In your bag No: 579, Morag Fyfe-Lucas
Hold the press! We have a lady bag today. It is not often we see these on the site, but Morag has been kind enough to share hers with us. Come and have a look at this great mix of film and digital.
My name is Morag Fyfe-Lucas and I currently live and work in the North-West in England and this is my bag! I’m an archivist by profession and an enthusiastic amateur photographer in my spare time.
I’ve loved photography for as long as I can remember and got my first ‘proper’ camera as an 18th birthday present from my dad – a second hand Olympus OM10 (I think he was fed up of me nicking his camera all the time!) I’m 35 now and still have that camera, although it needs fixing as the shutter sticks every time I try and shoot with it. It’s a great camera though, has always taken some great shots, so I’m not quite ready to part with it just yet!
3 years ago I got the Olympus Pen EP-1 featured here. I coveted this camera for ages before I bought it as it was quite expensive. My wedding, impending honeymoon to Japan and the unreliable nature of my OM10 made me finally crack and I have not regretted it. I instantly fell in love with this wonderful camera. It’s light, compact and lets me take some great photos. It’s almost permanently on Aperture Priority as I love a good bit of depth of field! I’ve never had any formal photography training, but last year I did take an OU digital photography course to try and hone my skills (I’ve always been a luck and judgement kind of a girl). The thing I liked best about the course was that it made me go out and take pictures and look critically at them (the rest of it was a bit of a waste of money to be honest). I’ve try to continue this with a 365 photo project, which forces me to take pictures every day, play about with styles etc. It’s quite a challenge, but I’m enjoying it so far!
Persuaded by a colleague who’s also really into photography to give medium format a try, I bought the 1990s Lomo Lubitel 166 pictured on a popular auction site a the start of the year. I wanted something cheap to begin with, just to see whether I’d get on with it – I think I’ve already spent more on film / getting films developed than I paid for the camera! My friend said to me that ‘once you’ve gone square, there is no going back’ and I think she was right! I’m hooked. So much do I love the square images of 120 film that I often find myself cropping my digital images square because ‘they look better…!’ It may not be the most sophisticated camera in the world, or indeed the best, but it actually takes a fairly decent photo and being made of plastic it doesn’t break my back carrying it! I must admit though that I am now saving up for a Rollieflex…
You’ll notice two bags – the red Crumpler is my ‘larger’ bag for when I’m carrying both the Lubitel and my EP1, plus a few lenses and the other bits and pieces pictured. The smaller black Lowepro is just big enough for the EP1 with 14-42mm lens attached, one other lens, my purse and a spare battery. It’s my ‘everyday’ bag for when I don’t want to lug a whole load of kit about with me. I like that they are both quite compact and neither of them scream ‘camera bag’. I have also been known to just wrap the EP1 with one of the lenses in a furoshiki and chuck it in my handbag…
Pictured (l-r):
– red Crumpler camera bag
– iPad mini with SD card reader (for downloading on the go)
– iPhone 5 (for use as an additional camera and light metre), on top of its Noodoll case
– Purse (handmade by me, so I’d have something small enough to fit in the Lowepro)
– Lowepro StreamLine 100 camera bag (with two Hello Kitty charms picked up on a recent trip to Japan, you’ll notice I’m a big kid at heart)
– spare memory card
– spare battery (and case)
– lens cleaning cloth
– Kodak 400T-MAX 120 film
– keys (with a My Neighbour Totoro bag I keep them in, so they don’t scratch anything)
– Olympus Pen EP-1, with M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm lens attached
– M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm zoom lens
– M.Zuiko 60mm macro lens (my newest and one of my favourite lenses)
(Not pictured is the Zuiko Digital 25mm 1:2.8 Pancake lens, which I also have)
– Lomo Lubitel Universal 166 (with Ilford Delta 3200 film in it)
– Lomo Libitel manual, small moleskine notebook, compact pencil
If people want to check out my 365 photos the link is: http://mafl365photoproject.wordpress.com/
A small selection of my medium format images are on my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maflphotos/
I’m on Instagram as: maflphotos
Finally I can be found on Twitter: @mafl365photos
I love your site and the ‘In your Bag’ feature – I love having a nose at what other people carry and reading about their background and motivation!
I think that’s everything – sorry if I’ve gone on a bit!
Morag
Well, I thought I had commented, but I must have missed it. Sorry about that. Thanks to Morag for being a good sport and sharing her modern urban bag with us. Check out the links and 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
Morag – Does your OM-10 simply need new batteries? My OM-2 sticks when the batteries are flat. It may be worth checking.
And – yes get that Rolleiflex.
Oh my goodness, I’m embarrassed to say changing the batteries never occurred to me… You are quite right! Put new batteries in this afternoon and it seems to be working fine again. I’ll just slink away red faced now! Thanks heaps.
PS – I’m saving up!
Morag, I very much like your work, but especially your views on basic equipment. having worked in my own darkroom for many years, and recently moving from my Rolleiflex TLR to 35mm, I am blown away by the difference. Go for the Rollie by all means. In searching back thru 1000’s of negatives, most of the Rollie negatives were great, while my 35’s are just so/so.
Nice to see a fellow female analogue-r who is also an avid Olympus user!! I am so excited! :D Nice works there! Cheers!
I just got a lubitel 166 about 3 months ago. I love it thus far
I like how Bellamy writes a short comment under every bag post, but skips the one lady’s bag, lol.
Completely unintentional. I thought I had.
Hi,
if you have the TLR bug, then think about Rolleicords, as they tend to be a bit cheaper. The main difference to the’flex is that winding the film on doesn’t cock the shutter. I have a VB ( or 5B), and I quite like it to use, although the focusing screen is a bit dark)
Others to consider are the Yashica Mat 124, or if you want a real beast go for a Mamiya C220 or C330
Tom