Bag Mod

I wanted a compact quick-draw bag for my street rig and found this snazzy insulated six-pack carrier for $7.00. It turns out that what works to keep beer cold, can also protect your camera. Most of these beer bags are cheapily made plastic jobs, but this one by "FreezeOut" has a nice quality canvas cover with contrasting stitching, double pull zippers, a little bungi cord (for what I don't know), an auxillary pouch, and the coolest feature - a trap door - for the quickest draw of any bag you'll find at any price.

The modifications:

Cardboard stiffeners attached with double stick tape to the bottom and two of the sides.


Rubber stick-on feet to protect the bottom.


"D" rings and a wide detachable swivel strap to replace the sewn on one.


Replace the "FreezeOut" logo with my own and I'm good to go.

Push Positive

The shutter button on my camera is flush with the body. Too many times in the rush to get the shot I've had my finger slightly off center and not able to fully press down and trip the shutter. A self stick rubber pad solved the problem.

The shutter button on the grip required a different treatment, since a hard raised button there could easily be tripped by accident. I used the bristly side of a piece of self stick velcor to give a tactile clue to my finger.

Didn't I warn you that this blog was going to be "mostly minutia about street photography"!

Lost Mojo

In a slump. Can't seem to shake it. Feels like anxious ennui if that makes any sense. Debilitating. Painful.

But "slumps are for chumps" so think I'll have a beer and a grilled cheese sandwich while I watch a re-run of Monk... and then hit the streets.

SAFTEY FIRST

ZIP IT UP. I know of a cameraman that absent mindedly slung an unzipped bag over his shoulder and dumped a grand worth of glass on the sidewalk. NEVER leave a camera in an unzipped bag. LEASH LAW. Use a leash, and if you use a longish one like I do, then it's a good idea to run it between thumb and forefinger. This shortens the drop if it should slip out of your hand and lessens the odds it could bang into something like a door.
DOORS are DANGEROUS. Always stop and take a second to protect your camera when going through a doorway. Establish good habits.

bOngo sez: "Leash ON Zip UP Watch OUT".

The Lazy Man's SP

Introducing Pajama Street Photography (special thanks to John Brownlow who turned me on to GOOGLE-MAPS Steroid Edition and Larry Gustafson a fellow founding father of PSP). Troll the streets with keyboard arrow keys until you find the "decisive moment" or more accurately the "pre-decided" moment, then jockey for the best angle and squeezed off a screen capture - sweeten with Photoshop and..
It's a Street Photography simulator - Methadone for street shooters.
"Building the Wall" a PajamaStreet Capture by bONGO.

OY VEY

Hoya buys Pentax

Re-Branding

That inch and a half space on the front of your camera is valuable real estate. You paid for it. Use it to your advantage.