In your bag No: 1497 – Chacko

In your bag No: 1497 – Chacko

I am on the road, but I am trying to squeeze in a few new bags and articles whilst I travel. Today Chacko joins us, with a very interesting setup from Dubai. Check it out.

Greetings from Dubai! My Name is Chacko, I am a big fan of the website and have been meaning to send in an entry for quite some time. I started taking photography seriously about 3 years ago and started with a Digital DSLR (D5500).
In order to pick a camera, i started doing some research on YouTube and quickly got sucked into the massive photography community there; reviews, tips, tricks etc. I was hooked. The more i watched and tried things on my own i felt that something was missing, i wasn’t as happy as i had hoped with my results on digital.
The answer was film. I found the satisfaction of shooting a roll, not knowing with certainty what you got, developing it and finally seeing the result, sometimes even months later extremely satisfying. I started with a Yashica Electro 35GSN as i was drawn to range finders and it was a cheap option. After using it for a while, i felt limited by the Aperture priority. I decided to invest in a Leica, i knew anything else i buy would just be gradual upgrades until i finally ended up with a Leica. i thought long term it would be better to just dive right into the deep end. 

My bag: i have a Billingham Hadley Pro, i try to travel as light as i can and this was as big as i wanted to go. I use a Leica M6 (non TTL). A Summicron C 40mm paired with a Voigtlander 40mm external viewfinder to frame better. I also have a 50mm Elmar that i got recently very cheap, i did a DIY cla and it works just fine. i find it quicker to shoot with as i don’t need to reframe on the external view finder after focusing.
My other main walk around is a fun Leica Sofort. I love the instax format and the Sofort is a pleasure to use.
I also carry around a metal card holder that keeps the instax photos safe till get back home. i carry a small pouch for my 2nd lens and some micro fibre cloth, extra batteries and headphones. I am still new to the various types of film available and i experiment as much as i can.
I like using Kodak Tri X 400, Portra 400, Ilford HP5, Fuji Vevlia 100, Cinestill 800T. The Provia and Acros just became available in Dubai and i am yet to try them.

Availability of film and places to develop, a dark room are all hard to come by in the UAE. Fortunately things are improving. We have an amazing Facebook group called Analog Photography UAE that has active discussions, photo critiques and meet ups. The group has some very knowledgable and helpful members that were willing to teach us newbies things like developing B&W, E6, Dark Room prints, Medium & Large format etc. Thanks to the group i now develop my own B&W and hope to venture into C41 and E6 soon and maybe even dark room prints if we can arrange one for the community. 

I hope you like my bag, and i hope i was able to give you a small insight into film in Dubai. You can see my photos on instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ckalli/

Or check out the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1485062931725211/

Thanks for sharing your bag with us, Chacko. An interesting journey to film you have there.
Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com
Send me a high resolution image of the bag. Optimum size is 1500px 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. Snapshots of your gear with a camera phone and no words will not be featured.
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.