IN YOUR BAG: 1722 – Crystal Joy Merrick

I’ve been shooting film a long time, mostly in a document-your-life way. I also have an interest in old stuff/old places, and those things combined make up most of my photography practice today. I live in rural Pennsylvania, and I love exploring the towns and cities around me.

The Bag

My bag was given to me by a friend a long time ago. Sticking out of the bag is a beanbag I made—I use it instead of carrying a tripod all the time. Obviously that doesn’t work in every situation, but for what I do it works enough. I have a short cable release to use with it.

Usually I have two cameras with me: an SLR (my Nikon FG here was my first and is still my favorite) and one of my cameras from the 1950’s (right now it’s my Argus C3 rangefinder, a recent barn find). My go-to lens on the Nikon is my 50mm. Not having a structured camera bag, I recently got some Domke equipment wraps for my antique cameras, and I love them, they work great. The strap on the Nikon was a gift from my boss at a local photo studio (where I work a few hours a month as a graphic designer).

I shoot mostly black & white and I pretty much always have a yellow filter on my SLR, but I usually have my red filter with me too, just in case. I usually remember to carry extra film—most of what’s in the bag right now is hand-rolled from bulk by me, which is why the pots have tape labels.
I pretty much never actually use my hot shoe level, but I carry it around with me as a reminder to consciously level my shots because I am really bad at that. I have a little notebook and pen to write down my camera/lens/filter/film combinations and whatnot.
And some cash because who knows when you’ll find the perfect dive bar or taco truck that only takes cash! Last but not least, I often carry one or two beer can pinhole cameras, loaded with (usually expired multigrade) paper.

Keep shooting film, kids!
Find me on IG: @__bluekid__
Join me in the Facebook Caffenol group
🖤 Crystal Joy Merrick

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
JCH