Are you a man-bag person?

Sparrow said:
... personally, I've always wondered about those Land-Rover drivers toting quite suspiciously martial Billinghams ... bit odd in my book
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Martial Billingham in a Landrover :p


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Broke down and bought a medium sized Italian leather shoulder bag. Camera, books, keys, a few little tools and a cigar or two. Now I can't do without it because I've come to hate stuffing things into my jeans (which is all I wear after retirement).

David
 
man sack

man sack

i missed the back pack generation by about 20 years. I carry a knife, a key, phone and card stash for license and 4 credit cards, all in my pants pockets. What else would I need? I don't use public transportation so all my other "stuff" stays in the car as needed. Maybe when i get a gun permit I might man up and get a purse, but for now, I'm going commando. Oh, if I have my camera with me it's on a strap and ready. I love this web site!
 
majid said:
That phenomenon seems to be specific to Americans. Possibly a legacy of dodging the attentions of homophobic schoolyard bullies. The fact the US is more car-centric than elsewhere probably also has something to do with it.

Chinese men can't have enough bags, the more expensive, the better, as they are status symbols, to the glee of luxury goods makers (bags make up 50% of the profits of that industry).

Most fashion accessory bags are not up to carrying a Leica M with a passel of lenses, however, let alone a DSLR.
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yeah, its an American thing..both ways :)
 
Interesting question. I used to be obsessed with finding The Right Bag. I wanted something that was NOT a camera bag. I HATE the 'messenger' type stuff. I don't want to look like a Bike Messenger. Not something to which i aspire.... So, i was always looking to adapt some overpriced designer thing.... Had a jillion online store bookmarks i'd check every day for something new. Never found it.

But, that was when i was living in NYC. I've since moved to Los Angeles, and there's such a huge difference in what i need/want now. In New York, carrying a bag makes so much more sense. In addition to a camera, there are many other items that can be transported. In LA, you're in your car. The car is the transporter.

In NYC, you're always in the middle of what might be a potential 'street photography opportunity.' I used to have a camera with me just about every time i stepped out the door. In LA, i almost never think of having a camera with me. Can't shoot while i'm driving, and the environs just don't look like what Street Photography is supposed to look like. Ironically, i never really did like street photography all that much. I few images by other people have stuck in my head, and i just never wanted to miss one of those types of shots.... I love, of course, the OLD stuff, but i can't make old photography now, right?

I really should design a line of bags.... One day.
 
Calzone said:
John,

I don't know. As you know I have a very confused identity: I often think of myself as being a white boy trapped in an Asian body, LOL, but both of my parents were Cantonese, (For those of you who don't know Chinese culture, when China was first unified, Canton remained as an ungovernable area and separate from China for over 900 years. Surrounded by a ring of mountains Canton remained a rugged feudal region that remained restless like the sea). I think Cantonese are very different than Chinese in the same manner that New Yorkers are different than other Americans.

Because of my breeding (inbreeding) in a way I think of myself as being like a pit bull, meaning breed for violence and fighting. Cantonese history supports this. Also know that my grandfather was exacuted in China for murdering a loan shark that burned down his business and ruined him. My grandfather was a gambler, and it cost him his life.

Know that my father was only a boy of 13 and the eldest boy in his family. He took care of his mother and six or seven younger siblings because this was his duty. My father grew up to be more or less an illiterate thug who one day jumped ship in New York Harbor around the time of the Great Depression.

Know that my father, an illegal immigrant, was only one of only1,428 Chinese allowed to become a naturalized American in 1943 because he was in the U.S. Army in WWII, by 1952 the Korean war had begun and historically the Chinese were looked upon as "the enemy" once again. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was overall still in effect, but my father somehow found a loophole that allowed him to become legal, allowed him to get a wife because the exclusion laws made Chinatowns into mostly bachelor communities where men outnumbered women thirty to one.

My mother was an educated woman from Hong Kong, and I imagine she came from a very wealthy family, as it is hard to explain why a woman would be educated in those times, and I like to think that I come from a long line of "Banksters," and realize that Hong Kong is a lot like NYC with a remarkable similar geography.

Know that somewhere in this story my father shot a man and went to jail for a while, and know that during the time of the Vietnam War in the "Lilly White" suburbs of Lawn-Guy-Land the first thing I learned in school is how to fight.

I identify myself as Cantonese, part tough thug, part Bankster, part Pit Bull who happens to be a New Yorker.

Cal
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facinating!!!
 
I like to have jackets with big enough pockets for a camera. Limits my lens menu, but I always have a camera with me...of course, I always have my iphone as well
 
Tom, you bring up a good point. In Atlanta, when it is cool (October through March), I prefer jackets too but I tend to carry a small bag for all the stuff that won't fit in a pair of jeans. The Spring and Summer here are both too hot and humid for either a jacket or a bag most of the time, so I tend to carry two cameras around my neck, or in hand, and film in my pocket.

Nowadays with baggy shorts, the X1 is a no-brainer and I sometimes forget I am carrying it. It will be the only camera I carry sometimes, or I may have the M3 around my neck along with it. No bag in the heat though!!!:eek::eek::eek:
 
Calzone said:
John,

I don't know. As you know I have a very confused identity: I often think of myself as being a white boy trapped in an Asian body, LOL, but both of my parents were Cantonese, (For those of you who don't know Chinese culture, when China was first unified, Canton remained as an ungovernable area and separate from China for over 900 years. Surrounded by a ring of mountains Canton remained a rugged feudal region that remained restless like the sea). I think Cantonese are very different than Chinese in the same manner that New Yorkers are different than other Americans.

Because of my breeding (inbreeding) in a way I think of myself as being like a pit bull, meaning breed for violence and fighting. Cantonese history supports this. Also know that my grandfather was exacuted in China for murdering a loan shark that burned down his business and ruined him. My grandfather was a gambler, and it cost him his life.

Know that my father was only a boy of 13 and the eldest boy in his family. He took care of his mother and six or seven younger siblings because this was his duty. My father grew up to be more or less an illiterate thug who one day jumped ship in New York Harbor around the time of the Great Depression.

Know that my father, an illegal immigrant, was only one of only1,428 Chinese allowed to become a naturalized American in 1943 because he was in the U.S. Army in WWII, by 1952 the Korean war had begun and historically the Chinese were looked upon as "the enemy" once again. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was overall still in effect, but my father somehow found a loophole that allowed him to become legal, allowed him to get a wife because the exclusion laws made Chinatowns into mostly bachelor communities where men outnumbered women thirty to one.

My mother was an educated woman from Hong Kong, and I imagine she came from a very wealthy family, as it is hard to explain why a woman would be educated in those times, and I like to think that I come from a long line of "Banksters," and realize that Hong Kong is a lot like NYC with a remarkable similar geography.

Know that somewhere in this story my father shot a man and went to jail for a while, and know that during the time of the Vietnam War in the "Lilly White" suburbs of Lawn-Guy-Land the first thing I learned in school is how to fight.

I identify myself as Cantonese, part tough thug, part Bankster, part Pit Bull who happens to be a New Yorker.

Cal
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Actuelly, I call this a success story for both your parents and you. I'd be pleased to meet you someday - buy you a drink and have good conversation.
 
bsdunek said:
Actuelly, I call this a success story for both your parents and you. I'd be pleased to meet you someday - buy you a drink and have good conversation.
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Our country is a great one. An old number that is about a decade old if you divide the population of our country into the world population you get one in twenty-five. We are the lucky ones with real opportunities, and remember around half the world lives in poverty where people don't stand much of a chance. Anyways I know that I am very-very lucky. I'm lucky to be an American.

Cal
 
For those who don't know, the Chinese Exclusion Act (really Acts, since there were a series of statutes dating back to the 1880s), which pretty much banned all immigration from China, was repealed in 1943 by the Magnuson Act, which set an annual quota of 105. That's right, 105. So when my paternal grandfather & his family, 6 in all, came over from HK in 1954, they represented almost 6% of all legal Chinese immigration to the U.S. that year.

Calzone said:
John,

I don't know. As you know I have a very confused identity: I often think of myself as being a white boy trapped in an Asian body, LOL, but both of my parents were Cantonese, (For those of you who don't know Chinese culture, when China was first unified, Canton remained as an ungovernable area and separate from China for over 900 years. Surrounded by a ring of mountains Canton remained a rugged feudal region that remained restless like the sea). I think Cantonese are very different than Chinese in the same manner that New Yorkers are different than other Americans.

Because of my breeding (inbreeding) in a way I think of myself as being like a pit bull, meaning breed for violence and fighting. Cantonese history supports this. Also know that my grandfather was exacuted in China for murdering a loan shark that burned down his business and ruined him. My grandfather was a gambler, and it cost him his life.

Know that my father was only a boy of 13 and the eldest boy in his family. He took care of his mother and six or seven younger siblings because this was his duty. My father grew up to be more or less an illiterate thug who one day jumped ship in New York Harbor around the time of the Great Depression.

Know that my father, an illegal immigrant, was only one of only1,428 Chinese allowed to become a naturalized American in 1943 because he was in the U.S. Army in WWII, by 1952 the Korean war had begun and historically the Chinese were looked upon as "the enemy" once again. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was overall still in effect, but my father somehow found a loophole that allowed him to become legal, allowed him to get a wife because the exclusion laws made Chinatowns into mostly bachelor communities where men outnumbered women thirty to one.

My mother was an educated woman from Hong Kong, and I imagine she came from a very wealthy family, as it is hard to explain why a woman would be educated in those times, and I like to think that I come from a long line of "Banksters," and realize that Hong Kong is a lot like NYC with a remarkable similar geography.

Know that somewhere in this story my father shot a man and went to jail for a while, and know that during the time of the Vietnam War in the "Lilly White" suburbs of Lawn-Guy-Land the first thing I learned in school is how to fight.

I identify myself as Cantonese, part tough thug, part Bankster, part Pit Bull who happens to be a New Yorker.

Cal
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I think I am really. Since I carry a camera almost constantly I need some way to carry it. So my man bag is not one of those pokey, sissy little things men who were "hip" used to carry back in the 1970s (complete with synthetic fabric safaris suits, side whiskers and shirts with lapels as wide as a fat man's bum.)

These me were rightly mocked for looking silly.

Instead its a big butch bag of canvas and leather and solid British brass fasteners.

A bag of substance for a man of substance.

A bag that tells those where I m going where I have been.

A MANS bag! (Jeeze I could be a copy writer for an Ad company!)
 
I carry my A&A Penn's Satchel with me everyday. Holds either 2 M's and a third lens or an M and 2 extra lens. Usually I just carry one kit because other stuff fills up the rest of the area. When I need to bring my iPad and look official I carry a Think Tank Urban Disguise 60 (looks more like a laptop briefcase).
 
I carry a bag, a messenger bag of some kind with me everyday. Also I carry a camera almost every day with me ... :)
 
peterm1 said:
I think I am really. Since I carry a camera almost constantly I need some way to carry it. So my man bag is not one of those pokey, sissy little things men who were "hip" used to carry back in the 1970s (complete with synthetic fabric safaris suits, side whiskers and shirts with lapels as wide as a fat man's bum.)

These me were rightly mocked for looking silly.

Instead its a big butch bag of canvas and leather and solid British brass fasteners.

A bag of substance for a man of substance.

A bag that tells those where I m going where I have been.

A MANS bag! (Jeeze I could be a copy writer for an Ad company!)
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When I take a bag that doesn't look tough and manly, I let the grip of my Walther P99 stick out the top.

:D
 
paulfish4570 said:
fur and cal: magnificent stories!
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Paul,

Thanks. BTW over the years I've gotten to know you, I have learned you are rather kind hearted and not mean at all.

Anyways this thread is really about making yourself vulnerable and feeling safe and confident enough to share.

As creative people we all struggle with our place in the world and our identities. At some point it comes out in our work as we reveal who we are.

Cal
 
daveleo said:
When I take a bag that doesn't look tough and manly, I let the grip of my Walther P99 stick out the top.

:D
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My Louie is sometimes offset by a weaponized Nikon F3P rigged with a motor-drive and hand strap that I wear like brass knuckles in my right hand. A long lean, but muscular arm is an exclaimation point that I'm carrying a deadly weapon. One time in Queens Plaza a guy actually thought this rig was a gun, and he kind of ran for cover and kept his eyes on me as if I was ready to shoot him. LOL.

My Wetzlar M6 is also weaponized with a TA Rapidgrip, TA Rapidwinder, and a hand strap. It is combat ready and the trigger of the Rapidwinder has an aggressive dagger like quality.

I'm surprised the NYPD allows me on the subway with my cameras. LOL.

Cal
 
I use a Timbuk2 messenger bag as a briefcase, as I need to carry a laptop for work. Looking at some Think Tank bags to carry my tablet and some camera gear.
 
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