x 6 " printer* with printer paper


I packed ( borrowed my sister in law's hard golf case):

-tripods- one for camera, one for lighting.
-light reflector
-photo reflective umbrella.
-extra camera (film)
-fabric, according to color scheme desired by client-current mini-portfolio
-my book
-2 cool light bulbs
-2 warm light bulbs

Here's what happened. I arrived about 2:30 pm, and learned that the family had to be somewhere at 5:30. I was scheduled out on a flight at 2:00 the next day. It was about to rain. I placed my (beautiful and sweet) subject outside, on the chosen fabric, and got a long extension cord to set up the warm light bulb in a reflector to mimic the temperature and direction of real sunlight. The first light bulb was broken, so happy to have planned on back-up.. I shot photos, and we arranged to meet in the morning to review them.

At my hotel, I printed out all the images onto 4 x 6 paper for review. Without a computer and Photoshop, I could do nothing to tweak the color on the prints which was completely dreadful. It can difficult to impossible for a client to see past bad color. I realized that I would want more reference detail, which I would shoot in the morning.

***NOTE: I bought a HP portable printer. My Nikon 5700, as new as it is, lacks "Pict-bridge" technology, where the camera connects directly to the printer with a cord. I needed a small format portable printer that would directly accept my chip. There were only two I could locate: HP, and Epson picture mate - twice the size, twice the weight. I returned the HP, and ordered the Epson. The pics were better, but what a misnomer to call this thing a portable printer! They warn you (after you open the printer and do the set up ) that you can't TIP the printer or the ink will leak. Go figure! I sent back the Epson and reordered the HP, which happily, I got at costco.com for $129, less a $75 rebate. All this before traveling.

(At this point I, must stop, my New Year's date awaits, and I will add additional info later).

[Chris Saper]

Backdrops.

A few years ago I bought a Giotto backdrop system. It consists of two very lightweight stable tripods that go up about 10 ' or so, three 3 ft long bars that screw together, and a very cool carrying case. My other tripods don't go high enough to give a "Girl with the Pearl" angle. I also got some tripod adapters: one for my camera-quick release- and one for my light with umbrella. They are so very versatile, as everything is interchangeable. Although I have not yet tried to carry on the pack, it looks as if it will fit within the airline parameters

I looked into Background- in- a- bag but found it limited.

[Michele Rushworth]

Thanks for starting this very helpful thread, Chris.

Instead of a portable printer you might find a laptop to be more useful for showing the client what the photos look like, with a USB-connected photo card reader. You could then tweak the photos, crop them, combine parts, etc. in Photoshop before showing them to the client.

Of course, this solution is a lot more expensive than a printer, if you don't already have a laptop.

[Cynthia Daniel]

After so long, it's hard to remember the details, but I know when I was with Schoeller, we made good use of these expandable tubes for travel to a client. You can add on sections to increase the length. Something tells me we used them for his tripod.

http://www.misterart.com/store/view....1488&store=001