The Camera Bag Conundrum

      by Gord Barker with commentary from Jim Domke

    

    Okay, I can almost hear regular readers of this blog saying, ''Yup, he's finally lost it. He's writing a piece about camera bags! The Covid 19 isolation has finally got to him. He's writing about what might be considered the least important piece of gear in photography.'' 

    I beg to differ. If there's one thing I've learned in my years behind the lens, it's that the difference is in the details, even when it comes to gear. It doesn't matter how good a camera setup you've got if you can't comfortably get it to the location you want to photograph. Similarly, a warm, weather resistant jacket and a good pair of walking shoes or hiking  boots can contribute more to the photo of the year than the best pro series camera. Any system used in human creativity is only as good as its weakest link.

      I own too many camera bags. There. I said it. The first step in addiction recovery is to admit that one has a problem. I strongly suspect that I'm not the only photographer with this problem. Perhaps I should start a support group. ''Hi, I'm Gord and I have a camera luggage addiction.'' Chorus of fellow shutterhounds; ''Hi Gord!'' ......  But I bought another one.

    But wait, I can explain! It's really not my fault! Up until a few weeks ago, I had talked myself out of it. The story starts with my birthday. I have reached that awkward age where I pretty much already own everything that I really want or need. Anything else that I might want falls into the category of being far too extravagant for consideration as a birthday gift. ''Whaddaya want for your Birthday?''  ''A Ferrari would be a thoughtful gift.''  ''Yeah.... That ain't happenin'.''

    Before my birthday, I had been considering yet another camera bag as a gift to myself. But, in consideration of the statement made earlier,  I had talked myself out of it. My  birthday, this year, consisted of the acquisition of a new Fujifilm baseball cap and a traditional dinner of  southern barbecue ribs ordered in from a local rib joint that does them up right. I was content.

    But, then I saw a Youtube video that kind of triggered me. I follow Peter McKinnon on Youtube. McKinnon is Youtube royalty and rightfully so. He is a brilliant photographer and videographer/filmmaker. He has a fanbase that is massive. I will happily admit that I've learned a thing or two from his tutorials. Often his videos have inspired me to get off my butt and get creative in my photography. My only complaint against him is that, lately, he tends to use his huge following as just a massive market for merchandising. Yup. You guessed it. He brought out  another camera bag.

     The McKinnon bag is a backpack style. It's got a lot going for it. From what I can see, it is almost completely waterproof. The outer shell seems to be made of a very impressive waterproof material. The interior seems to be infinitely configurable with what they're calling the ''cube system''. It's a series of padded trays that can be set up in advance to accommodate whatever bits of gear might be required for the day's photographic / video activities. It sounds good in theory, but seems a little bit gimmicky to me. I could easily see myself inadvertently leaving a piece of needed gear at home because it was in one of the other ''cubes''.

    Long story longer, I didn't buy the McKinnon bag for two reasons. 1) It's a backpack. I don't particularly like backpacks for camera gear. If the primary purpose of an outing is photography, I much prefer to work out of a shoulder bag. The problem with a photo  backpack is that I have to stop and put it down to access my gear. I do have a photo backpack that has a belt at its base. It allows the bag to be slung  around to the front on my waist so I can get at my stuff through a padded back panel. I find this whole sling it around the waist thing to be a bit awkward. First of all, I'm a skinny guy. It's a little touch and go whether my scrawny waist can support eight to ten pounds of camera gear on a slightly slack belt!  I'm just thankful that the regular belt I use everyday can keep my pants up. So far, no embarrassing incidents. Well.... at least none involving my pants!  2) The whole idea of the McKinnon bag kind of irked me. I'm an old school kind of guy. I cut my photographic teeth using fully manual, mechanical film cameras. I mean, how much technology is really required to schlep around some camera gear? 

    Back in the 80's, ( I can almost hear some of my younger readers rolling their eyes.) I was a founding member of the Cambridge Photo Secession. We were a group of young photographers who shared a studio space and a well equipped darkroom in Cambridge, Ontario. (We didn't know how good we had it!) One of my studio partners had a Domke camera bag. (an original F2 I believe) I was always amazed at the amount of gear he carried around in it. In working with him on a few shoots and photo projects, it seemed like he was prepared for anything. As I remembered it, the bag itself was a fairly straightforward design made out of sturdy canvas with a simple webb strap. Despite my friend hauling around a ton of gear in it, he never complained and claimed the bag was quite comfortable. Of course we were all a lot younger then!

   I did a little research on line. Yup, the Domke company, now owned by the Tiffen company, still make  the original design F2 canvas camera bag. From what I could see from the pictures on line, little (if anything) had changed since Jim Domke started marketing them in the late 70's.  I also found that one of my favourite camera shops, Downtown Camera in Toronto, had them in stock available on their website. Maybe it was a feeling of nostalgia. Maybe it was a reaction to the McKinnon offering that just had too many bells and whistles. And the store had it in green, one of my favourite colours. Anyway, out came the credit card and with a few clicks of the mouse, it was on my doorstep 48 hours later. Did I mention that I have a camera bag addiction? 

     Anyway, I unboxed it and set it up the way I wanted. I loaded it with two camera bodies, three lenses and some assorted accessories and took it  for a walkabout. It's an awesome bag. Anyone who's been into photography for a while, knows that sometimes you find a piece of equipment that just feels "right" the moment you start to use it. For me, the Domke F2 camera bag falls into that category. 

     I was so impressed with the bag that when I got home, I did a little more research. The Domke F2 and indeed the whole Domke line of camera bags have achieved almost legendary status in the world of photography. Photojournalists and serious photographers around the world swear by them. I decided to try to  contact Jim Domke and get  some background on the line. I already knew some of the story but was hoping to get a little more detail from the man himself. Jim Domke graciously responded to my message and kindly answered my questions sent to him in subsequent messages.

    Jim Domke is an award winning American photojournalist and also the designer of the famous line of camera bags that bear his name. He studied journalism at the University of Missouri. In his career, he has worked for the Greely (Colorado) journal, the Aspen (Colorado) Times, Newsday, the San Francisco Examiner, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Now retired, he divides his time with involvement in environmental issues, he's a contributor to the website Greensource DFW and also is a proponent for the preservation of the American Post Office. You can check out his website here https://www.jgdomke.com/  Click on Postal Preservation and you will be treated to a  series of black and white photos of post offices in Texas. These pictures are a masterclass in black and white photography and the capture of architectural detail. I think that I've been around photography long enough to recognize a true labour of love when I see it. The archives section of his website features images from a career in photojournalism that provide an interesting take on the times in which they were made.

    So how does a guy with a solid career in photojournalism find himself the designer of what would become an iconic piece of photo equipment? Quite simply, he couldn't find a camera bag that adequately met his needs. Back in the mid to late 70's the soft sided camera bag , as we know it, didn't exist. Most camera bags of the time were hard shelled cases covered with either leather or vinyl. They were clunky, poorly designed contraptions. Inside, they offered hard dividers or clips to secure the equipment and provided little, if any, way for the user to configure them to their needs. Although they usually came with a strap, you didn't want to carry one on your shoulder. They had a nasty tendency to bounce off your hip as you walked along and made simple tasks, like boarding public transit or just getting through a doorway an awkward experience. When I started working in the camera shops, we still stocked a few of these monstrosities. We couldn't give them away!

     At the time, there were some soft sided bags for photography. However, they were usually too small to accommodate a camera with a lens attached. They were called "gadget bags" and were designed to carry small accessories and maybe a few extra rolls of film for a day's shooting. A working pro would often carry two camera bodies, two or three lenses, a flash unit and upwards of ten rolls of film for a day on the job. The "gadget bag" was hardly adequate. 

     Some photographers would improvise by using canvas fishing bags. These were a little bigger than the average gadget bag but offered no dividers for keeping gear organized. They usually had a couple of small pockets on the front but that was about it. In the words of Jim Domke, "I'd been using an Orvis fishing bag and started from there. Had to have webbing run all the way around bag was something many of us had been doing to fishing bags.  Canvas fishing bags!  Nylon was strong but too thin. Canvas soft and right thickness. Flexible to bend around body..."  Side note here. The idea of running webbing all around the body of the bag for extra support is a feature still found on Domke camera bags today. Also most of the bags in the lineup are still made out of canvas. Canvas fishing bags were a workaround solution. But, they tended to wear out quickly and offered no way of organizing photo gear. The design parameters for a new bag were starting to take shape. 

     According to Jim Domke, ''Where most thought of a camera bag as simply a place to store the gear, I saw it as a tool to be able to find and get at the best lens, film, accessory quickly and get the photo.''... "The goal was to be able to get at all your equipment without having to stop and set the bag on the ground. My thinking has been that when I see a picture I want to take it as fast as I can before it goes away... That requires being fast at finding the filter you now need or changing from the wide angle to a telephoto lens quickly. Using it while shooting meant having one hand holding the camera and only one hand to open the bag and get at the lens you need. Spring clips can be opened with one hand and closed with one hand. Can't say that for plastic. No flap on front pocket. Just gets in the way. Pocket in main flap, don't waste any space. Size of bag was based on those old 35mm lenses, but wanted it to fit under plane seats and be able to carry in crowds and not get noticed.''

    Part of the incentive for Domke getting into the camera bag business was a strike at the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1977. Needing to supplement his income, Domke took his design and started a part-time business. With an initial order for 20 bags, Domke found an awning maker in Philadelphia to make them up and the rest, as they say, is history. The bags caught on with photojournalists and working photographers. Not fancy, but well designed and purpose built to do the job. More than forty years later, the design is still popular with photojournalists and serious photographers all around the world. Domke bags are also now the official camera bag of the White House News Photographers Association.    

    So I've been using the Domke F2 Original camera bag for a few weeks now. Here's my take on it. First off, it's very well made. When I took it out of the box I couldn't find a loose thread or a stitch out of place anywhere. The bags are still ''Proudly made in the USA'' and it shows. The workmanship is excellent. When I first contacted Jim Domke about the F2 he said, ''The old F2 Original Bag holds too much.'' He's right. If I were to shovel in all the the gear this thing will hold, I wouldn't want to take it out of the house! Jim uses the smaller F5 model which was originally designed as a belt bag.  But, I don't own a car, so I like having room for some extra stuff when I'm out and about. The huge end pockets will easily accomodate a water bottle or a small thermos of coffee and some trail snacks. I live in a country where there's often snow on the ground for six months of the year. It's nice to have space for an extra pair of dry gloves or a toque. The design of the bag is a bit dated. It doesn't have a padded pocket for a laptop or small pockets for spare SD cards. I don't care. I don't take my laptop out when I'm shooting and I usually stow spare SD cards in a little wallet that comes with the lens cleaning cloths that I use. Unlike some bags on the market, there's lots of room for small items like spare batteries, pens, a small notebook etc. It's a bag that will easily accommodate my needs. 

The Green Monster. My new Domke F2 Original camera bag

                                                                                                                                                   

     I like the look of the bag. I got mine in the olive green colour. It kinda looks like something I might have picked up at an army surplus store. It is a rugged straightforward design that doesn't draw too much attention. It's a bit old school, but so am I. The strap is made out of a very comfortable cotton webbing which has some rubber strands woven into it to help keep it on my shoulder. The canvas used to make it helps to conform the bag to the side of my body. It snuggles in like an insecure lover. Despite its size, it's a  comfortable bag to use. It's big, but it doesn't feel big when I'm carrying it. Overall, I'm very happy with it. 

     I guess that if there's a backstory here, it's that  "Necessity is the mother of invention.'' Jim Domke needed a better camera bag to do his job. He designed one. He needed to supplement his income during a labour disruption. So he took his designs and started a small business which grew. In an age where we can get almost anything we want, we tend to throw up our hands in frustration if we can't. Jim Domke faced his problems head on and solved them himself. It's a kind of self reliance and self confidence that we don't often see anymore.

     In my contact with Jim, he told me a story about being sent to cover the 1977 power blackout in New York City. He arrived about noon and there wasn't much happening. He later discovered some looting going on and returned with a great photo. However the newspaper wouldn't run the photo until they confirmed the situation with NYC police. They had trouble contacting the police due to the power outage. Sort of a Catch 22. Great photo of the power outage, but can't use the photo due to the power outage!  Eventually they got confirmation and ran the photo in the morning paper. But the evening news beat him to the punch as the power was restored about 10:00 p.m. 

    I love stories like this. In my opinion, as a photographer, if you don't have a few good stories behind some of the shots you've taken, you're not trying hard enough!  

    And that's the cool thing about this piece of equipment. Yeah, it's just a camera bag. But there's a great story behind it. It's a camera bag that was designed  over forty years ago and is still in production. It is still a good, hard working piece of equipment today. It's a product that has achieved almost legendary status amongst the photographers who have created their own stories while using it. 

     I'm very fortunate. I've got some very good camera gear and a very cool camera bag to haul it around. Time to go out and create some stories of my own. 

     ...more later 

    

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