What's Underneath Christmas Tree?
I was in a daze as the days and weeks have passed because life keeps me busy and yesterday, I woke up realizing that we are already just over one month away from Christmas! That went fast…why didn’t I see that coming? It’s already November 24 and I absolutely needed to send you my Christmas Gift recommendations for your loved ones or better yet, for yourself. I know it can be very difficult to choose the right gift idea for a photographer or more specifically in my case a landscape photographer but here are a couple of ideas that could really make your Christmas shopping much easier. Some are cute, some are more expensive but all of them are surely going to make you a star for the photographer in your gang!
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BABY LEOFOTO TRIPOD
Over the course of the last few years, I have found myself in situations where my regular beefy tall tripod was simply too cumbersome to use in particular cases. Whether it was too tall or couldn’t go low enough…or once set to its minimum height, all I could see was one of its long legs, I knew I needed to find another tripod as a plan B. For me, there’s no way I will lay the camera directly on the ground on wet muddy soil or on an abrasive rock surface. We pay a lot for these cameras. In my search, I came across a really awesome Baby Tripod from Leofoto. It came with a really sturdy tripod head too…for a little over 200$ Really? Where’s that Buy it Now button! I bought one and not only does it fit inside my camera backpack, it is the cutest little thing ever. That photographer someone in your life (or yourself) won’t be able to resist saying: AWWW! That’s such a cute tripod!
I recommend Leofoto for obvious reasons. Yes, you could find cheaper knockoffs on Amazon…but what I love about Leofoto is that their tripods are not only well made, they also have a great customer service. It won’t happen very often that we break a tripod but if it does, you want to make sure that you can find the parts instead of being forced to buy a new one. Leofoto has spare parts available for their customers. Yes, you’d need to pay for them but at least your tripod will be salvageable and have a second life.
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WADERS FOR PHOTOGRAPHY?
You might be wondering: Waders for Photography? Yes! And I have used mine countless times since I bought them years ago. They are fantastic! They open endless composition opportunities while staying dry. How many times did I try standing on slippery rocks and ended up getting wet before I started using waders? I can’t actually recall since there were too many times I took an accidental dip.
Why do I love these waders in particular? Well, they are just like rubber boots with nylon sleeves so they are light and comfortable. I just don’t feel them when I put them on. Their absence of insulation makes them easy to carry inside my camera backpack. I just roll them and put them inside a plastic bag before putting them inside my backpack. The fact that they don’t have insulation also makes them usable as much during summer as in winter. I don’t overheat in them during the summer season and I don’t freeze during the winter since I am already wearing the insulation underneath. I simply add an extra pair or two of socks to keep my feet warm. With that being said, you should consider buying one size bigger to give room for the extra insulation.
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A F-STOP GEAR BACKPACK
I see your next question: Dan, which camera bag do you use? How can you fit waders in a camera bag? I use a f-stop gear camera backpack and it is very well designed and super roomy. It’s actually a system which allows you to choose a bag size and a camera compartment size based on your needs. Sure, my waders wouldn’t fit inside their smaller bags…gotta use some physics logic here. The one I use is a Tilopa 50L with a Large Pro ICU and I have enough empty space and pockets throughout the bag to fit snacks, a spare fluffy jacket, rain coat, Baby Tripod, my waders and most importantly, my camera gear. Yes I know that a bag filled with all of the above could potentially be heavy but thanks to their frame system which distributes most of the weight on the hip belt instead of the shoulders, I can carry a 20 kilos bag for hours with no pain. The bags are also made of top of the line fabrics and hardware which ensures that they’ll survive pretty much anything you’ll throw at them.
Oh…and great news! f-stop Gear just started their Pack Week Event which gives you a great opportunity to grab a system with a discount of 20%! That’s truly awesome, you won’t find a deal like that during the year. Yes, even with the discount, a f-stop Gear backpack could also sound a bit expensive. I was in that boat…I couldn’t initially justify spending that much money on a bag so I bought cheaper options which never performed well at the simple task of carrying my camera and lenses. A f-stop Gear backpack does so much more than just that…and it does it in style! Their bags also look amazing. They don’t scream camera bag… Once you go f-stop Gear, you will never go back to something else. I did an article about the f-stop Gear Camera Backpack I use in the past. CLICK HERE to read the article!
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MSR SNOWSHOES
Yup, MSR Snowshoes. I have a set of their Ascent Series and I truly love them. I am a nature lover and more specifically a winter season lover. As a landscape photographer spending a lot of time in the Canadian Rockies where snow is often more than abundant, I have to use snowshoes otherwise I sink. Snowshoes makes winter hiking a breeze, it’s a good exercise for cardio too.
One thing to keep in mind when buying snowshoes, if you plan to go up and down hills, avoid at all cost the cheaper tubular models. These will be as slippery as skis on a proper slope. You need snowshoes with grips all around the frame which will make them reliable in any situation whether there’s ice or deep fluffy snow. I use MSR snowshoes…but keep in mind that other brands also offer similar side grip.
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YETI INSULATED FLASK
For me, being a landscape photographer often involves long wait times for the light to show up. Let me tell you, a Yeti Insulated Flask with warm tea or hot chocolate makes these long periods of waiting a breeze. Every sip is so comfortable and seems to give you the physical strength to last another hour in sub-freezing temperatures…until you need another sip. Good quality bottles or flasks will have better insulation properties which will keep your precious life-saving liquid hotter for longer. Cool thing is they can be used on a daily basis too…it’s far from being a single use gift.
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BATTERY AIR BLOWER
That’s actually a fun one…a Battery Air Blower. An air blower that works with batteries! Cool isn’t it? Why would a landscape photographer need that? Personally, I am often photographing in difficult conditions near water or when it’s raining. I do use lens clothes but once they are dampened, they only spread moisture all over the lens. I recently met with a friend and he had one of those battery air blowers and I was blown away at how effective it was! HAHAHA! Blown away…you got that one? The small motor can spin at over 50000 Rpm so it will definitely blow away drops of water or snow flakes or dust in general. A cute little gadget that I will definitely buy for myself very soon!
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CAMERA RAIN COVER
A Camera Rain Cover from ThinkTank is also a super affordable useful piece of equipment to buy as a gift for a landscape photographer. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I spend a lot of time shooting near water or when there is precipitation. When the Battery Air Blower will keep the lens’ front element dry, the Camera Rain Cover will keep the rest of the equipment dry. Manufacturers are bragging about how weather sealed their equipment is but the truth is it’s always better to give it some form of protection. Especially when shooting near salty water. Ask me how I know! I know that I regret a few times when I did not use my rain cover for the seascape images I created in Norway and Ireland in 2025!
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BATTERY BANK
In today’s portable devices era, almost everybody has some form of power backup. A Battery Bank will definitely come in handy if you are on the go and need to charge camera batteries. Why not charge them while driving? Yes, you can use the USB port inside a car. But then comes the time to do a long hike or a back country photography excursion and you only have one or two batteries? A Battery Bank will serve a great purpose at not only charging your camera batteries, it could also keep your phone’s battery alive for many days. If astro photography is your thing, a Battery Bank could even power a star tracker or even a lens warmer!
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SANDISK COMPACT SSD
A landscape photographer travels a lot. When I travel I have to carry a ton of stuff. One thing that I love to carry is a small Sandisk Compact SSD Hard Drive. These SSD drives fit in the palm of your hand and they weigh nothing. They are super fast too. Once in a while, I will carry a laptop to backup my images taken daily but I can’t carry the laptop on hikes. And there’s no way I will leave my images on an unattended laptop. I always need a second and a third copy. The first copy of my images will remain on my memory cards since I have many. The second copy will be on the laptop and the third copy will be stored on my Sandisk SSD drives. Redundancy will make it almost impossible for you to lose all your images. Losing or getting your camera equipment stolen sucks but it can always be replaced. Losing all the images is a different story since all these moments you captured are slices of time that simply cannot be replaced. Every moment is unique and only happens once.
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ANTIQUE CAMERA
Unless you plan on actually using it, an Antique Camera is probably the most useless present. But every time I see one, I just become a child. I truly enjoy to see the history…in today’s photography ERA, most of us use digital cameras. Some purists still use film cameras. But I think it’s a general thing that all photographers love an antique camera. It’s fun to see how simple yet complicated they were made. I know, that’s kind of contradictory statement but it’s very true. They didn’t have complicated menus with touch screens back then…they had flimsy leather bellow and complicated mechanisms made of a series of chrome parts. I have multiple antique cameras and I don’t use them very often if I am honest…but they sure make the shelf queen and a great subject to talk about when I have visitors! Most of them are also so cheap on Ebay!
…IN CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, I think that makes for some great Christmas present ideas for Christmas that is just a month away. Ok…I have to go and build that Christmas tree and hope that my wife will actually read this article and tuck some of these present recommendations underneath it!
Happy Christmas Shopping everyone!
