Hi folks, Well it's taken long enough but I'm at home with my leg in plaster and no longer have the excuse of being too busy or tired. I am a pro photographer by profession and as a result am far too lazy to take out my camera and photograph my gear or indeed to a particularly good job of it. Still life in particular is pretty much my worst area of photography (followed closely by street photography), give me a landscape, a wedding, commercial work or what I do now, reproduction photography and I'll wow you. Ask me to set up a still life, I can get you perfect lighting and technique (albeit not here) but I ask the assistant to set it up to look cool or pretty I'm 35 years old (just), an English boy born of Scottish parents, I was born in Newcastle but grew up, via Liverpool, in Manchester. Those are three very big names if you're into football! I was a wedding and commercial photographer for 10 years until my feet gave out on me. Now I manage a large studio (was 3 studios but we've finally got everything together in one location) in Jerusalem for a museum photographing ancient artefacts, mainly manuscripts and documents but other artefacts too, going back over the past 800 years of Jewish life in the Diaspora but mainly from the Middle East. I'll show some pictures here with a bit of rambling on about why and what. Hope I don't bore you all! I'm not good at shutting up. I usually value most in the posts here when I can read the why, the logic, behind the choices of EDC. I'm also going to list the stuff, I hate seeing great pictures of obscure things and having to ask what they are. First things first, pocket dump. 1) Nokia 2730 Classic, 2) Verge Minimalist Wallet, 3) Gotham Pocket Watch, 4) Case XX soft leather sheath, 5) Case Sodbuster Jr, 6) Eagletac D25AAA, 7) Boker Vox Access Tool, 8) Keysmart. 1) I hate smartphones and the old Nokia's are built like bricks. It just works. 3 days between charging helps too. 2) The wallet was a kickstarter, a better design than the Saddleback equivalent in my opinion due to the stitching ending before the top giving better access to the middle pocket. It's tiny, thin, well wearing and the leather looks great with wear.3) Pocket watch. Yes I like old fashioned. I wear bow ties and cravats. It was however a practical decision. I had a titanium Seiko before and even then I'd always take it off when in work or at home. It bothered me for typing, writing or work. It was also getting badly scratched up by my biking. Hence the pocket watch. I just makes sense, my arm is free of the bother, and it's always there. I've found that not having the time immediately viewable has also given me a more relaxed attitude to life, ditto the use of a slipjoint or non smart phone. A return to a less 'immediately now' way of life which our generation has barely known but our grandparents knew well.4) The Case sheath is new to me, trying it out, I like it a lot, light, soft, flexible and disappears on the belt.5) The Sodbuster Jr is to be frank a 'place keeper' to keep me going, got a Northwoods and my replacement Queen on the way. It's a good knife though, works and looks/feels great, punches above it's price for certain.6) The Eagletac is tiny, light and looks ok. Dirt cheap too. Nichia 219 is wonderful and the output and mode spacing is perfect. However. I've begun to really hate twisties. I had a Beta QR (lost it ) before and that was better but this one with it's zillions of modes and two handed twisty operation is just a pain in the neck to be frank. I've got a L11c on the way to replace it. 7) The Boker Vox replaced my Sharpwerks pry tool which I didn't like from a usability point of view. The Boker is incredibly light, I love the carabiner and the ergonomics. It's not usually on my keychain but my Leatherman Style CS is off being repaired, the Boker gives me something to grab onto in my pocket to yank the collection out. 8) I'm a big fan of the Keysmart, I have 6 big bulky keys on that think and it's the best solution I've found for non 'regular' sized keys. My pocket adores it! I have questions about the build quality, the screw in extenders keep breaking however it is essential to my pocket.
I promised random pictures. I photograph ancient documents by trade but I have plenty private projects on the go, the hobby side of my profession, I'll post random pictures around as we go. Demonstrating the concept of freezing movement using flash. My way. If you come to my photography class, you're warned.
For a more formal setting: 1) Random cufflinks my dad bought me, 2) CRKT Swindle 3) Nixon Private 1) Hey I'm a photographer2) To be frank if I had to have one one EDC knife ever this would be it. Looks incredible (sorry it's not clean in the shot), sharpens incredibly easily, flips scarily fast, perfect length, wharncliffe with a slight belly. How could you go wrong with that? Unfortunately here locking knives are illegal to carry. It mostly lives on my desk where it's used every day.3) My last years birthday present from my wife. Looks good but the strap started wearing away almost immediately and their customer service is apparently appalling. I like it for occasional formal wear.
This is my most recent photograph. When I saw the location I just knew I had to photograph someone in that lighting. I volunteered one of my students, Tessa.
Well it's about time. Great gear and pictures. You're younger than me? Your profile pic throw me off. I've often told that I have a good eye for photography and already dropping hints to my wife that I want a semi pro camera for my birthday. Sent from my LG-D855
Great start to your thread. Thanks for sharing the pics. Hope the leg heals quick. Had knee surgery awhile back and I loathed sitting around. By the 3rd day I was super bored and ancy. I hope you are better at being stationary than me.
I do love black and white photography. This is from the day of Halloween, County Wicklow, Ireland. You can tell that the date was subconsciously playing on my mind, my pictures from that day were all eerie. I have this one hanging in my bedroom which might perhaps be somewhat macabre.
I got out of hospital on Friday afternoon, was in the synagogue on Saturday morning via wheelchair. I worked a full day (remotely from home) both Sunday and Monday despite a doctors note allowing me a months sick leave. I'm really not good at 'resting'. I need to feel achievement at the end of the day. I've taken today far easier as I was in a bad way by last night due to the all the work. It was major invasive surgery, they took the ankle out, reshaped it, put it back in, ran a bolt through it from the heel to the leg, straightened out the foot, lengthened the achilles tendon and then sewed everything back up again. 12 weeks in plaster for the bones to set, 6 of those weeks without putting any weight on the foot. Thanks for your wishes!
My pipe pouch with my two EDC pipes. A Peterson 'POY 2009' (the bent) and a Savinelli 'Bing's favourite' (the straight). I have three others but they're all too big for EDC, two churchwardens and a massive Oom Paul. I got this suede pouch on Etsy from a seller called 'sorringowlandsons'. I love it. Pipe in the left side, tobacco on the right, filters and pipe cleaners in the little pockets and you can just see my Zippo pipe lighter sticking out in the right hand pocket. I smoke my own mix which is 50/50 Davidoff Scottish Mixture and Peterson Irish Flake. I can't get the former here so beg from friends flying from the US to bring me some back. I don't smoke much, about once a week. I still EDC the pouch though. When I want to just kick back and relax, it's there for me.
Hey, Ben, I hope you continue to mend well! Meanwhile, thanks for the great photos. I especially like the one that included those cool camera cufflinks your Dad gave you. Oh, and the one of those pipes. Keep the photos coming!
I would like to pay homage to what I believe is a truly great EDC flashlight. The Thrunite TN12-2014. Now you have to understand that the flashlight it replaced was a Maglite Mini. Kind of like going from a decent bicycle to a modern car. However that maglite took me through my army service, had been used as a hammer and had served faithfully for 15 years. But the time came when I just wanted a decent flashlight that wasn't, significantly, dimmer than my keyring light (Beta QR at the time)! I did a lot of research, a heck of a lot. I didn't like lights which automatically switched down a mode after two minutes. I wanted a tail standing clicky with insane run times. I wanted neutral colour. I was attracted to the lure of mega lumens. I bought the Thrunite for $45 from a good ebay seller, including international shipping. Now what I'm about to try to explain is something that is very hard to quantify and will always change between people. There are certain products that are made so well that they become an extension of ones hands. They just never get in the way of using them. The ergonomics are perfect, the UI is perfect, to the extent that it disappears in use. I've had cameras like this, my old Canon A1, the Canon 5D3, the Nikon D750 is a recent one. I found it the first time I drove a Mercedes B class. When using my Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. There are products that are a pleasure to use and products which just work. Which disappear from the psyche cause they just work so well. I would like to award this commendation to the TN12. The size is tiny for what it can do. The UI is perfect for me. The ergonomics are perfect. The brightness spacing is perfect. The beam/spot is perfect. The feel of the clicky is perfect. The weight is perfect. I really like the lanyard. More than that, from using it recently, I reach for it rather than my keyring light because it's nicer to use even just to peer into the innards of my computer. Is there anything that I feel lacking? Well I'd love it to fit on my keyring . I'd also kill for a Nichia 219 inside it, I'm a photographer and very sensitive to colour by profession and the beam has a slightly sickly yellow/green which I would prefer to do with out though it is still far better than the glare of a cool emitter. It still has to stand the test of time, of the long term use and almost certainly abuse, however for me, for my mind and my hands. This is a tool that becomes my hand in use. I can't really grant a higher accolade.
That was about time. Great photos (big surprise there ) and i like your gear and the detailed descriptions. Dont care much about Newcastle, like Liverpool, dislike ManU for obvious reasons as a FC Bayern fan.
^Amen to that! I use mine all the time and it hasn't failed yet. I absolutely love the fact that they didn't put the strobe mode right after the Turbo mode, like they did in the Archer 2A (you have to go through strobe to go the the lowest setting, not very discrete). About the color, I have the custom White Balance on my Canon set for the TN12 for the rare occasions I need to use it (no Speedlight around for example). What kind of battery are you rocking in there? WIth 2xCR123 it's a monster, with my 18650, not so much
18650, Keeppower 3400's, plenty good enough for me. Agree about strobe, it isn't in the usual firefly/low/mid/high/higher cycle, it's only applied if you press and hold. I like that feature a lot, you don't ever have to cycle through it. I always used to argue with my dad as a teenager about the use of strobe on bike lights, I said they were annoying and useless, he said they were far better at attracting drivers attention. Since being an adult I stick with my position, often you only see something in the mirror with the blink of an eye, especially in the blind spot, that blink can often be the off cycle of the strobing light and it's very disconcerting.
Here is an image created using the TN12 that I set up for a student to take. Stylised concept of a young boy dreaming about Chanukah. My son is modelling, he's lit with an umbrella box to the left as fill. The TN12 had a red gel wrapped around it and during the long exposure it was waved between the child and the lights for the effect. A lensbaby (single element) was used for the dreamy effect. I needed the 800 lumen mode for that shot, we think our high lumens are bright but they are really low compared to photographic lighting. My students have often used my lights for their photos, there was a dominatrix torture scene shot (using teddy bears as torture instruments, don't ask) that I will not share here but it used every flashlight I had...
My EDC bag, if I go out of the house, it comes with me. I bike to work and back every day with it on me. It's always next to me. It's a Crumpler Pretty Box XXXL camera bag. The name is appropriate for this big (fat) guy but it's actually the size relative to a pocket camera belt pouch which is what the series is based around. I've had it for over a decade, it's been used, abused, abused again then a bit more used. It's been in torrential rain to thick that you can barely see out of your eyes and in heat that dries out your brain. This being Jerusalem that could just be a single week . It's a Mary Poppins bag, nothing seems to be too much for it to carry or hold with judicious placement. It's thicker at the walls than your regular bag, it's intended to carry camera equipment but I'm a clumsy idiot at the best of times and there is always an expensive camera in it even when it's being used as an EDC bag rather than a camera bag only. I have had my eye on the Thinktank Retrospective to replace it but I never quite manage to justify pulling the trigger. This one just works so well. One of my employees has a crumpler backpack, also used and abused and also barely looking like it. They have funky websites and weird names but they build a great bag. Note the paracord bracelet on the handle I'm not the sort to carry one on my wrist. Would clash horribly with the pocket watch and bow tie. Contents of the bag coming soon.
