Most people who spend their lives within a few inches of the eyepiece of a camera are acquainted with the term “run bag.” They know how to pack a bag, and they know how to pack a suitcase. Depending on what your particular job is, a run bag will have different items in it, but its purpose is pretty easy to convey. A run bag contains the essential tools you need to do your job when your job changes on short notice. It’s what you carry when you know you gotta run.

I was a reporter for almost fifteen years,and one of the tools of the trade was knowing how to pack a suitcase. Jin that same vein, though, was how to have the tools I needed on-hand when we would, as my assignment desk editor liked to say “switch gears.” I never left the house or the office without my run bag, and Continue reading “Packing It In: How to Pack a Suitcase” →