Field Notes: Summer 2026
What's the saying about a picture being worth a thousand words? This is the part where I try to use something less than a thousand words to sum up a quarter of the year…and realize I probably should have just let the photographs do the talking. I spent a couple of weeks in the Pacific Northwest (my absolute favorite place in the US during the summer months); remedied the fact that my children, who have been to approximately twenty countries each, had never been to Canada by visiting it twice- once on each coast; road tripped across New York State; and spent more hours in my kayak than I did in my hammock. I spent stormy hours catching up on family photobooks, and I taught my youngest to use Adobe Lightroom Classic, which he is now shockingly proficient in, although I didn't account for the cost of printing all of the photobooks that he now knows how to create. As for photography…the photographs were not as prolific as they have been in some summers past, I spent as much time living life as I did photographing it, but I also don't know that quantity is the best measure of photographic success. In the words of Jay Maisel "If you want to make more interesting pictures, become a more interesting person." I'm not positive that I achieved that either, but my own version of that maxim involves living life in such a way as to have interesting things to photograph, and that I did achieve.
In my camera bag
I almost always pack my camera in a sling bag and put the sling into my carry-on luggage. I've never been forced to check a carry-on bag (probably due in part to airline status that gives me an early boarding group), but if I did have to it's not hard to grab the sling out of my carry-on before checking the bag. I know people have strong opinions about this, but it lets me use a smaller backpack and bring a sling bag so I have options for how I want to carry my camera once I get to my destination. I've already mentioned how much I love the Ona Rockaway and the Ona Bowery, but I almost always use the Think Tank TurnStyle for longer trips because it takes up a bit less space and it is a bit more weather resistant than the leather Ona bags. I have both the 10 and the 5, and I only use the 10 if I am bringing the SL3 or GFX100s. For all of the smaller Leicas and Fujifilm cameras the 5 works fine and fits a surprising amount considering its small footprint. (There is a joke about photographers owning more camera bags than shoes, and what can I say. Camera bags all have their own uses, and also they are legitimately more fun to collect than shoes).
On my Desk
Ok, so even though I am not affiliate linking this (or even linking it at all), I feel the need to add a slight disclaimer anytime I recommend a Microsoft product. Yes, my husband works at Microsoft. No, they aren’t paying me to say this (or anything else), and also this has been my faorite Microsoft product since before he even worked there. So with that out of the way, I would like to say that Microsoft One Note is the absolute best notes app out there and this is my hill to die on. Yes, I realize it is only tolerable on the iPhone, but on a laptop/desktop nothing beats it. I love that it’s organized like an analog binder/notebook. Its searchable, and everything can be nested into tab groups and sub-pages which makes my type-A personality very happy. Add to that the fact that it's super easy (on a PC, someone with a Mac tell me if you can do this too) to send absolutely anything into OneNote just by hitting the print button and it's the best. You wouldn't be reading this if it wasn't for OneNote, everything I write, post, plan or do ends up in OneNote at some point in the process.
On my bookshelf
Always an Austin Kleon fan, his latest book Don't Call it Art is excellent. In it, he explores the secrets of living a creative life that adults should learn from the children around them and I couldn't agree more. One thing I found interesting is that he takes inspiration from unschooling, and while unschooling as an educational method is a whole thing I don’t really want to talk about here, I love the concept of applying unschooling principles to the creative life.
Since it's been a few months, I thought I'd throw in a few more book notes- I have a weakness for a good Pacific Crest/Appalachian Trail Memoir and Thru Hiking will Break Your Heart by Carrot Quinn fit that bill for me this summer. It's obviously not a book on the subject of photography or creativity, but I think any book about people making big, brave, unconventional choices is good background reading for creatives. If thru-hiking isn't your thing than plenty of other memoirs exist with different life adventures (my son is reading Into Thin Air right now, another amazing choice then I remember reading all the way back when I was his age).
I'm also slowly making my way through The Artist's Way. Yes, it’s a classic, and no I've never read it before and I meant to read it as it was laid out- a section a week- but I'm not quite on pace. It's an excellent one, I'll have plenty of thoughts and commentary to come- even if I didn't necessarily "do" the course in full an expect that I will continue to adapt it to fit my own needs. If all you know of this book is morning pages, then you really should pick up a copy, its much broader and deeper than that.
Photographing
The Leica M-11 and Q3 were my trip companions this summer. I will never get over the joy of traveling that light. Their portability makes them a dream for capturing life and honestly that is the vast majority of what I did this summer. Sure I have some new photos from Mt. Ranier National Park, and from downtown Vancouver and from Niagara Falls, but even those are really more about life than the photographs. One Seattle spot I haven't previously photographed but made time for this trip is the downtown Public Library. As one of my boys put it- this place is full of pictures to take and books to read, it's like Mom's dream location. True, true. Depending on whether we are counting summer over with Labor day, or the end of August (I'm not even offering the fall equinox as an option) I also picked up a new lens that got here just in time for the long weekend. But I'm saving that one for September's Field Notes!
A small, motley collection of photos from the summer. Selected really because they were already edited- the majority of the summer's photos are still on the waiting to be processed list, but that's what colder, winter days are for! I'm diving into fall, with lots of schedules, school, and football of course, and some adventures on the horizon that haven't made it very far into the planning stage yet. More to share, plus a new lens to talk about next month!
