In your bag No: 1705 – Gavin Go

Gavin Go is an old friend of JCH having been featured in the past. But it has been a while so it is nice to see him back with his gear.

Number 1486 June 6, 2017 was the last time I was featured by JCH. The world changed a lot in 4 years. I’m Gavin Go and a certified GAS veteran.  I did mellow down a bit and have sold most of my film gear right before the pandemic hit – lucky me. I buy and sell to experience and at the same time to hunt for bargains and sell them upgrading my gear. For several years, since I travel a lot all over the world, I get to hunt for great finds and I did. After realizing that in the Philippines film can never be developed the way I wanted to and I don’t have enough time scanning it, I literally gave up shooting film 99.9% and started shooting digital. I have the pakon and a canon pro 1!  How crazy can I get.

No the bag cannot fit all the gear in the picture.

 

My favorite camera bag maker is Wotancraft from Taiwan. I bring this everyday for work and it fits a camera and a lens and everything I need for work – magical really. The green Hansa bag which I bought in 2016 for US$3 is still there for weekends (see in your bag 1486).

To keep this short, I have everything digital from street, portraits, work, birding, moon shots, swimming, landscape, and anything you can think of in digital.

What stays so far for film are the Horseman VH with 4×5, Minolta SRT, M3 and the MP Classic.  Why?  I have had many collectible at one point in my life (https://www.instagram.com/p/BnUxuGzF3dw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) and this is what I think calmed me down looking for the best film gear suited for me.
What I realized is that I was looking for the most authentic pure Leica experience there is and there is nothing that compares to an M3 because it is where it all began, so if you want to save time and accept that you can learn how to shoot without a meter then this is what you are looking for and nothing else, so do not waste time. Believe me I had the chance to own or hold some of the best film gear. The MP Classic is just something to brag about so I might be tempted to sell it eventually or just keep the 2 for my 2 kids. It is too beautiful to use and I’m the kind of person who uses things I buy. Time will tell. This also doesn’t have a meter.

For lens, the 28 and 50 is what I often use. The 28 is best for hyperfocal. It is the fastest manual focus for street in my opinion where you can set the distance range you often shoot at. 50 is for bokeh. I still don’t have a Noctilux because I know it will be so difficult to focus and it is so heavy.  One day I’ll be ready to try that out. There is one gem of a lens and that is the Minolta MD 85f2 that I have. That lens is great even mounted on a medium format digital 50R.

Keep film alive guys. It is really fun and makes us more creative that digital can never give. Thanks to Bellamy and everyone in the film community that help keeping it alive. I visited him several times and had the chance to hold some of the most unique film gear there is.

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRa2yE6lyEe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Thanks for coming back to us, Gavin.

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. Not all make the cut, so make sure yours is funny/interesting/quirky. And please make sure the shot is of good quality, you are a photographer after all. 

Cheers
Japancamerahunter