In years past I used a small point and shoot Cannon. After dropping and demolishing one camera on a stone floor in Venice, I attached a stout elastic cord for as a camera strap. Long enough to loop across my body, and tuck in a pants or jacket pocket, and stretchy enough to manipulate into any position. That means the camera is always ready to use – not buried in a tote or locked down in a case. It doesn’t get left behind on a table, nor it is vulnerable to theft by pickpockets.

This year I’m using a Sony RX100, which I recently acquired thanks to my appreciation of the amazingly detailed images captured by my friend Dan.  This camera came with a narrow, adjustable strap that functions like my handmade ones. Bonus! Along with the camera, I’ll bring the charger, and two memory chips. I lost a chip once (Venice again). Nothing like having 400 photos of Rome poof! vanished!  to convince this lazy artist to back up or risk losing everything.  I’ll back up the chips on my MacAir and an online photo site.

I consider my iPhone 5S as much a camera as a communication device. I use Camera Plus, along with Hipstamatic and Instagram apps. One of the advantages – besides the fact you always have your phone with you-  is it’s less intrusive than a camera.

If you really want to be stealthy, you can attach your iPod earbuds, click the control switch on the cable, and it will take images remotely.

Those images will be backed up on the Cloud and on my MacAir. Hooray for photo stream.  The downside is the drain on the phone battery, which doesn’t last anything like as long as the camera battery. I have a Mophie juice pack air case (http://www.mophie.com/shop/battery-cases/juice-pack-air-iphone-5)  for my iPhone,  which doubles my battery life, and an additional auxiliary battery pack for the iPhone, which extends use from hours to days. It fits in my pocket and attaches by a cable. Not quite as sleek an arrangement as I’d like, but invaluable at, say 5pm, when you come across the ideal image or need to call Uber, and the juice has run out.

Next post – sketchbook selection