Pelican Case: Every Photographer’s Best Travel Buddy

As a photographer, I often travel around Australia in a search for something new and interesting to shoot. Also, there are my professional deals and photo sessions that often require for me to hop on a plane and fly to the other side of the country for a shooting. It is all exciting and fun, until I need to actually pack everything and transport it on the plane. And we all know how nagging airlines’ policies are: luggage dimensions, weight requirements, you can carry this on board, can’t carry that on board… I’m really fed up with it all, so I now rarely bring anything with me except some clothing and of course – the equipment.

A professional photographer travels with a rather large number of equipment pieces for photographing: a camera, lenses, lighting kit and so on. All these are just impossible to fit in a regular travelling suitcase without worrying if you’re going to find them all crashed to bits and pieces after the flight. So, to protect my rather pocket draining investment, I decided it was time for me to do the smart thing – buy the real deal for transferring equipment: a case from the Pelican cases Australia retailers.

However, I did have some concerns about getting a Pelican case, because as I said, although it may be a smart investment, this case is everything but cheap. It’s so well designed and so eye-appealing that it instantly sends a message that there’s something of very high value in it. Meaning: target on my head and my entire equipment. So, after some thinking and very careful search through the Pelican cases Australia shops, I came up with the following tricks.

Buy it, and disguise it

When you’re thinking about a Pelican case, it’s obvious that your primary need is safety from damages. While something like the Pelican case could most certainly give you a high level of security, it’s also very probable that it will be easily spotted by the eyes of thieves. To shift their attention off your case, mark it: use white paint and write your name, or the name of your company on it. This makes the case very easy to spot from a far distance, so nobody would risk to steal it.

Lock it

The type of locks you’ll use is crucial here. It’s advisable to avoid the TSA locks as they really don’t serve any purpose and can even break your luggage. Instead, go with zip ties as they really lock the case. If you need to go to a remote destination, like somewhere in the mountains, then you need to bring real locks just to be sure that your equipment is perfectly safe.

Consider the weight

Bear in mind that you can’t just place your equipment in the case, take it, and head to the airport. For starters, the case itself is really heavy, and with the extra burden from the equipment, it will be impossible to carry it around. It would be a good idea to get a travel scale to help you transport it. Also, since this is a considerable weight we’re talking about, you may want to check with the airline’s criteria for allowed weight on-board. Safe travels!