The Luxury of Paying Attention

What’s the one luxury you can’t live without?

My camera.

Not because it’s expensive. Not because it’s the latest model. And certainly not because it makes me look like a photographer.

It’s a luxury because it helps me see.

A camera slows me down. It makes me notice the details most people walk past—the play of light on a wall, a fleeting expression, a quiet moment that would otherwise disappear forever.

The older I get, the more I realise that memories fade, but photographs have a remarkable way of bringing them back to life. They remind us not just what we saw, but how we felt.

So if I had to choose one luxury, it wouldn’t be a watch, a car, or a gadget.

It would be my camera.

Because it doesn’t just capture moments—it helps me appreciate them while I’m living them.

Stay safe

Bc 

The Ordinary Things That Matter Most

What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

This is actually a tricky one…

I’m sure people expect the obvious answers. My wedding ring, some ancient family heirloom passed down through generations, baby photos, or maybe some ridiculously rare comic hidden away in a protective sleeve somewhere.

Truth is, it’s much simpler than that.

My old DSLR camera and my mobile phone.

Now before anyone rolls their eyes and mutters something about modern technology taking over our lives, hear me out.

My DSLR was my first “proper” camera. Not the fanciest bit of kit in the world, not one of these eye-wateringly expensive setups professional photographers use. But it was mine. The camera that taught me how to look at the world differently. The one that came with enough lenses and buttons to confuse me for several weeks straight.

It also helped me capture my first proper moon shots, which honestly felt like a tiny personal victory against the universe itself.

Worm Moon (March 3rd)

I still pretend I know what I’m doing with photography, by the way. Half the time I’m just pressing buttons and hoping for the best. Occasionally though, the universe rewards me with something beautiful.

As for my phone, it’s less about social media and doom-scrolling and more about the fact it’s basically my portable life support system at this point.

It’s got my emails, banking, contacts, calendars, reminders and enough important information on it that losing the thing would probably send me into cardiac arrest.

The social media side of it? I could honestly live without that quite happily.

Now, honorary mention…

My first magazine publication.

That moment mattered more than I can probably explain properly. Seeing my words printed for the first time was the moment I stopped feeling like someone who just scribbled random thoughts into notebooks and started believing maybe — just maybe — I was actually a poet.

Or at the very least…

A Scribblologist.

Stay safe
Bc