Here in Maine, my morning reading spot is no more than twenty feet from where I sleep. My normal routine has been waking up at 6 AM, or slightly before, making coffee then heading outside to read for a little less than one hour. I don’t always stick to this plan. Sometimes if a friend is visiting we will leave early and go walk the beach, or somedays I decide to ride during this period. But the vast majority of the time, this is my daily routine.
Even though I am so close to my room, and the rest of my supplies, I still carry my backpack. Yep, you heard that right, less than twenty feet from my bed and the backpack still makes the trip. My backpack, to some of my friends, is a real problem because I always have it. We live in an age where lots and lots of men make EDC films about minimal this or minimal that. I have many friends who have an aversion to carrying anything, ever, at any time. Except their phone which is permanently glued to their body, most often in that front right pocket, the perfect place to wreak havoc on their naughty bits. (And don’t tell all the studies about the potential harm from phones have been debunked. You would be incorrect.)
My backpack carries a host of things I need and want during the time I’m reading. My notebook, my binoculars, and my camera. My phone remains in the side pocket until after I’m done reading. I do not engage with my phone during the early morning. I can’t speak to your brain, but I surely can speak to mine, and the phone for me is pure poison. My guess, it’s the same for many of you. Most of my friends who engage with the phone during the early morning, or even during long stretches in the middle of night, are heavy social people and heavy surfer people. But the vast majority deny they are either, veiling their drug habit as “research” or “just doing my work.” But the telltale thumb swipe betrays them.
I’d like to focus on the camera because the camera is why I have the shot above. I’ve walked past this window for forty days straight and yet this was the first time I witnessed this scene. My eighty seven point eight year-old uncle in law learning how his iPhone works as the morning sun comes through.(This is such a fun thing to watch.)
I love this picture.
As I was walking back to the front door, with my backpack, I looked in and noticed this scene. Boom, bag down, camera out, and two frames later it was gone. THIS is why I carry the bag. The camera is small, light, unobtrusive so it doesn’t even feel like I’m carrying it. It is no trouble. Consequently, I make pictures like this. I also did this with my other camera.
I’ve done this for so long I can’t imagine not doing it. When I don’t have my pack I feel completely at a loss. Without the ability to make notes, write scripts, make images, shoot motion or scan for feathered friends, I’m not entirely sure what to do with myself. Perhaps this is because I love to record the world around me. Often times for no real purpose other than to practice and see what comes out. This sickness has led me to all kinds of adventures and poignant moments, like this one, so I have no plans to change anytime soon. And yes, I should have moved one small step to my right.
Comments 17
Great photo and great column!
Hopefully folks view this post on their desktop and not just on their phone. This photo is so much better large…as are most images.
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Every now and then I’ll look at my site via the phone and wonder “Why?”
There’s always a little step you could have made that would make it better, but it’s actually perfect as it is.
Same as you, my sling bag is always with me, phone in the inner pocket so it’s harder to reach, camera, notebook and pen, a good flashlight (reading at night with kids require a good one so I spent a lot on this), a deck of playing cards for entertaining said kids with something else than a screen, AirPods Pro because there’s a certain podcast I like to listen to although it’s been less frequent these days because its owner is experimenting some YouTube stuff, sunglasses because it looks good on me.
As I’m writing this I went upstairs without the bag and missed a great pic of my 7 y.o. daughter reading like a grown up. Never forget the bag !!
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You know, Julien, a fanny pack in orange might be in the cards?
Yes, loud color is the way to go!
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Ya baby!
Just curious but what happened to the Tenba Fulton?
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Just answered this in a Q&A but I still have and use both bags. They will mostly likely make the Peru trip as well. Amy loves her’s as well.
The backpack is a signifier for slavery.
Dan, you’re doing to your brain what I fear you’re doing to your body: killing it. Keep up this incessant mental activity and you’ll buy yourself a stroke. Everything, everybody needs to chill out, climb aboard a life that’s got the time and space for lashings of the dolce far niente. Balance is everything, and no, relaxing isn’t the same as obsessively doing something that’s not connected to earning a living, and thus classifying that alternative activity as relaxation. Your brain doesn’t care what you call the activity: whatever it is, too much of any of it is too much.
You have to find time to drain your brain of all tensions, of all targets and ambition; as sleep filled with dreams isn’t particularly restful, neither is professional downtime when that natural break is usurped by some other form of stimulation. Doing nothing is not always a sin. Think of it as a blessing, a time to heal both mind and body of the stresses imposed upon both.
Being the busiest man in the graveyard still means you’re in it.
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I love what I’m doing. And still have plenty of time to yoga, meditate, read, sit and watch, bird, whatever. I’m not built to stop. I’m built to learn….slowly and ugly-y if that is a word.
I had an immediate emotional reaction when I saw your photograph. The fact that you captured such a poignant moment is all that’s important. If having your bag with you helps you feel better able to make images like this then by all means bring your bag everywhere.
Personally I stopped carrying a bag with me when I realized I never went into it. More importantly I realized it slowed me down, mentally, because after pressing the shutter I would second guess whether I could have had a better camera/lens combination. It didn’t keep me from getting the first shot in, but it often helped me miss the one that followed, got in the way of my becoming fully absorbed in the scene. For me, the bag became an unnecessary distraction, getting in the way of my definition of what being a better photographer is. When that last epiphany hit I knew the bag had to go.
I now just carry my camera affixed with whichever lens I choose for the day, 35mm or 50mm. I check the battery level and it’s out the door I go. That is all the gear choices I make for the day. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now and not once regretted it.
Of course if on assignment I will carry a bag with whatever gear I might need. But this thread is not about assignment; it’s about how you weave photography into your day, how you prepare yourself for when a precious and fleeting moment, like the one above, suddenly reveals itself. And for me, that’s more about preparing me than my gear.
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When I’m working I don’t leave the camera in a bag. But, I also have journal, binoculars, pens, and ton of small items that always go with. Plus, I’m out A LOT so weather is an issue. I need a place to stash…
@ Daniel: Noooo! From your many, many past posts I know pretty much know what you carry in your bag and why! I wasn’t saying anything about that. I was just adding to the discussion where I am and how I got there to the variety of responses. If I put into my day-to-day photography what you put into yours I’d have a bag with me at all times too.
PS: I have a Tenba Fulton as well, it’s packed to the gills and always ready to grab and go. So I’m not anti-bag at all.
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Hey, that’s fine. I don’t think I thought you were anti-bag, just had a different strategy. All good.
Great photo!
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Thank you!