In your bag 442, Brendan Gara
A photographers bag from the UK today. Brendan has been kind enough to share his rangefinder heavy bag with us. Come and have a good look.
I thought I’d share the contents of my camera bag with you. I’m a photographer in the UK who shoots documentary work with rangefinder cameras (Leica M6 or Mamiya 7). I spent the last three months travelling in South East Asia with this set up in a now battered Domke F803 bag.
Two cameras, a Leica M6 with the elmarit ASPH 28mm lens – this is my main camera, and I tend to use 28mm most of the time. A Fuji X100 with Thumbs Up attached- this camera is a dream to use and very inconspicuous. I also took a Voigtlander 40mm nokton SC lens as I needed a low light lens (I filed the tab down so the 35mm frame lines come up on the leica).
Spare batteries for both the Leica and the Fuji. Scarf bought in Laos that makes great padding for the cameras. Notebook and pen for writing names and places down. Marker pen for writing on films if I push them. Film- Tri X and Portra 400. I took 20 rolls of Portra and 80 rolls of Tri X with me on my trip. These went through 13 X- Rays as hand luggage and suffered no damage. Spare 8GB memory card for the Fuji. Cotton buds (“borrowed” from a hotel in Hanoi) for cleaning dust and muck out of the cameras. A spray bottle containing medical alcohol (handy for cleaning your hands or for insect bites). Lens cloth for cleaning. A pack of tissues, and a few sterile dressings (I’m not a hypochondriac honestly, but crashed a scooter, so kept a few of these in my bag for tending to my wounds!). Black insulation tape for taping over camera logos – keeps them looking inconspicuous, and an ipod shuffle. The orange band on the bag is a lucky charm – luckily the scooter crash was at low speed and the Domke bag took the brunt of the fall.
You can see my work on my website www.brendangara.com or on Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/brendangara/ and I’ll be loading up SE Asia photos as I develop and scan them.
Cheers
Brendan Gara
Thanks for sharing your bag with us Brendan. Glad to hear that your Domke protected you.
Check out the links and make sure you come and comment.
Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com. Send me a hi resolution image of the bag (please make sure it is horizontal) and its contents, with some details about yourself and what you shoot. Oh and don’t forget your contact details (twitter, flickr, tumbler et al). Send the bag shots here.
Cheers
Japancamerahunter
I am going on a trip soon. This will be my first time traveling with film, hopefully someone here can help me.
If I run my film (BW400CN , EKTAR100) through the Xray will it be damaged? Is there a way to check the film when I get to my destination to make sure I am not shooting with bad film? I am a new film shooter and would hate to lose photos from my trip. Thanks!! I am in the USA and will be traveling domestically if it makes a difference.
Hi Andre, hope you have a good trip, it is a fantastic place to visit. I looked around for places to have film developed in Thailand and Vietnam but gave up in the end. I was worried about going through so many x- rays but in the end I just did it and kept my fingers crossed. I’ve shot film in the US and brought it back to the UK and not had any problems so I guess it should be OK. Good luck, Brendan
If you are boarding a flight, put your films (unexposed,exposed) in your hand luggage and they will usually pass through the X-ray machine fine. Not in checked luggage as the X-rays used in scanning will be far more intense. Now go shoot like Tiger Woods.
I love these cameras, but doubt taping over logos makes any difference.