I went to B&H, the big camera store in Manhattan, to try to look for a new camera bag today. The one I have now suffered damage when I overloaded it to fly from Tibet to Beijing last year. Part of a metal piece attaching the shoulder strap to the bag broke from supporting too much weight, and the handle on the top was literally ripping apart at the seams when I tried to hand hold it. (This was in addition to the other parts of the bag that had ripped.)

I recently decided to try to get the current bag repaired as I did a search online and cannot find another bag as good as the one I have now. The husband of a woman I know is an artist who makes metal sculptures, so I asked her to ask him if he might be able to weld the broken metal piece back together. If that works, I’ve been told to try going to a shoemaker to get the ripped parts stitched up.

If that works, great – but I have to be prepared for it not to work, in which case I need to buy a new one. I’m looking for a camera bag that: 1) is large enough to hold my medium format SLR with 3 lenses plus my backup medium format rangefinder camera; 2) has a strap that attaches around one’s waist to help support the weight of the bag; and 3) has a top that opens up away from the body (shielding the contents of the bag from the rest of the world), as opposed to opening toward the body (as most bags do, exposing the contents of the bag for all to see).

What did I find? A couple of Lowepro bags that seem to be large enough and come with a waist strap but which open up the wrong way. The B&H online catalog also lists a bag by f.64 that looks large enough and opens up the way I want, but it does not have a waist strap! So, it would seem to be a choice of how the top opens or if it has a strap for the waist. Obvioulsy, I’d rather get my current bag get fixed because it’s the best one of all as far as functionality goes. If, however, I had to choose between the new alternatives, I think I’d have no choice to go with the waist strap option. Having a bag that opens the way I want is good, but if the bag is too heavy to carry around on my shoulder alone without any help, then it doesn’t do me much good.

As for getting a new scanner, I’ll try to address that issue this coming weekend – along with finishing the development of the last five rolls of film from the 105 or so that needed to be done in September. (I'll try to also catch up on something called 'sleep.')

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The two images seen here are of the model Hope Hoffman, who I photographed in the state of Maine in 2003.