Having spent two decades making a living as a wildlife photographer, I think I can officially say that being something of a gear head comes with the territory. If you’re reading this, you probably know that already. But gear comes in many forms. In our genre of photography, camera equipment is only one small part of the gear we use. And personally, I am a big believer in the idea that it’s the other gear, the ancillary stuff we use, that often has a greater impact on our ability to create compelling images that the camera equipment itself.

Over the past few issues of PhotoWILD, I have discussed some of this ancillary gear at great length. The summer issue had a feature article in it all about floating blinds. And the autumn issue featured an in-depth discussion on all things kayaks and packrafts for wildlife photography. In this issue, however, I am going to experiment with doing something a little different. So much of the winter issue has been built around, well, winter. So, I want to do something similar with an article on gear.

But this isn’t going to be a list of gear you have likely seen before. I’m not going to tell you that I think gloves are important in the winter, or that you should buy a raincoat for your lens to protect from rain and heavy wet snow. I’m not going to talk about hand warmers either. Most serious wildlife photographers who spend time in winter weather have these things dialed in already. If you don’t, and you have questions about such things, then I invite you to reach out to me directly with those questions. I am happy to make suggestions.

Instead, when I step back and think about the non-camera related gear I find to be imperative for my winter photography (and let’s be honest here, I spend a lot of time in the snow and cold), much like the previous gear related discussions, my mind goes straight to “access” once again.

I guess there is something of a theme here that’s worth noting. As many of you already know, I’m of the philosophy that it doesn’t matter how sophisticated your autofocus system is or expensive your lens was, if you can’t find the wildlife to photograph then you are going to have a pretty hard time being a wildlife photographer. All the talk about understanding ethology (animal behavior), ecology, and the natural history of our subjects is about trying to help put you in front of animals so you can then use all that technology and camera knowledge. The gear-oriented articles on floating blinds, kayaks, and packrafts were written for similar reasons. And so, this seemingly random brain dump of gear below is also curated to help you access wildlife (and make it back safely).

One of the big challenges that winter throws at us is the weather itself: from extreme cold to slippery situations that can result in vehicles getting buried in the snow or injuries to our own bodies. The weather we find in spring, summer, and fall doesn’t exactly create hazards for us. Sure, there is the odd event like tornadoes, forest fires, hurricanes, and floods, of course. But these are one offs. Cold and snow, however, are daily challenges for most photographers across the northern hemisphere in the winter.