I own a dozen cameras of various sorts. Of those cameras I use a half dozen on a regular basis. In 2001 I bought my first digital camera, a used 2.1 megapixel Canon ELPH. That camera freed me from the restrictions of film photography by giving me instant gratification. I could see the picture I took instantly, not weeks later when I developed the film. I shot pictures with that camera ever day, everywhere and at any time. That camera truly became an extension of my eye. Here are the tools of my trade, a list of the cameras I use on a regular basis.

Canon ELPH SD780IS: The workhorse of the following group. After my 5MP Canon ELPH died I bought a smaller, higher resolution, version. I like the convenience of having a small point-and-shoot with me at all times for the last few years. Because I never know when I'm going to come upon a great shot. The Canon ELPHs I've own (three so far) have captured about 80% of the photographs I post on my website. At 12 megapixels, it is the highest resolution camera I own. The fact that it's easy to carry prevents me from leaving it behind. The fact that it has the highest resolution helps me when I have to crop a little. But these days that's not a problem.

Leica D-Lux 3: To say Leica is namedropping to the Nth degree. Yes, it's a point-and-shoot, but it's also fully manual... exposure, aperture, and focus... all manual. I bought my Leica D-Lux 3 in July of '07. In October of that same year I went to San Francisco and accidentally dropped the camera in a small pond. I thought it was dead. But a few days in uncooked rice and the camera was as good as new. The biggest strengths are the super sharp optics and the fact that I can manually control everything. My Leica is my "serious camera," the one I bust out for important "projects." It's a little big to just carry around, but it's nearly always with me, always within reach in my messenger bag.

iPhone (1st generation): Since it was always in my pocket, my first iPhone quickly became my "go to" camera for impromptu snapshots. With the introduction of apps like Old Camera, QuadCam, and ShakeItPhoto (to name three of the seven photo apps on the phone), my iPhone became that quirky camera that has its limits yet still takes interesting looking pictures. With the introduction of even more photo effector apps my iPhone not only became a camera, but a photo lab. I took over 12,000 pictures with my first iPhone in three years time.

Lomography Fisheye One: The only film camera I use on a regular basis. Lomography is analog, low tech, and interesting. The fisheye lens on this camera is its draw. There is no other camera that I own that can duplicate the look that a fisheye can produce. Fisheye pictures have an automatic "coolness" and other worldliness about them because of their nature. It's still hard to take a picture and have to wait until it comes back from the lab to know if it came out correctly. But, that's part of the charm too.

iPhone 4: Since I got the new phone I have been taking pictures nearly non-stop (approximately 1,000 pictures in a month's time). The same apps that made my first iPhone a great camera are on the new iPhone. The apps have been improved, and now apps like the ones mentioned before (along with Hipstamatic, Photobooth, and Pano) have higher resolution photos to manipulate thanks to the phone's improved camera. The iPhone section on my site is the fastest growing section, because my new iPhone has quickly become the first camera I pull out to take a picture no matter what the situation.