Running with a camera (like, an actual camera) is weird. Arguably dumb. Definitely risky.
The first time I saw someone running with a camera was at a long Sunday run with my run club about two years ago. I really can’t recall when specifically, but it’s Boston, so there was either snow on the ground or a plethora of mud. The photographer’s name was Ben Weingart, and he was the first “running photographer” (aka, a photographer that primarily works in the running community) that I really knew. Ben had a Sony A7 (can’t recall which specific model, A7, A7r, etc.), a wrist strap, and was a pretty accomplished runner. He took photos for Tracksmith’s run club, along with a few other regular photographers they had on staff to capture run clubs, events, etc.
Ben would take a wrist strap, grip his camera really fucking tight, run with the group, sometimes shoot while running, but more often than not, would run with the front pack (because he could, that speedy bastard), and sprint ahead to a vantage point to capture runners going past.
When I was photographing for Tracksmith towards the middle/end of 2018, I tried that. It uhhhh…didn’t go great. I gave it my best shot (heyoooo). But, more often than not, I would blow, attempt to hold a pace that I definitely couldn’t hold for more than five miles, and add to that fast sprints to get ahead of the groups. Those long run days turned to wind sprint days. And I wound up changing my strategy for photographing run clubs to “get a Blue Bikes account and really take advantage of the wide tires on those heavy-ass bikes.”
The first time I ran with a camera was in May of 2018. I was in Chicago, a city with which I was (at the time) still pretty unfamiliar aside from my knowledge of a few things. 1) I liked deep dish pizza. 2) I had a lot of friends in bands in Chicago. And 3) Chicago Music Exchange. My sister was graduating college that weekend, so I was in from Boston and the rest of my immediate family were in from DC. The first night I was there I went for (I think) a 4-5 mile run with my Nikon D750 and a Sigma 24mm 1.4. That’s not a light setup. And also, I hate bringing my phone on runs, so that was in the pocket of my running tights, and was really bugging me the whole time. I have those photos somewhere in a hard drive. Maybe I’ll dig them up. Might be some keepers. But probably not.
Now I run with a Fuji X100F. A small point and shoot that’s now a bit obsolete (they just came out with the X100V, a the fifth iteration of this camera series - new sensor, some different ergonomics, tilting display screen, different rangefinder eyepiece, etc.). But, my X100F is still a great camera. It stows away in a little Janji sling bag that I can strap down pretty tight to my back so it’s not bouncing everywhere during each stride, and I get out on the streets and look for interesting light.
I have a real issue with running with a phone. Mostly, I have a weird personal issue with running with music (unless I’m on a treadmill then holy shit if I don’t have music playing I will actually hate every single step that I take and I’ll never want to run again). I can think of two times (one fairly recent, one from at least two years ago) where running with music felt “good.” The first was two years ago when I was dogging it up a hill in Brighton (if you’re familiar with the Allston / Brighton / Brookline area you know there are a few hills that just…suck. so. bad.) back to my apartment. Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut To The Feeling” came on as I was about a half mile away from my house and yes, it motivated the everloving fuck out of me. The other time was earlier this week when I was doing a chill little four or five miles, and it was rainy and gross and I was in a real self-hating mood, so naturally, I threw on The Wonder Years on shuffle and just went out. Weirdly great run.
My point is…for whatever reason, I need my running to be just about me, my legs, my lungs, and what I’m seeing. My phone presents too many options (and, arguably, a lower-quality camera than my Fuji…but now I’m just being a douche, I know some people who have taken amazing iPhone photos and I personally goddamn suck at taking iPhone photos), and, for me, is the wrong motivation for keeping my legs moving. Not that I don’t love Carly Rae Jepsen or The Wonder Years or <insert hundreds of other bands and artists here>, but pardon me for this shit to need to be meditative.
A friend threw a little good-natured jab at me the other week. I mentioned that I had a running coach and had brought up that I needed to get up early for a long run or something.
“You have a coach? Why? Your demons aren’t enough?”
Holy fucking hell, I honestly hope they are, now that I’m thinking about it.