In your bag No: 632, Vance Lester
Vance is back, he was one of the earliest bag shots, and now he is back with a completely different bag. The change is total. Come and check it out.

Hey Bellamy, Got a new bag for you. I was formerly bag #65. I’ve been meaning to send this one in for a while. I hesitated because I don’t want to be one of those guys who sends in a bag every time they get something new, and I don’t want to show off all of my gear, just the stuff that is ACTUALLY in my bag.

For the record, I am still in Beijing, shooting street and whatever else catches my eye.

Onto the bag. This is my 4×5 set up. Vastly different than what I showed in bag #65. This one is about time and patience. There is no rushing the shot, no motor drive, no nonsense.

The bag is a limited edition Domke F2 in Emerald green with brown leather trim. I bought it used somewhere around 2005 and used it in J-school because all of the “real” photohournalists used F2’s. It’s big and fully loaded it weighs a ton.

The camera is a no name 4×5 based off a wista design. I grabbed it for a steal in WuKeSong Camera market in Beijing. Anyone coming here needs to stop in. A gear heads dream mall.

The background of the photo is what I use for my dark cloth. It is a piece of handmade silk that I bought on a recent trip to Laos. Sometimes I just feel the need to stand out even more in Beijing. Putting this brown and gold tapestry over my head does wonders.

The lens is a Schneider 150 5.6 in a copal 0 shutter. It has the view of around a 45mm in 35mm terms. A nice lens that I wish has a larger image circle. I am rather limited in my movements with this thing.

I carry 4 fidelity film holders for a total of eight shots per outing. I used to carry by change bag, but changing sheets in the field is a pain.

The film is Shanghai 100 ASA. It’s cheap, plentiful and works well. I have yet to run across imperfections in the emulsion, and until I do, I’ll keep using it. $13 USD for 25 sheets is a price that I can’t pass up.

The tripod is a Fancier. I like to walk around and proclaim that my tripod is fancier than all of the others but in reality, it is just a cheap and stable Chinese tripod that I found at the market.

To meter, I use my trusty Sekonic L308.

I carry a couple ND8 filters for the days when the pollution is minimal and I want to slow things down.

And as always, a notepad and pen to jot down notes and some postcards with my website to pass to people I shoot.

I recently spend 6 months backpacking around the world with a modified version of my Leica kit and 100 rolls of film. Maybe I’ll send in that bag too. It was an interesting one…

My contact info is still the same as before…
www.photogeek.ca
www.vancelester.com
www.flickr.com/photos/vancelester/

Many thanks for showing us your new setup, that is a definite change. Very interesting. We would all be interested to see your world travel bag too.
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. Please understand that there is a long wait now as there is a backlog of submissions. Not all make the cut, so make sure yours is funny/interesting/quirky. And please make sure the shot is of good quality, as the ones that are not do not go up.

Cheers
Japancamerahunter