In your bag No: 665, Bezalel Ben-Chaim
Bezalel not only has a cool name, but he also has a very cool bag for us to pour over. Come and check out this beauty from Israel.

My name is Bezalel Ben-Chaim, and I’m a digital media designer from Tel-Aviv, Israel. I have been photographing as a hobby since I was 10 years old – 35 years ago. At age 13 I had a home darkroom set up in my parents shower where I was developing my films and enlarging my prints. Having studied visual design, I also integrated photography – and later on videography – into my professional career.

Even though I always had a camera with me, I went through phases of nothing more than plain travel photography or documenting my family. A few years ago this hobby again took prominence, and, trying to identify where my interests lay and what I was really good at, the direction was clear — candid and street photography. Nothing posed, simply capturing the surrealist moments that take place in front of me.

Trying to distance myself from the DSLRs I use for professional projects, I happily returned to film, with the added joy of developing and scanning my own pictures (in B&W, of course). My main tool is a Zeiss Ikon rangefinder, coupled with a Leica 35mm Summicron lens and a Domke Gripper strap. I use a couple of B&W filers – Neutral density and Dark red (for those dramatic ‘black sky’ effects). Spare batteries and a Lenspen for keeping everything clean. Spare films in a DIY plastic box – Tri-X and Fuji Acros for B&W, and whatever I find for color work – currently Fuji Superia 200 & 400, Kodak Portra and Ektar, And Rollei Crossbird for cross-processing. Alternatively, for digital work, I sometimes use my Fuji X100, also with a Domke Gripper strap, mostly when travelling or other work which is less personal – family outings and such. When feeling foolish, I make use of my Russian Lomo LC-A.

All this goes into the excellent Domke F8 bag – with business cards, very simple, printed at home on my printer – showing my name, website and the title ‘Street Photographer’ This magically calms those nervous security men who demand to know what the hell I’m doing – “Ah, it’s OK. He’s a street photographer. it even says so on this card”….

Thanks Bellamy. You are doing God’s work. Keep it up.

My website is: www.ben-chaim.com
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/bezalel_bc/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bezalel.benchaim

Thanks for sharing your bag with us Bezalel, I love the Zeiss Domke combo, very cool.
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