One person I find a lot to like about is Galen Rowell. He writes things that I find insightful, he takes pictures that I think are excellent, and he is into the outdoors.

After I typed in the following, I found this even better list on his website:

I ran across his book, Galen Rowell's Vision - The Art of Adventure Photography which seems to be a collection of essays or articles that he wrote for the magazine Outdoor Photographer. One of those essays, entitled "Traveling Light and Not-So-Light" gave a list of the gear he uses, and I have made my own abstract of it here. This list was circa 1993.

I will point out that clothes do not make the man, nor does gear make the photographer, but on the other hand it is worth looking at the tools chosen by someone with many years of experience and a proven record. He states that 90 percent of his best images could have been taken with a single camera along with 2 lenses, a 24mm and a 85mm.

(This is not unlike my experience where my 28mm was my favorite lens on my old Pentax and I itched for a 24mm. I had a 135mm and virtually never used it. I had a 50mm macro that for all practical purposes replaced my 50mm/f1.4 lens -- I do very little available light indoor photography).

• Nikon F4, N90, and sometimes FM2. The N90 is used when he wants one light camera, and the FM2 is a rarely used backup. (the F3 was his old faithful before the F4)
• MB-20 motordrive for the F4
• All lenses are Nikon
• 15mm/f3.5 rectilinear
• 16mm/f2.8 (mild fisheye)
• 20mm/f4 (lightweight, 52mm filters)
• 20mm/f2.8 (heavier but faster)
• 24mm/f2.8 AF (his most used lens) Less flare than the 24mm/f2.0
• 28mm/f2.8 (perspective control version)
• 35mm/f2.0 (a favorite for aerials and night landscapes)
• 35-70/f2.8 AF zoom (ditched if weight is an issue)
• 55mm/f2.8 micro-nikkor (works fine as normal lens)
• 80-200/f2.8 AF zoom (tack sharp and fast, but heavy)
• 85mm/f2.0 (his standard telephoto)
• 300mm/f2.8 EDIF (the classic photojournalist lens)
• 400mm/f5.6 EDIF much lighter than the 300
• TC-14A teleconverter 1.4x tack sharp.
• TC-301 teleconverter 2.0x
• Photoflex MFP (modular fanny pack) a Galen Rowell design, with detachable backpack. Holds body, 6 lenses and flash. backpack holds second body, 300mm lens, and tripod....
• Photoflex chest pouch (replaces the above for rugged trips, along with 2 lens pouches on belt).
• Gitzo 226 tripod with Slik Pro ball head (6 pounds)
• Gitzo 106 tripod with Slik Standard ball head and center column removed (3 pounds)
• Gitzo 001 tripod with Slik Standard ball head and center column removed (2 pounds)
• Kirk Enterprises tripod quick releases.
• Kirk Enterprises tripod mount for 80-200 lens
• Filters in 52, 62, and 77mm sizes (and a 77-72 adapter)
• Nikon polarizers
• Nikon skylight 1B and 81A (to warm shadows or overcast light)
• 4 specially made Singh-Ray split ND filters.
• Nikon SB-25 flash with SC-17 remote cord.
• Minolta flashmeter IV for tricky flash work.
• Chimera super-pro soft box
• Photoflex On-Camera XTC, inflatable.
• Photoflex Litedisc 38" gold/white, 12" gold/white, 12" white/white (great for bouncing sunlight into portrait shadows.

A whole new topic could arise on the subject of tripods, but one fellow recommends Really Right Stuff as making a tripod release superior to the Kirk.