He’s checking it twice… and so on. Yes, Santa Claus is coming to town very soon.

There’s a serious point here, though. As a self-employed freelance photographer working with and for your clients you really cannot afford to forget anything. We’ve all done it and I have been a little more than fortunate because it has never ruined an assignment. When I was younger I used to be amused by the number of lists that my wife would produce both for work and in our home life. I learned my lesson and now lists form a big part of my existence too. If anything is part of an assignment then it has to appear in at least one list.

From the obvious shot lists that clients give me outlining what they need through packing lists for clothing and toiletries to the duplicate lists of equipment and serial numbers or the even more bureaucratic (and expensive) carnets that customs in so many different countries require (thanks Brexit) I have come to rely on lists to make my jobs go smoothly.

Making lists (and checking them twice) isn’t the most creative thing that we do but I have come to realise that by engaging in the mundane task of compiling and relying on them I am far freer to do what I need to do when I finally get cameras in my hands and when I’m editing the pictures. I’m completely aware that this is a psychological thing. Lists perform an important function and that makes me way more relaxed to know that I’ve been through the process.

A lot of the lists that I create get recycled, edited and adapted. Most of them these days aren’t on scraps of paper or even in notebooks because I have become a big fan and a big user of the extremely simple Apple Notes app on my phone, computers, iPad and watch. Lots of PDF and Word lists as well as scans of hand-written ones live on my Dropbox Pro account where I can call them up and refer to them or share them. I have even got scans or digital copies of all of the invoices for the gear I travel with just in case a customs official somewhere in the world wants me to prove that I own something and, more likely, have owned it for a while. I don’t love Dropbox, I’d just find it really hard to do my job without it.

I’ve a small confession to make: I have this strange habit of quietly singing the lines about making a list and checking it twice to myself when I’m preparing to go off on jobs – all year round. Occasionally someone will overhear and the look of confusion on their faces in May, June or July is something to behold.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town is one of my favourite bits of Christmas music and the many versions by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are right at the top of that list. I’m sitting here writing this blog post in the middle of December 2024 and I’d like to wish everyone who celebrates it a very merry Christmas followed by a happy new year. 2025 looks exciting and uncertain in so many ways and for so many reasons. I hope that it works out well for us all.