In your bag No: 1640 – Giovanni Stalloni

After much tentation, Giovanni has finally found his perfect compact setup for traveling to the far edges of the world.

My name is Giovanni, I’m an Italian traveller, photographer and former architect. I fell in love with film photography a few years ago while planning a 3 months trip to South America.

The idea was to travel from Ushuaia – the very bottom of the continent – to Santa Marta – the very top –  exclusively by bus and documenting the trip with a small film camera.

The moment I set foot on the internet to find the right camera I got completely hooked up into a new photographic dimension that I didn’t expect to be so immense and vibrant. I spent weeks and weeks studying the right gear, which eventually ended up being a Canonet ql17 and an Olympus XA. I filled my backpack with HP5+ and fuji superia 400 and jumped on a plane to the end of the world.

The funny thing is when I got back to Rome and finally developed, printed or scanned the rolls, I noticed that the best pictures came from the rolls that I found along the way, from people who gave away their film because their camera broke or decided to give up and use a phone instead. Not to mention a few rolls bought in some small town market, abandoned on a shelf and covered in dust.

Today my gear has changed but I always use the smallest cameras possible. After trying 20 different rangefinders, p&s and a few SLR I finally got to what I consider my ideal setup for street shooting, which is what I do when I’m not in the darkroom or working.

I have 2 photo bags:

1)    The “digital bag” strictly for gigs and assignments. (canon 5D and a bunch of stuff)

2)    My beloved everyday analog bag for street shoots and travel.

My everyday bag setup:

  • North Face Borealis; simply the best backpack possible. Compact, weather-proof and unbreakable. It has the right pockets in the right places. In 10+ years of wandering around with my motorbike has never shown a single sign of wear.
  • The vehicle registration and the keys of my Kawasaki KLE 500.
  • Contax T2; nothing to say. This camera is capable of auto-exposing like no other. I could not believe my eyes when I observed the first negatives. Stunning.
  • Rollei 35; I have no idea how they’d manage to pack so much quality in such a small space.
  • Olympus Mju1; found in a flea market. Payed 5€. Got amazed by the lens. Feed her with kodakcolor and you have something special. A lot of people have complaints on this camera. I find it absolutely amazing.
  • Spare rolls of HP5 or color film. Here’s Kodakcolor, my new favorite. I can’t believe it’s so inexpensive.
  • A thick marker to date and scribble the rolls.
  • My iPhone.
  • A raincoat, in case I have to ride in the rain.
  • A sachet of antihistamine for spring allergies. You can’t snap if you’re sneezing.

Most of my work is on Instagram: @gstallophoto

I don’t have a website yet but I have it planned…

Cheers!!!

Thanks for sending us your bag shot Giovanni. Can’t say I disagree with you much about the ideal compact setup.

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Cheers
Japancamerahunter