The ultimate camera bag?

According to Lowepro's latest tweet most photographers have 5 bags for different uses!

So is there such a thing as the perfect camera bag?

For anyone out there who thinks they know what would make the 'ultimate photography bag' - Kata is running a competition called Dream Bag Challenge where you can do exactly that and the winner has their bag hand built by Kata plus wins a professional photo kit worth $5000.

My gear....

I actually own 5 different camera bags which sounds crazy but actually each one of them has a different use depending on what gear I need to carry, what job I may be doing as well as what will be the most convenient for the journey and on location.

My first bag was a small shoulder bag from Calumet which I purchased in the UK to hold my first digital SLR and one 'walkabout' lens (18-70mm) which was very similar to some of the Lowepro products. As my kit grew I needed something more substantial so my love affair with Crumpler began when I picked up a bag called a 'company embarrassment' (crazy names, great bags) which had plenty of room for my SLR, 2 lenses and a flash. I was happy for a few months but found that shoulder bags seem to constantly be getting in my way... so wanting my hands free to concentrate on taking photos I looked around at the many backpacks on offer and picked up another Crumpler bag called 'The Schrinkle' - this backpack answered just about all of my prayers as it held all my gear, was comfy and well padded and had some neat features (It also came in a limited edition colour which was cool and it didn't look like the average camera bag stuffed full of expensive gear!
When I moved to Australia a year later I wanted to downsize again and find a bag that enabled me to go out with just an SLR and single lens. Again Crumpler was my choice and I picked up a 'Four million dollar home' which has been my most used bag when traveling light is important.
Fast-forward another year and my latest purchase is a belt and bag system from Think Tank Photo who are a team of designers and working pro-photographers who simply design great, functional bags for photographers. The system I purchased consists of a padded belt and various 'skin components' which are like mini-bags designed to hold individual items. So I have a component that will hold a flash, one for an SLR body, one for a mid range zoom, one for my 70-200mm plus extras for items such as filters, leads, memory cards and other stuff. The 'Skin set' is certainly worth checking out and is now also available in Australia from Photo Continental.

So what will be my next bag....?

Well for now I think I'm very happy with the selection I have! - I have certainly been very impressed with the range of bags from Think Tank especially the 'Shapeshifter' backpack so who knows... I may even have a go and enter the Kata competition and if I'm lucky finally get the bag of my dreams!!

10 tips for portrait photographers

A while back I wrote a page for Photo Continental's website titled '10 tips for portrait photographers' - I thought I would share it via my blog as it's got some cool tips and welcome any comments and additional tips any one may wish to share.




















10 tips for portrait photographers

Summa field dayze

Some friends of mine from the UK flew into the Gold Coast over the weekend to perform at the Summadaze event. It was a huge event with over 20,000 people in attendance and some great acts performing on the various stages. I took my camera along and grabbed a few pics, here's one of Simon and Max aka The Shapeshifters...

Gold Coast wedding

Feeling refreshed after Christmas and a New Year holiday I thought I would kick start 2010 by sharing some images from a wedding that I shot over the festive break. The wedding started at the plush Versace hotel on the Gold Coast with a small ceremony on the nearby beach. The big concern on the day was the rain which had been hammering most of Queensland in the days prior to the wedding so I took every precaution (including extra umbrellas and a change of clothes) just in case we were caught in a downpour! Luck was on our side though as the weather was beautiful and everything went smoothly for the bride, groom and wedding party who were all fantastic fun and a pleasure to work for.