The White Towel!
If there is one tool I use on every shoot, everywhere, all the time, it is the white towel! It’s such a simple thing that has saved me and a whole lot of other folks time and time again. It so important that I went to the store to pick them out. They are all cotton, white, very fluffy hand towels. They are not used to block the rain. Their main purpose is to BLOT rain off my gear when I’m out shooting. They are kept dry inside my jacket and brought out to BLOT moisture off, never wiping (which can force water into crevices where it should not go). The white towel serves as extra padding in my camera bag riding between the lid of the bag and the long lens. When I’m working on the beach, the white towel is used to wipe the salt moisture off my hands (in these situations I borrow one from the lodge going out with a clean one each day). I prefer white as it shows dirt be it from my hands or the gear. That’s dirt I don’t want to reapply to my gear. The uses for the white towel are nearly infinite from bouncing sun/heat off gear to a snot rag in subzero temps, it’s a miracle tool! The white towel is seriously, and important tool!