To answer that question: I would be blogging about as much as I did this past week, which was a pathetic one post. (Chris posted the other for the week, so I’m not even going to count it to try to boost my numbers!) Here, at Shooting the Kids, we talk about babies and photography gear and lighting and setting up your shot, but there is one key subject that I now realize has been noticeably absent from my posts. And that, my friends, is our trusty laptop.

I didn’t realize how much I rely on the laptop for everything I do with my photos until Chris brought it into the shop this week to have the power jack fixed in preparation for our upcoming vacation. From downloading photos from my memory card and storing them in my ever-growing folders, to Photoshop edits and uploading my favorite shots to Flickr, there isn’t a day that goes by that the laptop isn’t being used as an essential tool in my photography.

I was at a loss this week. I have my system nailed down, and it works. And when that changes because the laptop needs a quick massage, I just don’t know what to do with myself. We have a desktop computer, but I can’t download my photos to it as easily and, well, truth is that it’s in the baby’s room, so after 7:00pm it’s out of capacity. And besides, you can’t write a blog post in bed with a desktop computer like you can so easily with a laptop (which I am so comfortably doing now).

So I salute you, my portable little friend, for always fulfilling my post-photography needs. Sorry you don’t get to be in the spotlight more often — you sure have earned it.

What about you all? Are you finding a laptop an essential tool in your digital on-the-go photography?