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Louise’s phone photo of Venus de Milo statuettes at the Louvre gift shop
We have been blogging since 2011—five years. During that time I have purchased four cameras for use during our travels, and sold three of them. I may be about the sell the other.
Every picture you see on this Paris episode of the blog has been (or will be) taken with a phone camera—either Louise’s Nexus 6P or my Nexus 6. We decided to forgo “real” cameras because a) They’re (relatively) bulky and heavy, and b) They’re a pain to interconnect with computers.
Our bags
Not to get all holier-than-thou on you, but Louise and I now travel with one bag each. Small bags. A little bigger than the pillow on your bed. They’re bigger than carry-on, but only slightly so. We’ve carried enough bags up subway stairs (and over Venice bridges) to have learned the value of the words small and light. You have to give that to phones: as cameras go, they’re small and light.
And really: they’re pretty good cameras.
(Click on any image for a better view)
Then there’s this: They upload anything new into the cloud whenever they’re in WiFi range, which means new pictures appear on my computer the moment I walk through the door, all organized—automatically—by subject and date. No searching. No tagging. No wires. No swapping memory cards.
So, welcome to another experiment in the adventure of almanacking. If we keep this up, we’ll be able to carry everything we need for travel in our hip pockets.
Our cameras are already there.
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The Expat Almanac 
My Samsung 6 takes great pictures. I can’t imagine why anyone, other than professional photographers, would need more camera. Oh, by the way, I love the pictures. All of them.
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Will, I DO miss my zoom lens, but it was a bit of a crutch. Now I have to work at framing the shot with what I have, which is more the photographer’s role. When you stop to think about it, we’re back in the Brownie age: no fancy lenses, no control over depth of field or shutter speed. More concentration on composition, less on technology. Okay. That’s enough philosophizing. You got a tall one for me in the fridge?
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Amen to planers. Sold my German cameras and lenses, too much to pack around for occasional use. iPhone is always with me so I take pix and read when waiting, etc. Phones are picking up speed for e-reading nicely. Again, you always have them. Louise’s Venus de Milo statures would ad a nice touch all around our living room. Think I’ll talk to Sally about it. Glad you hare having a such a great trip. Jim
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Jim, I see fewer and fewer “real” cameras in my travels now, and more and more phones. If you blow it up, you’ll see that the bubble picture includes a woman also taking a picture (using a phone, along with me) of the bubble-blowers. And yes: we read with our phones, and map (SOooo useful in Paris!), and text with our children. And play gin rummy. Lots of gin rummy. Don’t tell.
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Very cool, Tom. And your photos are great. We may have to give that a whirl, too. We’ve always joked about donning a SCOTTeVEST and doing a “Rolf Potts.” An interesting challenge for sure. So glad to see you and Louise enjoying Paris. ~Terri
http://www.scottevest.com/nobaggagechallenge/
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Terri, we too have Scottevests, although Paris is an occasion for slightly more formal wear. I have an unbelievable sportcoat from Norm Thompson that wads into its built-in pocket and never needs ironing. If you don’t look too closely, it’s appropriate for the city—even Paris—especially when it’s paired with a scarf. Everyone in Paris wears a scarf, doncha know.
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Playing with my new phone in Paris reminds me of what I would tote around foreign city even ten years ago. A biggish purse including maps, a guidebook, a French English dictionary, a camera, travelers’ checks, and then the girl stuff. Of course lots of coins or jetons to use the impossible public phones.
And now… it’s all in this nice little package, the 6G. How lucky we are! As our joints fail from carrying heavy bags, our bags lighten.
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I try my best to pack a small bag it is a skill and your photos are great with a phone camera. Congrats on five years blogging, those coloured statues really appeal to me.
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