In your bag No: 1601 – Thomas Merk

Thomas sure knows how to pack light without sacrificing quality. 

Hi, my name is Thomas Merk. I am a photographer, videographer and author living in Munich, Germany. I started professional photography some time ago with Leica rangefinders, Nikon SLRs, a Mamiya RB67 and a Sinar large format camera. After working digital for many years with various SLRs, mirrorless system cameras and – lately – a Leica M9, i have rediscovered analog photography as the best way to express myself in my personal picture taking. 

For me photography is one big time machine and a wonderful way to save and later revisit unique moments of my life. I love to dig into my (now almost completely scanned) archive of thousands of 35mm and medium format negatives and take amazing trips into my close and distant past. 

Taking pictures with my analog cameras – Leicas, Super Ikontas, Rolleiflexes, Kodak Retinas etc. – and developing the b&w films is a kind of time travel in itself i find great pleasure in. Each of these machines has its very special personality i never get tired of interacting with.

Here is one of the many bags in which i lug my mechanical marvels around. It is a Lowepro Streamline 100 which I use when i want to travel light. The bag is smaller than a case for a pair of binoculars, yet it houses everything i need for serious photography:  My Leica CL with its Summicron-C 2/40mm standard lens, a Tele-Elmarit 2.8/90 mm and a Voigtländer Snapshot Skopar 4/25mm together with its accessory viewfinder. The little bag has some nice features like a sewn-in strip of microfiber-cloth or a slot for a spare memory card which i use for the Voigtländer accessory viewfinder. Its greatest asset though is its height that enables me to store the two extra lenses vertically, held together by two Leica rear caps i taped together with gaffer tape. Camera and lenses fill the inner compartment of the bag completely, so i have to stow my little Konica flash and the extra roll of film in outside pockets. It is a kind of minimalistic equipment, but for me it is working fine.

Here’s where you can find me on the internet:

Homepage: www.zeitmaschinen.org

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeitmaschinen/

tumblr: https://fotozeitmaschinen.tumblr.com

Thanks for sending us your bag shot, Thomas. Mad focusing skills, I can imagine focusing a 90mm on the CL must be a PITA.

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.

Cheers
Japancamerahunter