Field gear for a Birds-of-Paradise trip
In my work, every wildlife picture usually has a lot of gear and a lot of planning and preparation behind it. In this shot I am in a hotel room in Lae, Papua New Guinea, getting organized to make an expedition into the Huon Peninsula to photograph the Huon Astrapia, a very poorly known member of the Birds-of-Paradise family, back in 2006. After the international and domestic flights to get to Lae, I had to repack for a bush plane flight into a remote airstrip called Yawan. From there, I would hire villagers to help carry my gear, and make a strenuous all day hike up to a research camp. That's why here in this hotel room, I needed to repack from the large duffels used for international air travel, into reasonable porter loads consisting of small pelican cases and dry-bag backpacks. Sometimes I feel like I spend more time packing and repacking than shooting.