Beginning to turn into a "Meander-thal (tm)". Also, the big gear purge, part 3 (of more to come).

If you are a long time, or even medium time reader of the VSL blog you probably read that I officially retired from the business of commercial photography way back in August of 2025. I haven't touched a camera to make money in three quarters of a year, giving pause to the many friends and acquaintances who predicted that I wouldn't last more than a month before accepting yet another $$$ project. I have proven them wrong...

One of my early strategies to reinforce retirement was to switch from a utilitarian SUV to a sedan for my basic transportation. With an SUV there is always the potential of being able to load tons of photography gear into the back which makes it somewhat easier to rationalize taking on another project. With a sporty sedan, with limited trunk space, the allure of packing for a shoot drops down by a number of levels. Plus, if I needed to put photo gear in the trunk then where oh where would I put the overpacked swim bag? And the extra kickboards? And the seven different brands of sunscreen? Oh, and the overflowing collection of sun defeating hats?

That worked well as a first step but I needed to do more. One day I was in a shop and a young person walked up to me and asked me specifically about the Leica M240 I was carrying, slung over one shoulder. We chatted for a while and I discovered that she was aiming for a career in video production. In fact, she was already working on video crews, having resigned from a teaching career. I asked if she needed some video lights and some accessory gear and she said she did. I loaded three big panel LED lights into the car, along with light stands and some other useful accessories and met up with her later at a coffee shop we both frequented. It was a bitter cold day and the coffee was good. We loaded all the gear into her car and shook hands. I let her know that it was a straight forward donation of excess gear with no strings attached. It felt good to let go of excess stuff and it took out one of the mental subroutines I used to run when packing for shoots. "What to pack? And how much of it? Removing the potential removed the relentless momentum toward choice paralysis. At least in part.

A week ago I was walking down S. Congress Ave. and came across a very graceful young woman who was juggling a tattered photo backpack, two or three very sorry and undersized light stands and a tripod that was totally inappropriate/inadequte as a tripod. I asked her what she was shooting and she mentioned a small project she had just finished down the street. At the moment she found out that the Uber she'd been waiting for had cancelled and I left her then to administer alternate transportation. But as I walked on about 20 feet on I realized that this person could probably make much better use of some of my light stands that were sitting idle, as well as one of my "overflow" tripods. I turned around and asked if she'd like some better gear. She demurred, thinking I was trying to sell her gear she couldn't afford. I explained, briefly, my need to get rid of stuff and that any gift to her was free and with no strings attached. 

We continued chatting and I found out that her primary flash was a Godox AD200. I happened to have two of the AD 200Pro lights in the "get rid of this" box at the studio. We agreed to meet up at my studio at the end of the week and she left my place then with two perfect and almost unused lightstands, some umbrellas, a couple of AD200Pros. A bunch of Godox accessories. A Sirui tripod. A light stand bag. A Manfrotto rolling light  case filled with two Nanlite professional LED lights and other accessories, and a copy of Commercial Photographer's Handbook book. 

The office felt light and more airy still. It was fun to see the look on the young photographer's face as we put all of the gear in her car. A big smile. Payment enough for me. 

This is an ongoing project; to give away all the photo stuff I don't need or want anymore. I have my eye's out for the next person walking around with the "wrong" equipment. We can fix that....

Meander = to walk around without an agenda or plan. The bends of a brook or river. Thal = a beautiful valley. An early humanoid creation story. Etc. Guy with a camera and no perceivable road map: Meanderthal (tm). 

I am becoming a Meander-thal. Instead of spending my time in the studio, or glued to my chair and my keyboard, I've been spending more and more time walking around looking, investigating and onboarding the visual pleasures of the world. Could be mannequins in a shop window. A beautiful woman stopping to adjust her sunglasses. An interesting building with a shaft of sunlight blazing across old bricks. A couple sitting outdoors, having lunch. The bouncy small ripple of water in a deep pool. The traffic jam in front of me. A hat in a hat store which looked like it was merchandized just right.

I meandered and became...enthralled with all there is to see. It doesn't matter which camera I'm carrying and there is no agenda or schedule to follow. But there is amazing stuff to see everywhere. I'd rather meander with a camera than do just about anything else (excluding swimming, of course). 

The wonderful thing about being a photo meanderthal is that no other equipment is required. Just a camera and a lens. No tripods, no light stands, no lights, no entourage, no assignment sheet, no shot list and no hurry. Can't think the it gets much better.