In your bag 709, Loris Gianadda
Loris shares with us his whopping, yet basic bag with us. Books and cameras, a real back breaker of a combo.

My name is Loris Gianadda and I’ve only came back to photography in 2009. I only do film, except for the pictures taken with my phone when I’ve got nothing better in my hands :)

I learned to take pictures with my father – a journalist – at a young age, since I still have some shots I took when I was five. My father taught me with his cameras until I became a stupid teenager and stopped taking pictures. It came back to me around 2007-8, when I bought a compact digital camera for my first travel alone, to NYC. Then I began to take it everywhere, mostly in my urban explorations, where it died from eating too much limestone dust (aaaah, Paris underground is full of cement or limestone dust, depending where you go). I loved taking picture but my budget was tight at the time. Faced with the desire to buy a working camera but limited to the same budget I had bought my compact with, I discovered that I could buy the same compact or buy a film reflex if I wanted to go further.

Of course, I went film, because I wanted to get a better camera (a compact only takes you so far). A friend of mine was all about film so he gave me the basics. Everuthing I had learned with my father came back, except for the “journalism” which I still need to learn. The camera was a second hand (third ? fourth ?) Canon EOS 30. I put a film in it and got lots of fun with that 50mm 1.8 of his.

Since then, I can’t stop shooting pictures. Another friend taught me how to print pictures. I learned how to scan. In Budapest, I got my hands on a Hasselblad while looking for the copy (a Kiev 88). Now it has become my favorite camera. Usually, it comes with a Minox 35GT if I need a light camera for hard hikes or a Horizon 202 if I can transport it.

Here is the bag I take mostly everywhere. It was hard to find the perfect bag. Given the weight of the blad and the need to have it easily at hand while doing long hikes, I use to bags with the same insert. The one picture here is a Czech Army medical bag. It can take the Crumpler Haven L insert in one of the pouch and leave enough space for what is not in the insert.

In the Crumpler insert :

– Hasselblad 500C/M + 150mm C T* and A12 back, bubble level and lightmeter button

– 80mm C T* and hood

– a second A12 back (usually one back is all about Fujifilm Velvia 50 iso while the other is Ilford HP5 400iso)

– coloured filters for the B&W film : yellow, yellow green, orange, green

– polarizing filter for the Velvia

– lenspen

– lens cloth

– cardboard film indicators (taken on film boxes) to put at the rear of the A12

– some films, protected in AGFA film tubes

– all surface pen

– small trigger chord (I put down the camera and use that when no tripod)

– a paper lightmeter (insert sensitivity and light conditions, read the potential EV)

Aside the insert, still in the bag :

– polaroid back with Fujifilm FP100C

– a watercolour book and a small set of watercolours

– a pencil case with pencils, eraser, sharpener, waterproof markers and watercolour brushes

– a book or my iPad (with books)

– iPhone 4 (lightmeter app)

If I know I will be in need of it, add a spelunking headlamp, a tripod and an HC-3 prism for the camera, with quick-coupling thingy. Also, for long hikes where hiking gear is needed, the medic bag is replaced by a Deuter Futura 28L and the insert goes in the bottom compartment. The upper one gets food, water, and everything needed for serious hiking.

I try to take that kit everywhere I go. I got other cameras, but none as lovely as that one.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogreuhphies/sets/72157625922975994/

Kind regards

Thanks for sharing your bag with us Loris, it is very cool to hear your story of your journey to film.
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