Newsletter #164 - Is this a gift guide?
An exhaustive look at some of the things I like.
I like to think that most if not everything I buy is in service of making my life and my photography better. I am generally not consuming just to consume. I am consuming to enhance. It is purposeful. It’s fine. It’s good actually.
Today’s newsletter is a series of pictures, links and stories about things and products I use in my daily life. I’m not being paid to do this and none of the brands I mention asked me to mention them. I am doing this because I think these products are actually kinda cool, interesting and/or useful, and perhaps as a subscriber of my newsletter you will find something that is cool, interesting and/or useful to you.
Or maybe you’ll see something that you think would make a good gift for someone you know. Have you finished your holiday shopping yet?
Speaking of gifts, if you like the Noah Kalina Newsletter and think what I do is good you can become a paying subscriber or gift a subscription to someone else. You also can look at my shop this week for special prints and rarities at interesting prices. Collecting my work helps keep these stories coming.
Holy shit. Let’s get on with it already!
There is a lot going on in this photo, but let’s start with the lights. Behind the TV is the Govee TV LED Backlight, in the back corner is the Govee RGBIC Floor Lamp, and outside are the Govee RGBIC Flood Lights. I think it’s possible we find out that blue LED lights are what have driven us all collectively crazy, but before that study comes out, consider these lights. I find them especially useful in this room and around my studio. You can pick from millions of colors, but really the only good color is somewhere between 2500-3000K. They all can connect to wi-fi, and call me crazy, but I love controlling lights with my phone.
The TV is the Samsung Frame TV with a subscription to the Samsung Art Store. The TV is good, I think. I really don’t even watch it that much, but when it’s off you can have it display art by a curation of some of the best artists in the world. It truly looks amazing. My photographs are featured in the Art Store and for every second you display my work I get a micro royalty. Have I talked about this before?
When I am framing physical artwork, I more often than not use Level Frames. I like their frame styles and molding options. You can send in your artwork or do it yourself at home. I’ve done hundreds of frames with them and the customer service has always been excellent. Try it out with this link and get $15 in credit.
On the floor is the Point Line Plane Rug by WSDIA for Design Within Reach. I got this rug for free for photographing it for WSDIA, but I absolutely love it and it’s one of the softest rugs I’ve ever owned (I’ve never bought an expensive rug before). It’s clear there is such a thing as luxury rugs and I think it’s one reason we should try to work harder in life.
It’s silly to recommend art books because not everything is for everyone, but I just picked up these three at One Grand Books in Narrowsburg, NY. Sophie Calle’s The Hotel (so good!), William Wegman’s Writing by Artist (so fun!) and Joel Sternfeld’s Nags Head (legendary!). I know these are Amazon links but don’t buy books on Amazon. Go to your local bookstore and buy something. You can pay with this thing called cash and the government can’t track you.
Trigger warning. Gratuitous camera gear talk ahead.
As many of you know, I make a lot of pictures of lots of different things in many different genres. I own tons of camera gear for many different applications and it would be tedious to go through it all, especially since I don’t necessarily think anything I own is “the best” or “perfect.” But some stuff I own is very good. Like the Gitzo Travlerer Series 2 Carbon Fiber Tripod seen in this photo. It’s the best and most lightweight (2.9lbs) tripod I’ve ever owned, and despite its light weight it’s sturdy enough to handle my heaviest cameras. It breaks down to a super small footprint so it’s easy to fly with. This tripod is good enough for 99 percent of photographers. It’s worth the investment since it will last you years if not decades.
Finding a tripod head you like is another story. It will depend on a million different factors from what kind of camera you use to what kind of subject matter you photograph, but I will tell you the Wimberly WH-200 Gimbal Tripod Head is incredible for bird photography. As far as I’m concerned there is no better way to shoot with a long lens than with a gimbal head. Since I often go back and forth between a birding lens & camera and my “normal” medium-format camera that I mount on an Arca Swiss D4, I use a Manfrotto MOVE to quickly switch back and forth. The thing is brilliant and I don’t notice any decrease in structural integrity.
I cover my cameras and lenses with Lens Coat’s RainCoat. I have two sizes, small and large, for my different setups. You definitely want this if you shoot in the rain. I also use the original LensCoat for my 300-600 lens, mostly because it’s fun, not because it’s useful. I also want a LensHide, just because, I mean, look at it.
If you’re a normal person you probably don’t care about camera gear. You probably looked at the picture of me above and wondered where I got those very cool pants. Those are the TruWerk T1 Pants. I found this brand through an ad on Instagram and gave it a shot. It could just be a weird dropshipping company but whatever, these pants are excellent. They are comfortable and practical for most of my outdoor adventures. My boots are the XTRATUF Ice 6 Ankle Deck Boot. They are warm, fit my feet like a glove and have really good traction in the snow. I’ve owned a few different XTRATUF boots over the past few years. Unfortunately they don’t last all that long if you wear them daily, but I think they are still worth it for the comfort-to-price ratio, and never having to tie shoelaces is the future of footwear.
I am carrying a Bellroy Hide & Seek wallet in ranger green. I just replaced a wallet I was carrying for over fifteen years. I think this wallet is good. How can you even evaluate a wallet? A wallet is like a couch. Even if it’s bad, you just end up living with it and then it eventually breaks in and it’s fine. This wallet has RFID protection which is almost certainly pure marketing. You can’t convince me that “electronic pickpocketing” is a real thing.
The red beanie with the light on it was a mistake. I shouldn’t have worn it in that photo, it makes me look ridiculous and I should have just remade the picture! Check out Newsletter #64 for an entire story about the hat.
On a vaguely related note, the half-size SIDIOCRATE and the Best Made S.B.T. Max Cloth-Bound Notebook are two accessories I find invaluable.
I know what you’re thinking - $80 for a crate and $50 for a notebook? You can get much cheaper alternatives that basically do the same thing. That’s probably true! But both of these products are high quality and in my experience infinitely better than any more affordable option. I keep my drone in the crate, which travels in my car and I couldn’t live without it. The notebook is truly of excellent quality. The pages have 1/4” dot grids, which I prefer over lines, and they lay flat to make writing easy and also are perforated in case you need to rip a page out. It’s the best. We’re all happy to see that Best Made is back.
Also, the Twin-Tip Sharpie and the Ticonderoga pencil are my current go-to analog lettering instruments.
One of my favorite hobbies is landscaping, specifically how it relates to compositions I make for my photographs. When it comes to cutting down trees, I often work with professionals, especially when the tree is too big or dangerous. But there are plenty of smaller things I can do myself, including limbing dead branches.
I do most of that work with the EGO 10” Pole saw and Power Head. This tool allows me to take care of dead limbs that are up to 15 feet off the ground. Plus the power head can be converted to a string trimmer. And of course, the batteries work in my standard 18” chainsaw as well as my leaf blower, snow blower and portable area light. I find most of EGO’s products to be well made and useful and they have all lasted me many years (with exception to the battery performance that obviously degrades over time). I need a new one, but they are kinda expensive. At least it’s not gas.
I am not entirely an EGO head. I also use DeWalt tools, like the drill, but my newest and most favorite tool is the DeWalt 20V Max Cordless Pruner. This tool is a game changer if you are pruning your young fruit trees and removing baby eastern white pine trees (there will be a whole newsletter about this). I can’t believe I used to prune branches manually! I also have the DeWalt 20V Max Pruning Chainsaw which is very good as well.
So much cutting, not enough planting. You should plant a tree next spring. I’ve planted at least twenty fruit trees over the past twelve years and I wish I started sooner.
Apples, peaches and pears do very well in my location. I’ve bought young trees everywhere from local nurseries to large chain stores to online growers like Stark Bros who I very much recommend. Any tree is cool, just find one you like and plant it!
A few weeks ago I went down a metal detector rabbit hole on YouTube, so I bought one to see if I too could get rich on hidden treasure.
This is the Dr.ÖTek Metal Detector and it’s great. It comes with a carrying case and a shovel. I already found 6 screws, a bolt, a bottle cap, and a quarter. This is not only my new career, it is also my lifestyle. (More on that in an upcoming newsletter.)
I also got a new hat. It’s orange so when a guy who thinks hunting is a sport sees your weird jittery movement in the woods he doesn’t “accidentally” shoot you.
I spend a lot of time at my desk. In fact, I’ve been sitting at my desk for twelve hours writing this newsletter. I thought this was going to be fun. I was wrong!
Here are some apps and internet-related lifestyle products that I am using and basically can’t live without right now:
Setapp - This is basically like a Netflix for software. I pay $15 a month for access to hundreds of apps. I use at least nine regularly, so I think it’s actually worth it. I’m currently using Cleanshot X (indispensable), Receipts (for taxes), Downie (for downloading YouTube clips for research, obviously), Hand Mirror (for checking myself out), Bartender (for cleaning up the menu bar), iStat Menus (for being a nerd), CleanMyMac (for cleaning my Mac), VidCap (for generating captions on my Hotline Show) and GlueMotion (for easily making time-lapse videos). Try it for one month free if you use my link and see if it makes sense for you.
CoPilot - This is how I track my finances. It’s amazing and links with every account I have. This is a great time of year to play with it and see if it will work for you in 2025. If you use my referral code U8P7YP you get 2 months free.
Acorns - I’ve been using Acorns for at least ten years and I’ve saved a shitload of money with roundups and automatic deposits. You get $5 if you use my link to sign up. Don’t forget to do your own research and invest responsibly.
Excire Foto - This software will scan your entire photo archive using AI technology to analyze and tag your pictures based on their content. This will allow you to quickly and easily search all of your photos by any keyword you can think of. I had it scan my 1.5 million photo archive and it has lowered my reliance on Google Photos when I’m looking for something specific.
Having a personal weather station is one of life’s greatest joys. I’ve been using the Ambient Weather WS-2902C WiFi Smart Weather station for over two years and I love it.
It’s affordable, accurate (I think), and I’ve never had to change the batteries, which is good because I mounted it in a place that I can’t easily get to it. It gives me most of the weather information I like keeping track of. I am even able to have my favorite weather app (Carrot) use it as the source for my local data. It’s reporting to CWOP so you know, I’m a citizen scientist too.
Moo - This is the company I make to use my world-famous postcards. I specifically order the “Super” style. You’ll see what I mean. Get 25% off if you use my link!
Cometeer - I’m addicted to this coffee. It’s the best there is, better than anything you could ever even attempt to brew yourself or get at your local coffee shop. Coffee snobs are scoffing, but they are wrong and don’t know what they are talking about. This stuff changed my life and my entire morning routine. If they ever go out of business I will be lost. Give it a try and see if it works for you. I need them to last forever. You get 20 free cups if you use my link.
Okay. That’s it. That’s the end of my list. I can’t do this anymore.
Are you still here? If so, I hope you enjoyed it, and I wish you a very happy holiday!
Don’t forget to call the Hotline Show.
Kristen Neufeld only read like 80% of this newsletter. Sorry if there are any mistakes.
Zach Vitale thinks an Edible Arrangement is the best gift when you want to speak without words.
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Thank you.
Like your Primed project, you have an uncanny ability to make me want to buy stuff I have no need for. Except for the Arca-Swiss d4, I definitely need that. And the Ambient Weather station. And a couple of those crates..
Thank you. I bought everything.