Heading to an appointment in San Francisco, Phyllis asked me whether I was bringing a camera. I hadn’t been planning to, as I often find it distracting to try to photograph when I am “focusing” on an aspect of life that is far removed from my art. But then I recalled the wonderful dictum, often attributed to photographer Jay Maisel: “I like to always bring a camera because it is hard to photograph without one.”

I actually didn’t think I’d have much time or inclination for photography. But I brought along my little Leica 11MP with its Summilux 50mm f/1.4 “normal focal-length” lens: compact, elegant, and pretty versatile.

In the event, I only made one frame, while sitting in the waiting area of a Victorian: wide-open at f/1.4 looking up at sunlight beaming down on the old interior staircase (image is shown above).

If the best camera to use is the one you have with you, the best post-production software to use is the software you have access to (in this case, only the JPEG algorithms built into the camera, and whatever was on my iPhone).

I do love working in Photoshop, spending all night working in post is one of my ideas for a great and good time. But there’s something graceful and simple about taking the image the way it comes from the camera and not spending one’s life in front of a screen. This is my plan for my upcoming trip to Japan (I leave this week for the rest of the month).

My camera was set to save images in RAW and JPEG. Sitting in the waiting room, I used the Leica Fotos app on my phone to download a low-resolution version of the JPEG to my iPhone photo library. From there, I uploaded the image to my Flickr and Instagram feeds.

For the photographer on the go, who needs a computer and Photoshop? I guess I do, just not all the time.