THE LIST: Packing for an Overseas Shoot

My personal check list for a shoot abroad.

Heya guys, thanks for your patience the past couple of weeks whilst I’ve been a little quieter on here; prepping for a couple of shoots, dealing with a couple of kids with chicken pox and generally trying to just get through the month of January. It’s a hell of a month to get through as a freelancer unless you land one of the few unicorn jobs that are kicking around from clients who’ve managed to book things in before Christmas, or if you’ve got yourself a retainer - so if you’ve made it this far, I salute you.

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Anyway - I’m writing this from my hotel bed in Marrakesh, on my third shoot of the year. The first was a two-hour long brand shoot, with a small budget but a great concept so I made an exception to my ‘no half day shoots’ rule. The second was a few days ago, shooting an editorial for Porter magazine - one of those great and easy days that shows you just how stress free it can all be. A simple email landed in my inbox on 2nd January, with contracts up front, a clear budget outlined and a small, concise deliverables. Easy breezy (why can’t all clients be like this…).

This third shoot is a bit more complicated; abroad, more of a time commitment, more of a production commitment, more deliverables, more time away from my family… just more. So I thought I’d take you through my preparation process for a shoot of this type, before I give you the follow up Case Study next week, with all the lessons / take aways that’ll inevitably be learned over the next couple of days.