A not very successful businessman

Bill Pierce

Bill Pierce

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Back Alley has had some interesting threads on some very prestigious bags - Filson, Billingham, e.t.c., really beautiful bags. Early on I had two good looking camera bags snatched from my shoulders while working in some not so good, big city neighborhoods and developed a taste for bad looking, not at all prestigious camera bags and cases - the kind that didn’t say expensive, stealable gear inside here.

When traveling, my Haliburtons and Pelicans went inside the worst looking, cheapest suitcases you can imagine. Yes, I had found suitcases that cost $20 finished with a particularly unattractive plastic plaid fabric. My camera bags slipped inside dog food bags when I took a taxi to an airport. And very worn Brady trout bags that preceded their Billingham counterparts weren’t then recognized as camera bags.

Today, when traveling with a lot of gear, I tend to use a backpack, not a photo backpack, just a slightly warn, student style backpack. Out shooting with less gear, the shoulder bags are worn 800 series Domke bags or other messenger/document bags. Hopefully I look like a not very successful businessman that can’t afford a nice leather briefcase.

Do you think it’s necessary or sometimes wise to disguise the bag of expensive gear? If so, any tips for the rest of us?
 
It's even better to have cheap gear in diaper bags. Most gear I have is cheap old film cameras (but not always easy to replace). Actually I seldom travel, too broke. When I do I'm just a fat dork with a photo vest. If it wont' fit in the vest cargo pockets I don't want to haul it.
 
I have three thirty year old canvas Leica bags I carry gear In. They are so used they have holds in them and they're so dirty I'm surprised they haven't been confiscated by the health department. My newest and best case is one that Agfa was giving away twenty years ago. You had to collect a huge number of proof of purchase barcodes from their B&W film and mail them In. It's a Domke made of black leather and my bag is seriously worn from 21 years of heavy use.


None of my bags or cases scream take me. I've traveled all over the US and Canada on assignments and never had anything take. I did have a Halliburton case popped open and the lock ruined but the potential thief only found a bunch of heavy duty extension cords.

I was thinking, I don't think Ive ever spent more than a hundred dollars on a bag.
 
disguise is definitely the key.

In the house I have some easily found cameras, Pentax HV1 that was previously water logged. Also some Pentax lenses in same condition.

Some smart construction will leave you places in the house where the 5 minute thief will not get it.

I avoid dodgy neighborhoods. Photovests covered with a coat are good. Plastic food store shopping bags conceal lots. Just try not to encounter a hungry homeless man.
 
I seem to recall the David Hemmings character in Blow Up carrying his Nkon F in a creased, rumpled brown paper bag. Of course, he stuffed it into the glove box of his Rolls Royce...

More seriously, a faded, threadbare in spots, Domke 801 works for me. I got a new one, but it may take another 10 years to break in. Maybe I should throw it in the driveway for the winter, dry it out in the spring, then use it.
 
I just don't get when people get bag with matching logo of kit they're using.....as if that matters.
 
To a thief it's not so much what type of bag you are carrying, but how easy would it be for a thief to snatch it & take off. When a thief snatches a purse I don't think he's much concerned what kind of a purse it is. Might be totally different to thieves in Paris though.:D
 
I have two PacSafe Camera Straps that I use when we are traveling. They have stainless wire reinforcing so the slash and run types can't. Other than that, a
non discript backpack is the other line of defense.
 
Depends mostly upon the situation: camera under coat w/Schwalberg strap, messenger bag, folding plastic crates in car trunk ...
A little discretion and common sense goes a long way.
 
"They" would have to drag me along

"They" would have to drag me along

I had never any camera gear stolen from me, but I started from the start using ugly and cheap looking camera bags.

I also (still) use a small camera backpack that I used to pretend carrying baby diapers in it when the daughters were younger. It takes the two Leica cameras (barely) with a lens attached each. The side slit pockets hold memory cards and spare batteries (in place of film in the past).


I never ever leave such a camera bag alone. It comes with me everywhere. While I have dinner at some restaurant, the camera bag is at my feet, with the bag wraps around my legs! "They" would have to drag me along if they attempted tp steal my camera bag.



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Bill Pierce said:
Back Alley has had some interesting threads on some very prestigious bags - Filson, Billingham, e.t.c., really beautiful bags. Early on I had two good looking camera bags snatched from my shoulders while working in some not so good, big city neighborhoods and developed a taste for bad looking, not at all prestigious camera bags and cases - the kind that didn’t say expensive, stealable gear inside here.

When traveling, my Haliburtons and Pelicans went inside the worst looking, cheapest suitcases you can imagine. Yes, I had found suitcases that cost $20 finished with a particularly unattractive plastic plaid fabric. My camera bags slipped inside dog food bags when I took a taxi to an airport. And very worn Brady trout bags that preceded their Billingham counterparts weren’t then recognized as camera bags.

Today, when traveling with a lot of gear, I tend to use a backpack, not a photo backpack, just a slightly warn, student style backpack. Out shooting with less gear, the shoulder bags are worn 800 series Domke bags or other messenger/document bags. Hopefully I look like a not very successful businessman that can’t afford a nice leather briefcase.

Do you think it’s necessary or sometimes wise to disguise the bag of expensive gear? If so, any tips for the rest of us?
Click to expand...
 
I don't necessarily subscribe to the 'paper bag' and 'diaper bag' solutions. This said, in my experience backpacks are a bad solution since you can't control what is happening behind your back. Neither is 'stainless wire reinforcing' a good solution since a frustrated 'slash and run type' could decide to cut you instead. During my career I've learned that a shoulder bag worn across the stomach is the safest way to go. All this said, in personal security terms, knowing your environment is much more important than the bag you carry.
 
Chris-Gampat-The-Phoblographer-Essentials-for-th-Strobist-Street-Photographer-1-of-9ISO-1001-200-sec-at-f-3.5.jpg
ona, bowery bag. [credits: http://www.thephoblographer.com]
 
Most of the time, when working in places where one of the M's is a years worth of food, the ubiquitous shopping bag has been my bag of choice. A few things on top... couple of bananas, water bottle and a shirt maybe. Pretty common tactic amongst my friends.
 
Wow, I must be doing it all wrong. I carry the camera in my hands so I can get some pictures, another lens in one vest pocket, and a couple more rolls of film in the other vest pocket. Most of the rest of the film is in my old Jansport bookbag. It is one of the reasons I really like my Zeiss Ikon for travel. I used to do it with my K1000 too but it is easier with a rangefinder.

Then there are other times when I just carry my Super Isolette with film. Either way the camera stays with me, not in a bag, so I can use it if I spot something I want to photograph.

When I did travel for business I was a firm believer in the One Bag travel system and it took up less room for the camera to be in my hands or in my pocket close to hand.
 
Always used knackered domke bags, bought second hand and then used extensively.

Think I look like a profoundly unsuccessful businessman....
 
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