Leah recently had to travel out of town for several days and I experienced an embarrassing realization as we loaded the car so that I could drive her to the airport: I was packing more stuff to be away for five hours than Leah had packed to be away for five days.
Camera gear. I can’t go anywhere without it, but my dear mate sometimes gives one of the wrinkled-nose expressions that tells me she wishes I’d try.
I suppose most everyone has heard that Socrates observed: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I wonder what he’d think about a photographer NOT taking pictures of whatever it is that he sees? Leaving my cameras behind, even for a few hours, is simply not an option for me.
I just never know what kind of miracle might land in front of me and stretch its wings in the morning sunshine -- when a moment might present itself, a moment that I would not want to go unnoticed or unphotographed. So I schlep the camera bag, even if it means I have to endure good-natured grief for overpacking.
