Mobile journalism: What’s in your backpack?
Student and journalist Jared Silfies dumped out his backpack and showed us the things he carries for mobile reporting.
I love his photo! I would enjoy seeing more like it. What do you say — can you post a picture for us, and give us a gear list? Just post it to Flickr if you don’t have a blog (yet). Then you can paste the link into your comment below. Here is Jared’s photo on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredsilfies/2425813749/
What, you don’t have a blog OR a Flickr account? Are you a real journalist?
You don’t have to link every item. We know how to Google. It would be really cool, though, if you would provide the specific make and model of anything you’ve found that’s super-helpful in your work.
Update (8:39 a.m.): If you post a picture on Flickr, tag it with these two (2) tags — backpack and mojo. If you do, we will be able to generate a “cluster” of all the photos.


So … no one has a backpack?
Or no one has a camera?
April 22, 2008 at 2:54 pmHere is mine. I recently ditched the dynamic mic and the 50mm, and my MacBook Pro and point ‘n’ shoot aren’t shown. Video devices come and go. For audio, I really love the M-Audio Microtrack II and the Sennheiser wireless kit as they give me a lot of leeway in places from which I otherwise would not be able to gather sound.
April 22, 2008 at 3:32 pmWe’ve had pretty good results with the Nokia N95 for streaming video. Great lens, pretty good sound. You can check out a few samples from our coverage of a shooting on a high school campus here in Fresno. But some reporters still are concerned abut choosing the “right” tool for the job. Video or audio, pen or paper, text message or stone tablets. The Newspaper Guild and The Bee have created an Innovation Committee to talk these things out.
April 22, 2008 at 4:34 pm[...] Silfies’as tai padarė pirmas, Mindy McAdams pasiūlė tai padaryti ir kitiems - ką savo kuprinėje nešiojasi “mobilus” [...]
April 22, 2008 at 4:49 pmMy World-Tested Mo-Jo Multimedia Kit
Since 2005 has produced mojo in more than a dozen countries on four continents and survived more than 200,000 air miles.
– http://www.flickr.com/photos/robbmonty/sets/72157601413940318/
And on my belt I now hoist a HVR-A1U with wireless lavs, firelight drive and charger in a porta-brace waist pack.
April 22, 2008 at 4:55 pmHi. I guess nobody’s posting because it’s hard to find out, how to take a picture and still have camera on that picture
My backpack is here http://www.nedraugiskasinternetas.lt/?p=40
You wont find my cellphone there, because I used it as a camera.
April 22, 2008 at 4:58 pmI do have a backpack, but it’s lying next to me right now, and since I am currently at home, it only has my photo gear in it
If I were to go into the office and get the Magic Mojo Kit, I’d also have the Zoom H2 player and/or a regular consumer grade camera with me. Nothing very special, really. I am considering getting either a EEE-PC or a flip camera, but somehow the former doesn’t cut it as well as my regular laptop, and the latter needs to be imported from the US…
April 22, 2008 at 5:53 pmI love you guys — thanks!
April 23, 2008 at 12:39 amHere’s mine - frightening isn’t it
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dawnriser/2438521372/
April 24, 2008 at 9:41 amhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jejulife/2439370237/
1) Nikon D80. Learning how to use it still. At the moment used to make the magazine look more professional at interviews.
2) Jack Wolfskin ‘Briefcase’. Again, has a professional look to it.
3) Korean phrase book.
4) Olympus WS-300M digital voice recorder. Purchased on recommendation from this blog.
5) IBOOK G4. Aging and creaking under the strain of layout/design each month.
6) Map of Jeju in Korean (제주). To show the taxi driver where to go. Or for directions from a local.
7) Copies of the magazine — because when foreigners usually turn up somewhere here there’s a little confusion as to who we are and what we’re doing.
9) Assorted notebooks and pens.
April 24, 2008 at 10:21 pmLifehacker has a ton of gear bag photos online at http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Show-Us-Your-Go-Bag/
April 25, 2008 at 3:51 pmEnjoy!
Cool, Deborah — and thank you!
April 25, 2008 at 10:45 pm[...] wonder about all those gadgets I’ve got in my backpack, so after inspiration from a post on Teaching Online Journalism I thought I’d share. Not everything that I travel with is pictured here but these are the [...]
May 2, 2008 at 12:41 pm[...] Mindy McAdams issued a call in late April to disclose what’s in your backpack. I’ve enjoyed looking through the pictures that people have posted in response to her request. So I decided to participate. [...]
May 6, 2008 at 8:15 amI posted on my blog about this very issue last week - sans backpack and matte box, here’s what I carry. I use this gear for all my work. I honestly don’t think my contemporaries are needing to go to such high end gear to get work shot - this setup I have has been researched out extensively and unless you’re needing to go to broadcast - it will meet the needs of many shooters out there - and at a lower cost.
Cliff Etzel - Solo Video Journalist
May 6, 2008 at 10:16 ambluprojekt
How about collecting the photos together in a Flickr group?
May 23, 2008 at 2:43 amFor those of you equipped with Nokia Nseries mobile phones (N95 preferably) I suggest testing Wavelog, mobile blogging client. It allows posting of text, photos, videos and audio directly from your cell phone to a WordPress powered blog. You may download the free trial from telewaving.com
June 7, 2008 at 2:20 amMine’s gotten pretty light lately:
- Eee PC (touchscreen mod and EVDO card for quicker use)
- FlipVideo camera
- iPhone
if only the Eee PC was a bit smaller, then I’d just hold it all in my pocket.
June 19, 2008 at 8:36 pm