NB; it goes without saying that family and friends should be on this list. At the top, if importance were attached. Cherish yours.
- Cups of tea. Some days I run on them.
- Readily available public toilets (an important balance if relying on 1, y'know)
- The Nikon D3/D3S (OK, and EOS 1DmkIII/IV - I'm not blind to the other side...). We might moan about the size and weight of digital Pro bodies but my god, they REALLY get the job done these days. And just compare them with an F and its F36 motor and battery pack? Not so big and heavy, after all, hmmm?
- The North Face Men's Amplitude Jacket, in two-tone grey, with the zip-in thermal liner, AND a Berghaus Spectrum fleece under that. A little bit of waterproof warmth through one of the coldest winters for years.
- Photo Mechanic. The most robust of captioning programs. And $150 (call it £100) well-spent.
- Modern diesels. If you are a freelance, I would not be running anything else. And they're more relaxing to drive, because they have that precious commodity - torque!
- Apple MacBook Pro (and no PC alternative... Not even a high-end Sony Vaio). The extra money you begrudged spending means that, treated with the care they deserve, they keep running. And running.
- Apple Genius Bars. Just like anything, Macs will sometimes fall over. The Genius Bars seem very good lately at getting them going again.
- The British Touring Car Championship. A race series I slightly lost touch with over the last few years appears to be growing in health and competitiveness again.
- Strobist. And Joe McNally. Do I need to say any more?
- ThinkTank Photo rolling camera bags. How to get a shedload of heavy gear from A to B.
- ThinkTank Photo StreetWalker HardDrive. How to carry a lot of the above from B to where you need to use it. Without doing even more harm to your back.
- Apple Aperture 3. Ingest, Edit, Select, Caption, Adjust in Raw, Export. A beautiful interface - especially in full-screen - almost as robust a captioner as PM, not slower than LR (!) and with good basic raw profiles. Another reason for the MBP.
- Tea in the garden, downloading.
- The 300mm f2.8... Nikon or Canon, sharp enough to cut! If sport is in your brief, probably the most flexible long glass if you can only run to just one super-telephoto. Any recent one works fine with the 1.4x extenders, Nikon users have the excellent 1.7x too, and even the 2.0x are OK for news work with care.
- Ansmann battery chargers - keeping your NiMH AAs charged AND in top condition, six, eight and more at a time..
- PocketWizard ControlTL system. See earlier posts.
- Broadband. How good is it NOT to have to go back to the office to upload? The tea's better for a start.
- Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly. "Bugger, dust specks". BZZZZZZT. Swipe. "Bye bye, dust".
- The Speed Graphic Catalogue. Hmmm, what's my bank balance look like?
- Indian Restaurants. The best place to retire to with good friends and colleagues after a long (hopefully productive) day's shooting.
- Autofocus. I can still out-think my cameras for exposure, if I so choose. I cannot out-focus them.
- Yorkies (four-legged variety).
- D700/EOS 5Dmk2 - 95% of no.3, but in a smaller, lighter package when needed. Seriously considering adding the first to my bag.
- 27" iMac. Expansive screen and processing power for the space-poor office.
Just a little selection, for fun. You can probably think of your own additions that make life a bit better, sweeter, funnier...
