I've talked about tour essentials for photographers before. Now, let's cover a few festival essentials when you're working on a media team, especially if it's a camping festival where you might be staying in a bunker bin and not in a hotel.
Portable Bidet
For a camping festival, staff might not be camping in a tent, but you might be in a situation where showers are far off site and bathrooms are porta potties.
Factor in institutional grade toilet paper that's about half a ply away from being transparent, if you value personal hygiene, get a portable bidet.
I tried out a couple before picking the EKO Microjet portable bidet as the best one I found.
Microfiber Towel
If you're using showers at a camping festival, you'll need to bring your own towel. I'd suggest a quick drying microfiber towel. These towels are thin and will pack down quite small. Here, drying ability and size are a compromise. I'd suggest something in the middle at 48″ x 24″.
Bedding
If you're sleeping in a bunker bin (this is basically a shipping container that is setup with beds — the nicer ones may have their own bathrooms and showers), you will likely need to supply your own bedding.
If you're flying in and want to save space, you can get travel sheets, an inflatable camping pillow and a travel blanket. These items will be more compact than a sleeping bag, but that can be an option, too.
Shower Slippers
If you're using shared showers, bring some flip flops or cloud slides. This is a touring go-to, but shared showers at a festival are a good bet to use shower slippers, too.
Flashlight
A dedicated flashlight is always a good option for a photographer working in the dark. But add in needing to navigate to your bunk or site in the dark, a flashlight is a great idea. If you have a golf cart as part of the media team, these often don't have headlights, and in the chance you need to take paths that aren't lit, a dedicated flashlight will have more throw and projection than your phone's built in flashlight.
Olight makes some great lights, the one I have is the Olight Baton. You can get this model with a case with a built-in battery that will charge the light, same as Airpods charging in their case.
Babywipes
Babywipes! If you're working a camping festival, the staff showers might be a far ways from staff accommodations. In a pinch babywipes might make you serviceable if you can't get a proper shower. Please don't ask me how I know, but trust me, they might just save your life at a festival.
Liquid IV
Any festival list should include Liquid IV. Staying hydrated at a festival is important, especially if you're shooting a hot summer festival. I personally like the tangerine flavor that has an immune booster as well as the normal hydration aspect of Liquid IV. When you're working long hours with heavy exertion, in close quarters with people both out in the festival and in the media trailer, that immune boost isn't going to hurt.
At Hinterland Festival this year, the weather was extremely hot. I was basically chugging water in between every set, every day of the festival.
Even though I was sweating out a ton of water, Liquid IV kept me going, so I'm a huge believer in this product.
Sunscreen
This is bonus, as sunscreen is pretty much a given that you probably have in your festival kit. But normally I hate the feeling of wearing sunscreen when I'm working with my cameras, to the point that I've worn long sleeves and pants during festivals rather than wear sunscreen. So in that context, I wanted to share my favorite.
Biore Aqua Rich is my go-to sunscreen. It doesn't have a heavy or greasy feeling, which is why I love it. It's good for face and body.
Summary
These are some of my go-to items that are now in my festival kit. Most of these can also be very useful on tour as well, such as the portable bidet, shower slippers and flashlight. If you're packing for a festival and particularly a camping festival, I hope this list helps you live a little more comfortably while working.
For more ideas, check out my post on tour gear for music photographers:
