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So I have a big four-day shoot in Baltimore next week, and I had to hit up my boys at Borrow Lenses for some supplemental gear that I really can’t do without on a shoot like this. I placed the order a few weeks ago and had the package delivered to a FedEx place in Arlington, VA for me to pickup today, so I wouldn’t have to travel with it. 

My wife and I are in Washington DC for a few days celebrating her big 3-0 before I head over to Baltimore on Monday for the shoot, but I had to pick up the package of photo gear at the FedEx place first. The FedEx place was about two miles away from our hotel and I knew I didn’t want to pay for a cab or walk and have to carry the box, so I needed another option. Enter Capital Bikeshare - Capital Bikeshare is this awesome deal in DC where you can rent a bike for awhile, cruise around, and then dock it at one of many convenient depots around town. Perfect. I snagged a bike outside of our hotel and hit it. The bikes have these nice little racks in front with a bungee cord to strap things down with, which I thought would be perfect for the box I was going to pickup.

I rode the 2 miles (all uphill) to the FedEx place and gave them my I.D. - after a few minutes they returned with a GIANT box, signed it over, and sent me on my way. I walked out the front door and took this picture.

Now I had a HUGE box with almost $8,000 worth of photography gear, and a bike that didn’t want it. I started out trying to strap the thing on, and that wasn’t happening, so I just started walking with the box under one arm, and steering the bike with the other. There wasn’t another bike depot anywhere nearby, so I couldn’t ditch the bike. After a while I stopped and rested the box on the seat of the bike, from where it immediately slid into the perfect stupid-cruising position, which I enjoyed for the rest of the two mile downhill back to the hotel.

Anyway, that’s how I handle thousands of dollars of photography gear. 

Now to the good part - here’s my gear pile. I can’t tell you how excited I am about all this stuff. Some is rented, most is mine - all is awesome. 

Canon 5D Mark II Body

Canon 7D Body with double battery pack

Canon 300mm f/2.8 L IS

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L

Canon 50mm f/1.8

Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L

Canon 15mm f/2.8

Canon 580 EXII Speedlight

Manfrotto tripod

Manfrotto monopod

Memory card case

Card reader

AA Battery case

And I’ll be rocking all of this with my brand new LowePro pack I got at B&H in New York last month. The lens versatility with these two camera bodies is basically unbeatable. I can’t wait to get cracking with all this stuff. 

Also, as soon as I got back to my hotel room with my rented gear box, I looked out the window and saw a wedding taking place several floors below. Here’s the difference between a 15mm and a 300mm lens:

As always, I love this job. 

If everyone in the world had the same attitude that they will never be a good enough photographer to shoot for National Geographic, the magazine would simply have no pictures. It would be text only. 

That’s true. 

So this is also true:

The only pictures you will ever see in National Geographic were taken by photographers whose confidence and skill level meet at the place where the photo editors will be sufficiently impressed with the quality of the images (enough to publish them) and the photographer will feel confident enough to take on an assignment for National Geographic, knowing he/she can get the shot they are looking for.

The good thing about all of this is that National Geographic is going to publish pictures, regardless of who takes them. There are probably a lot of photographers that could turn out fantastic pictures of any assignment, but aren’t necessarily interested in tromping through the Amazon jungle in the summertime to get them. See how the field is narrowing? 

It’s actually way more attainable that you might think. 

To will the One Thing…