In your bag 1783- Julian Elliott

Still going, the longest running series online. Today we have a great submission from Julian Elliott. Check out his fantastic travel bag.

From Salisbury to the World

Hi there, and thanks for reading my first submission to In Your Bag. I hope you find my story interesting.

Originally, I’m from Salisbury in the south of England. I bought my first digital SLR back in 2005, and not long after that I began dreaming about travelling the world with a camera in hand.

A New Life in France

In 2010, feeling ready for a change, I left the UK and moved to France. I got married and, after struggling to find regular work, slowly but surely began building a life as a professional travel photographer.

One of my first big steps was applying to join the image library PhotoLibrary. Many of the British photographers I admired — Charlie Waite, Joe Cornish, David Ward and David Noton — were contributors, and I wanted to follow in their footsteps.

After submitting what they defined as 200 carefully edited images — selected for commercial viability, not just polished in Adobe Lightroom — I was thrilled to secure a contract.

From PhotoLibrary to Getty Images

In February 2011, PhotoLibrary was acquired by Getty Images. Overnight, I found myself represented by what many considered the best image library in the world at the time.

That early success taught me invaluable lessons: patience, waiting for the right light, and resisting the urge to fire off endless shots. In fact, my contract stipulated that if my selection rate dropped below 75%, it would not be renewed. That clause alone fundamentally changed the way I approached photography.

41 Countries and Counting

Fast forward to today and I’ve travelled to 41 countries — and counting. My recent adventures have taken me primarily across Asia. Countries such as Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Japan particularly inspire me in my pursuit of new imagery.

The Bag: Think Tank MindShift BackLight 26L

My main bag is the Think Tank MindShift BackLight 26L, which is nearly perfect for my needs — though I’m still on the hunt for the older 30L version for that little bit of extra space when needed.

As a travel photographer, I cover people, culture, architecture and landscapes. My gear has to support all of those disciplines.

Camera Bodies

I currently shoot with the Canon EOS R5 and the Canon EOS R5 Mark II. The latter was a recent addition, purchased during a trip to Japan.

Everyday Lenses

For general travel work, I primarily use the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM and the Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM. Between them, they cover everything from sweeping landscapes to candid portraits and distant details.

Why Tilt-Shift Lenses Changed Everything

Architecture, however, is where my heart truly lies — and that’s where tilt-shift lenses come in. I routinely carry four of them. For some, that might sound like overkill. For me, they are indispensable.

It all began with the Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II. The salesperson told me it would change the way I worked forever — and he was absolutely right.

Living in France from 2010 until early 2024 gave me a deep appreciation for Gothic and Romanesque architecture. Yes, there’s Notre-Dame de Paris, but venture into smaller towns and departments and you’ll discover extraordinary buildings crafted by master artisans centuries ago. I see it as my role to capture them in the most beautiful and accurate way possible.

Using standard lenses and correcting perspective later in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom simply isn’t the same. When you look through a tilt-shift lens and shift upward while keeping vertical lines perfectly straight, it genuinely changes your world.

Expanding the Tilt-Shift Arsenal

As I continued photographing cathedrals and historic buildings, I added the Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L to capture dramatic interior perspectives — for example, looking from the aisle into the nave of a cathedral.

But sometimes 17mm and 24mm were simply too wide, even with the unofficial 1.4x extender trick. I needed something tighter.

Enter the Canon TS-E 50mm f/2.8L Macro — a lens that took nearly six months to track down. I eventually found one at a shop in Germany selling via eBay. Initially, they refused to sell to me due to previous issues with overseas buyers. After some persistence and reassurance, they agreed — and a few days later it was mine.

The final piece of the puzzle was the Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Macro. This one required a two-week search across various shops in Japan before I found a brand-new copy at a good price in downtown Osaka.

Accessories and Drone

Beyond lenses and bodies, I rely on SanDisk and Lexar SD cards, along with several spare Canon batteries.

The final item in my bag — and the newest addition — is the DJI Mavic 4 Pro. I picked it up on my recent trip to Japan and am only just beginning to explore its capabilities.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look inside my camera bag and the journey that brought me here.

www.julianelliottphotography.com

Please 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