My new daily carry bag

I’m talking about Think Tank Photo’s Retrospective 5 V2.0 shoulder bag. This bag does everything for me. This bag holds everything for me.

As a woman, it’s very difficult to find a good camera bag that does it all, while also looking stylish. I’ve looked over all of the usual suspects, including Peak Design, Jil-E, ONA, LowePro, Domke, Jo Totes, Kelly Moore, and F-Stop Gear, and have found them lacking in one way or another. I’ve found that a lot sacrifice style over substance, and while style is important to me, there are other more important factors to consider.

The key factor in choosing a camera bag is functionality - it must hold everything for me: camera, a Leica Q2; accessories such as extra batteries, memory cards, maybe a flash when I pick one up, and; personal items such as my wallet, keys, pens, eyeglasses, iPhone. The Retrospective 5 V2.0 does this in spades, with all of its pockets and main compartment room. Its 9.5” W x 7.8” H x 4.9” D internal dimensions hold lots of stuff in a space that is neither too small nor too large, but just right for the female photographer.

There are so many pockets to store your stuff in this bag. The front of the bag, as seen above, has a velcro-locked front pocket, which opens to a nice space to store things like extra batteries or even makeup, depending on what you are carrying. Within this big pocket is a zippered storage pocket where you can even put more items. The main compartment has a velcro-locked space that can carry a 9-inch tablet, notebook or other items. On the right side of the bag, there is even a beverage bottle holder.

The bag itself overall I feel is very stylish and has a relatively small form factor. The bag is made of sand-washed cotton canvas that has a durable water-repellant and polyurethane coating, and is very soft and formable. The exterior dimensions are 10”W by 8.5”H by 6”D, and it weighs in at 2 lbs. The bag is available in Pinestone - my bag’s color - or in black. The bag retails for $159.75, and in my opinion, is worth every penny!

Think Tank Photo does have several sizes in their Retrospective line, in addition to a full line of various camera bags, cases and numerous accessories to carry just about anything, Check them out at www.thinktankphoto.com. I was not reimbursed for this review.

National Packard Museum

Today I ventured to the National Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio. While there were many beautiful cars there, the cream-colored one below was by far my favorite, and the best-in-show. It was in immaculate condition and a beautiful representative of the Packard automobile.

Carnation City Mall of Alliance, Ohio

Built in 1983, just short of 40 years of operation, the Carnation City Mall’s days are numbered. The movie theater will have its last day of play on August 28th, and it will be only a matter of time until Alliance, Ohio’s Carnation City Mall is torn down. Only a few businesses remain to be relocated, with Dunham Sports taking the old JC Penny space.

As a beginning of my personal project titled Project Alliance, I spent some time there today taking images of the Mall and what’s left of it. I will be photographing the old city that I call home over the coming weeks and months, mostly in monochrome. There are so many nuggets in Alliance, and the City itself does have a story to tell, so hopefully I will be unwrapping that through my images.

First looks at Leica Q2 Images

Yesterday I traveled to Cedar Point, Ohio to visit and photograph the Field of Dreams, and all of the beautiful sunflowers in the field. Below are a some of my images taken. It really makes you think again using just a 28mm lens…. This was also the first time I’ve used the new camera!

Unboxing the Leica Q2

So today I received my new camera, the Leica Q2… here are images of the great unboxing! One would almost think the box was designed by Apple, it is so efficient!

From one artist (I think) to another...

I was out shopping at Barnes and Noble in Boardman the other day, and I happened upon this tres kewl van, apparently painted by the artist who calls himself “the Imagination of Robert Walker.” It was pretty cool looking, I had my trusty Z-6ii with me, so a squeezed off a few shots, shown below. You may see The Imagination of Robert Walker here. Great stuff Robert!

Alliance Carnation Days

Every year, my city of Alliance holds what are called Carnations Days, which consist of the Rib & Food Fest and Days in the Park. There are normally several bands that play at different venues in the city, and numerous food vendors, many of which are running their big fundraiser for the year, like the Kiwanis, YWCA or various religious organizations. Much of Days in the Park was rained out this year, including the Balloon Launch. I popped down yesterday afternoon following a wedding and took a few photos, of which my favorite is below.

Scouting...

So, one thing that I do before every job is to scout locales. Today, I scouted two venues for upcoming photography gigs, one a big gazebo for an elopement this coming Saturday, and the other, a pretty impressive winery in Aurora. The gazebo is in Painesville, the winery - Thorncreek - is in Aurora. I went to both locations and snapped a few pics, looked around for good shooting spots, and here we are. Service is of utmost importance to me, my clients’ satisfaction, and part of that is all in the preparation.

What cost photography?

Yeah, how about those crazy fees, right? Well, the simple answer is expenses! A professional photographer is immediately hit with some pretty hefty expenses for equipment, something which never really ceases and new gear is introduced each and every year. I personally have well over several thousand dollars invested in photographic gear at the moment, and there are still many pieces that I could use… it’s never enough! Below is a pic of just some of my gear at this point…

This doesn’t begin to show all of my gear at this point, which includes tripods, light stands, diffusers, strobes, all assorted gadgets, and bags… oh, I have three bags I work out of! And believe me, they all have their purpose!

Then there are memberships, like to the Professional Photographers of America which covers my insurance, to other organizations like KelbyOne, where I keep up my proficiency training in the latest techniques and business affairs. There’s the mundane like business cards, and a computer to edit and editing software. And then there’s advertising… I presently advertise through only one site, Thumbtack, and it costs me upwards of $400 a month alone. It is my main lead generator, and is just now beginning to pay off.

My point is not to complain about business costs, because I knew what they were when I started this little enterprise, but to share with others some of the realities of taking photos professionally; it’s more than an iPhone for sure!

The Cannoli Capers

Last evening, I had the joy to photograph “The Cannoli Capers,” a production of the Louisville Community Theater, and directed by Mr. Nathan Meadows of Minerva. As my friend Kerry was in it, it was all the more engaging. On a sad note, it was the last production and last performance by the Louisville Community Theater at the Skyland Pines Country Club; the Club was recently sold to Amazon, Inc., who will be demolishing the Banquet Hall for yet another distribution center.

It was a great assignment in that I got to utilize virtually all of my photo gear; the primary lens that I used was my new Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens, which is the most amazing lens I have ever shot with, plain and simple. I also got to play with my new SB-5000 flash, and look forward to doing more with it in the future. It was a slight challenge in that I felt flash lighting was not possible due to the audience and the players, so I shot in ambient light and pushed the iso accordingly. Shooting RAW and using LightRoom for the win!

Here below are some of my photos!