In your bag No: 1324, Christoph Schultes
Christoph brings a very nice Sunday setup to us today. Perfect viewing for a relaxing day before heading out to do a spot of shooting. If this bag isn’t inspirational then I don’t know what is. Check it out.

Finally I am sending you an “In your Bag” piece, something I have wanted to do for a long while. Maybe you’ll be able to post it before the end of the year: that way I’m making a commitment for 2016.

Actually, it’s not just my bag but also a text about a few experiences over 2015 with the main contents of the bag (I have other stuff in there, too [no knives, though], but I think the main interest is the camera and the film).

Having passed from film back in the 90s to a constant hankering after ever “better” digital equipment over the past 20 years I am now back where I started, shooting rolls and turning light into chemistry in the analogue manner. The last two years have seen a variety of cameras in different formats come and go (you should know, you kindly supplied some of them!) but given the time commitments of work and family it is getting to the point where I need to simplify (at least for a while) and try to keep some parameters of the experience constant (plus I’m planning to get rid of all my digital cameras apart from my iPhone 6s, as I spend enough time in front of computers as it is and I don’t have the time for digital workflows right now).

So presented with a two week holiday in Greece in the late summer (give or take) I thought I’d try a little experiment, which is reflected in the camera bag picture supplied (the bag is a simple bag from Porter, used with an insert: tough but inconspicuous):

  • One camera (Leica M6 TTL)
  • One lens (Zeiss ZM Biogon 35mm)
  • Black and white film only: as many different types and speeds of film as I could get my hands on before heading off into the sun (only the BWXX missing in the picture)
  • One developer lab (Ag Photo Lab; www.ag-photolab.co.uk; recommended by Hamish McGill, www.35mmc.com)

In addition, as it turned out, I also narrowed myself down to mainly one location, at roughly the same time of day (early evening).

Overall, of course, I haven’t stuck completely to the plan: I also have an XPan that I am currently working my way through about 20 rolls of CineStill 800, and after two weeks with the 35mm focal length I had to shoot some rolls with my 1980 50mm Summicron as well. But in general the B+W experiment was the core of trying to change the way I want to shoot in 2016: after collecting the films over a three-month period, and then receiving back from the lab about 350 images and 700MB of data, here are a few lessons I learnt and will try to apply in the coming year:

  • I love my M6, even though I have periodic periods of wanting something else (having the light meter in camera works for me)
  • I like 35mm in the final image, but prefer 50mm when shooting
  • Choose a good lab, unless you have plenty of time and room for experimentation with film developing at home (the original idea was to develop by hand, but I’ll leave that for 2017…)
  • Distil all the hints, tips, and working practices of the many people with great websites covering analogue photography until you find a consistent set of parameters to stick to for a period

There are more, but in the spirit of keep it simple these are the ones I’m taking with me for now and allowing myself a little more leeway with the other variables (i.e., straying into other cameras, lenses, and colour film).

Once again I must admit that I am blown away by film, both in terms of shooting experience and the end result (physical and when scanned properly): wishing the community a Happy New Year and good luck with your own plans for 2016.

Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/shiptorch/)

Tumblr (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/shiptorch)

Thanks for all your efforts and best wishes for 2016,

Christoph Schultes

Thanks for sharing your bag with us, Christoph. I love the simplicity of the setup and the purity of vision you have with how you want to shoot. Excellent stuff. Happy New Year.

Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com.

Send me a hi resolution image of the bag. Optimum size is 1500 across. Please ensure there is a bag in the shot, unless you don’t use one. The more you can write about yourself the better, make it appealing and tell us a story.

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