Why You Should Never Leave Home Without Your Camera (Unless You Want To)

Today I’m sharing about the one thing you shouldn’t leave home without, and if you do leave home without it… what you should take instead.

I came up with the idea to cover this topic when I was driving to a nearby city, and I saw a pretty view, and I realized all I had on me was my cell phone. So if I wanted to photograph it, I would have to zoom in on my iPhone, SE 2020, and just deal with a super grainy not super awesome photo of what I was looking at, which was the gorgeous Flint Hills in all of their wintry haziness. Because of the lack of good gear—I didn’t even bother. In that moment, I was reminded of my personal photo rule: take your camera everywhere (if you want to get good photos, anyway).

Some of my favorite photos that I have ever taken are the ones that I have just sort of managed to grab while I was in route to something else while I had my camera on me. Very rarely do I go out and think “I’m going to photograph a really pretty view today”, or “when a fox randomly runs out in front of me, I’m totally going to get it on camera.” But rather, when I happen to have my camera and I see something beautiful, I’m fortunate enough to be able to photograph it. If I don’t have a good camera with me, I’m not going to be able to get a decent quality of whatever it is that I’m seeing—and the moment will be subjected to iPhone level quality or worse—MY MEMORY.

Speaking of, my caveat to this is that there are times when I choose to leave my camera at home because I don’t want the weight or I make the conscious decision to, in that day or that moment, simply enjoy the experience of being somewhere beautiful instead of feeling like I need to photograph it. Then, when I see something unforgettable, I’ve already made peace with the fact that I’m not getting a great picture of it. Sometimes, presence is more important than documentation.

But sometimes, that miraculously beautiful sunset calls for more than mere memory.

Often times before leaving my home, I ask myself a few questions. It’s really just a check-in with my gut, and rarely does my intuition steer me wrong here. These are the questions:

Does the sky look like it’s about to transform into gorgeousness?

Will what I’m about to experience be ideally captured on a proper camera?

OR

Would this situation be better served without my camera? Is presence more important than documentation?

Would a nice beautiful drive be better for me right now that a photo hunting expedition?

View the YouTube video I made about this topic here: