The benefits of a wide brimmed hat

I grew up wearing wide brimmed hats made of beautiful pine-green felt. At Boy Scout Jamborees this hat lent such an air of authority that I found myself continually mistaken for senior scouting staff, to the great admiration (and occasional advantage) of my peers. My hat is now as integral a part of my gear as my boots and the camera itself. When you spend day after day in the field, no piece of head gear is as versatile.

When I became a photographer, I discovered a whole new array of uses.

Sun hat. This might seem obvious, but no another hat or hood shades your face, ears, and neck quite as well while allowing you full range of vision and hearing.

Rain hat. Raincoat hoods are noisy and damp in the rain. A wide brim is your personal umbrella, open and comfortable.

Snow hat. Provided it isn’t too cold, nothing does as well keeping the snow out of your face and eyes, and from going down the back of your neck.

Protects you (and your camera if necessary) from hail and ice falling from trees.

Lens shade. Keep the sun off the lens face. The sharp shadow edge can be placed precisely across the lens face for shots to sunward to eliminate flare without getting the hat in the picture.

Keep rain and snow off the lens and/or camera. Hold over the lens face, or set the hat on the camera like a camera hat.

Shade the LCD in bright sun. (while keeping your hands free)

Backdrop for macro photography.

Wind block for camera to reduce camera shake.

Handy container for a lens swap when away from your bag.

Keeps rain and snow off your glasses (if you wear them).

Shelters the eye pieces of binoculars around your neck from rain and snow.

Handy container for berry picking. Put a cloth in the bowl to avoid staining the inside with berry juice.

No Sunglasses Needed. I don’t carry sunglasses in the field. A side benefit is viewing the landscape in true color all the time.

Snoozing shelter. Cat naps are an integral part of north latitude summer photography. The sun rises at 5am and sets at 10pm, so you are up at 4am and get to bed at midnight or later. Covering your eyes with a shirt or coat isn’t half as pleasant (or as cool looking) as slipping that brim down for a quick snooze. It’s also easy to check your surroundings before moving when a strange sound wakes you up. (The strangest sound to wake me from a photo cat nap was the growling of my assistant’s stomach. It woke him too, but he wouldn’t admit it.)