OT: Hats. Favorite hats. Why you should have collection of hats.

 

Back in December of 2020 I had the distinct displeasure of undergoing Mohs surgery for a squamous cell cancer spot on my left check. It took a while for the scar to heal but I got some pleasure out of explaining to the curious that I had gotten the scar in a knife fight, in a bar. For the achingly literal readers out there: I have never been in a knife fight and it's been years since I've been in a bar....

The procedure went well and in time the scar vanished to nothingness. I did some research around the time of the event and was a bit unhappy to discover that having one malignant squamous cell cancer tends to predict about a 50% chance of having at least one more. Oh joy. 

And here's how it starts: one day while your gorgeous valet is sitting in your lap shaving your face she notices a very small, hard bump on your face that wasn't there before. You head in to see your general practitioner. He looks at the offending bump closely. Really closely. "Hmmmmm." The sound of which is never really comforting... "We can try freezing that off with liquid nitrogen but... if it comes back you need to go and see Dan." Dan is the name of my dermatologist. It's recommended that everyone who grew up in Texas swimming every day with nothing but Johnson and Johnson baby oil to protect their skin put a good dermatologist on retainer. If your genetics are Anglo/North European/painfully white guy and you spent a lot of unprotected time out in the sun in your youth there will come a time when having your skin guy on speed dial comes in handy. 

A week later I'm in Dan's office. It feels strange to be in my dermatologist's office completely clothed. Usually I am there for a twice yearly, full body skin check. Just standing there in the cool breezes while Dan and one of his wonderful and curious nurses spend time looking for one of those feared melanomas...

Dan looks at the small bump and suggests that we slice it out with a scalpel and send it off to some lab for a biopsy investigation. He jabs me with a giant, hollow knitting needle full of some variation of Lidocaine right in the cheek. Ouch!!! And when he is convinced that the nervous response in the area is temporarily deadened he comes in with the sharp knife, following up with a deft cauterization of the area so I don't spew blood all over the upholstery and the carpets. (There are no carpets in the exam rooms. Too hard to sterilize. But it sounded good when I was typing out that sentence).

Dan took off his rubber gloves and consoled me with my potential options, should the biopsy turn out not to be everything I wished for. I could choose from surgery, 15 visits for radiation therapy, a crude cut and paste, or I could just wait until the tiny dot metastasizes and I eventually die a painful and unnecessary, early death. We would have to await the results of the biopsy before we got to have fun making choices. Sadly I did not see choice for "new camera therapy" wherein I purchase a new M11-P Safari version camera and the magic aura of the new acquisition is powerful enough to ...... yeah. That was never on the table.

I got the text about eight days later. Come in on such and such a day. "The test came back positive and we need to take another look and weigh our options". My options. Really? No suggestion that a bit of "Industrial German Therapy" might work? In a pinch? No? Drat.

So, that's long lead-in but I couldn't figure out how to subtly refer to my vast knowledge of English literature, (Thanks! "Uni") and vaguely relatable quotations so I decided to not squander your time with pithy parsing of 18th century, achingly boring nods to antiquated writers and just go into the meat of the matter. Here it is:

It's never too late to learn to love sunscreen, long sleeve shirts and hats with brims sufficient to provide a buffer between direct sun, the skin on your face and the tops of your ears. At 69 years old most of the damage has already been done and is just percolating up as the result of too many long swims, midday, on balmy August afternoons. The hats, it seems are the best all around preventative if you buy the right ones. Yes, the Tilley hats will work as long as you are emotionally immune to fashion ridicule. But there are nicer solutions out and about. Even the mannequins are quick to "hat up" in the Summer months. 

While baseball style hats cover thinning hair, protect the scalp, etc. they have one other advantage for photographers. The shade of the bills works to make viewing what ever is on the back screen that much easier. Look! A rare X100V !!! Seen in the wild. Theses caps are not optimal for top of ear protection, etc.

A nice brim. For sure.

A ready resource for those who left the house and forgot their hats. 

Hats are everywhere. 

The downside of the baseball cap style is the extra effort required when shooting verticals. 

Your choices are either to remove the hat or reverse it and look like a "bro." 

Which will then require you to say, "dude" with alarming frequency.

I often shoot these silhouettes to send along to my dermatologist as proof of my adherence to his dictates concerning prevention. Thus far no discount of fees has been forthcoming. But I did get a free pen on my last visit. Seemed like a party favor to me. But it's probably the wrong kind...

This is the current camera of choice for VSL special photo ops in sunshine. 

Just reflective enough to reduce thermal build up but not so reflective as to bounce excessive UV  back up at the user...

No hat and freshly mown hair. Recipe for more wealth transfer to Dan. 

The all around good hat option for walking around in the sun and heat with a camera. 

Or even without a camera. Or with two cameras. Maybe also a small backpack so 

I can pack a lunch. And take along an assortment of pens. And a little leather notebook 

so I look more expeditionary and literate. At least to a point. 

Don't you wish Leica made lenses for eyeglasses. They'd be so good we'd all have 20/10 vision in both eyes. And never need diopters ever again. Might be pricey. Especially with the tariffs. 

this is the current preferred hat for me. It breathes. It's inexpensive. 

It has a wide brim that blocks overhead sun light. The black band accents 

the black finish of the classic SL. It's all good. 

I went to swim practice this morning. I applied a lot of sunscreen.  Both my lane partners were back from various trips and (injury not substance) recovery efforts. It was a glorious day that started out in the 60s. I slathered on SPF 50, water resistant sunscreen. (It's it odd that cameras and sunscreen are both "water resistant" instead of "waterproof" Right?). The early morning sun doesn't hit lane five until about the last 25 minutes of practice. Thank goodness. 

1,000 yard warm up and then continuing sets of 75 yard I.M. swims (25 butterfly, 25 backstroke, 25 breaststroke) broken up by fast 200 yard freestyle swims. Endlessly. Even with all the stroke work we did get in a bit over 3,000 yards in our practice. A good warm up for this afternoon's run (or jog, depending on the heat). 

Stay safe out there. Even if you do choose to wear a dorky hat. Better to be teased by pesky humans than lashed and tortured by Mother Nature.

Nice lens on that last frame, by the way...