Living here in Wi, where it's currently not breaking out of the single digits, I've done OK putting together some gear that's worked well for photography. This past weekend I was photographing Bald Eagles along the Wisconsin River, and it was painfully cold (-10F), so was able to put my stuff to the test. A lot of what Mr. Hoffman stated in the interview works pretty well.
- The key to staying warm is to not get cold in the first place. It sounds dumb, but it's 100% the goal. Once you get chilled, it's a challenge to get that warm feeling back again. In essence, you leave the house warm/toasty and try to keep as much of that warmth with you as possible. Only expose for short stints, especially your fingers.
-
Outdoor Research Highcamp 3-finger Gloves- I have similar "lobster" gloves from Outdoor Research that leave my thumb and trigger finger free. The glove also has a liner to add extra warmth. My fingers never got cold in these gloves, but there's still a sense of impediment trying to operate the small button on the camera. In certain situations, I'd pull off the thick outer glove and shoot wearing just the liner, put the glove back on when done.
- Hand warmers: one little trick is to put a hand warmer on the underside of your wrist, as it'll heat the blood as it flows into your hands. Some glove manufacturers have wrist straps made for this purpose; others have pockets on the back of the glove to put warmers in. I'm currently looking into USB-heated gloves to assist in maintaining warmth as well, but haven't committed to any as yet.
-
Baffin Impact Snow boots - these boots are the ultimate in warmth, they chewed that -10F up and spit it out like it was nothing. They're quick and easy to don/doff, and seal out snow from getting in the tops. Only drawback is that you can't really safely drive with these on, they're very thick and clunky.
Head cover/balaclava- Mr. Hoffman was 100% correct, and it even gets worse when wearing sunglasses: the balaclava will channel warm breath upwards, which will fog up any glasses you're wearing, but also your viewfinder. It's annoying, because eventually that warm breath will crystalize on your eyelashes
I use a cheap Amazon-purchased thermal balaclava, nothing fancy.
Shooting in the winter pretty much just sucks. I hate it, but deal with it because the alternative is being stuck inside going crazy. The bulky clothes and loss of dexterity is frustrating, as is the exhaustive checklist of crap you have to remember for each outing lest you freeze. Given the choice of this vs. 90F + 90% humidity + bugs, I'll take the heat any day of the week.
petapixel.com
