A camera, or a phone used like one, can record a trip or replace it. The difference is whether you looked at the thing before you framed it. A few habits keep the pictures and the day.
One lens, one pocket
Bring less than you own. A phone is enough for most days. If you bring a camera, bring the body and one lens you trust, and leave the bag that makes every church a production. You will take more pictures you like when changing lenses is not part of the walk. Charge the battery the night before. A dead camera at the one viewpoint is a particular kind of regret.
Shoot, then stop
Take the picture when the scene asks, then put the camera down and stay for a minute. The minute is the trip. The file is the souvenir. If you are shooting every doorway, you are collecting, not looking. Pick three frames in a street and then walk to the end of it with nothing in your hands. You will remember which three mattered.
Edit later, not in the doorway
Do not spend the evening deleting. Glance, back up if you are precious about it, and go to dinner. The edit is a job for the train home. On the trip, the light is the point, and it is happening outside the screen. Come home with fewer pictures and one hour you can still describe without opening the camera roll.
