Perfection does not come easily to the human race. God and nature are far better at it than we are. And yet we see perfection, or the strive to be perfect, in many things around us. The Colosseum in Rome (known in antiquity as the Flavian Amphitheatre) was built on a marsh, and the Romans for all their engineering prowess.. managed to botch the point where the two semicircles met. Result, first major earthquake and we lost half of the outer ring. Still.. all football stadiums around the world are inspired by it. Today though I want to talk about a camera bag. A perfect camera bag. One though that, like the colosseum, has some inherent flaws. And the most inherent one of all is that today it died. I’ve rarely used a bag to destruction. Normally they get passed off to other people, forgotten in railway carriages, stolen at airports or simply left in a cupboard to die. Not so this humble, but perfect, bag. It started out life as a Tamrac Adventure 5. A “bumbag” in Australian parlance, one that you can strap around your waist. The genius of it’s design though lay not in the plethora of pockets and zips and raincovers and other useless (in my view) accoutrements, but simply in it’s… simplicity. It did one job very, very well.. It carried a big camera with a big lens around your waist, whilst looking none the worse for it. A large top-opening meant that a 70-200 lens with pro body could fit sideways.. no mean feat as it still had to be comfortable and manageable. And indeed it was. With it’s minimal padding it molded itself to my waist, or when I carried it shoulder bag style. By its very simplicity and comfort and discrete appearance it was with me all the time, through European travels on foot, to sitting next to me on my car seat when out for a days drive an photo session. The fact that it wasn’t too big meant I had to choose which lenses and bodies to bring… normally one large lens or 2 smaller ones, which then helped in focusing my attention on the subject and not endlessly changing lenses.. We often focus on what camera and lens get us our favourite photos, but the humble bag we use to carry it rarely gets a thought. And yet it is of the utmost importance!
Of course no one bag is perfect for everyone, as each of us have a different style of photography, different types of cameras and lenses, and different objectives. For my style, fast walking contemplative photography, seeking the unusual in the usual, a light fast kit works best, and an easy to carry and easy to access system works best.
So, my venerable camera bag has died. Now what?! Well, find it’s replacement. Unfortunately Tamrac in their wisdom stopped making the original 5 and upgraded it to something mastodontic and full of zippers and whatnot. Their horizontal format which allowed for a 70-200 to be fitted to a pro-body gave way to a vertical lay-out.. great for carrying lots of lenses, just not the one lens that I preferred.. And anyway, who said lots of lenses are good?! We want to concentrate our vision. Pardon me.. I want to concentrate my vision.
Well, endless searching brought me to ThinkTank.. I believe disgruntled Lowepro employees set out to make their own designs, and they are surprisingly photographer-centric, although truth be told far too many zippers, raincovers and pockets. However if you can’t beat them, join them I say. I’ve purchased my next till end of your life bum-bag. No, it won’t fit my 70-200 sideways. But you know what.. I’ve graduated from using that large bulky zoom.. I’m now using smaller primes. A trio of lenses. So I spend more time changing lenses than taking pictures. but I still get the images that I want. I can carry them around my waist. And the Speed Demon is true to its name.. It’s fast. And it’s comfortable.
Welcome new friend.
When new the Tamrac was the same colour as the ThinkTank above it
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