Camera Bag Shame – CBS
My Name Is Kevin Raber, and I Am A Camera Bag Addict
We have all heard of GAS (Gear Aquisition Syndrome). I wrote about this during the Pandemic, Too Much Photo Gear as well as a video on The Daily Chat. I have been working hard to overcome this addiction and am happy to report that I have made great strides in reducing my camera gear, but admittedly, I still have a way to go. I want to talk to you today about another addiction I am working on, CBA (Camera Bag Addiction). I now think of it as a CBS (Camera Bag Shame).
After we moved to our new home five years ago, I took all my camera bags and put each one in a separate clear plastic bag. I then put them on the top shelf and a few other overflow shelves in my garage, which spans the entire length of the garage. There were at least 100 bags and cases of all shapes and sizes. How did I get so many camera bags? Out of sight, out of mind worked pretty well for a while. I saw these bags every day as I pulled my car into the garage, and every day, I made a mental note to do something about them. The task was so big, and I had no idea how I would handle it or how to reduce this immense collection to a manageable size.
I may be like many of you. Look at these camera bags, lenses, flashes, and all the other photographic gear we have and say I might someday need these. Well, enough is enough.
As I did with my cameras, I finally picked a day and decided to go through all these bags and narrow them down to a manageable number. I separated backpacks, shoulder bags, hard shell cases, and small specialty bags into groups.
I was surprised to find a garage floor full of bags, many of them stacked on top of each other or literally a pile of bags in some cases.
It was fun reminiscing about where the bags came from. Many were bags I purchased to try out and do reviews on. Some bags were good, and some were just poor. I had bags like F-Stop bags that had inserts put into them to accommodate gear. This meant that for every bag like that (and I had a few), there were half a dozen in-bag inserts that came with them.
I had regular camera backpacks, some of which were very well-used. I had shoulder bags of various sizes and waist belt bags. In addition, I had dozens of Pelican-type cases, Phase One hard cases, and other suitcase-type gear.
What To Keep
My wife, Debra, helped me work through this. The question was, just how many bags does a photographer need? That was a good question, for sure. The other question that helped a lot was, when was the last time you used that bag?
Once we had piles, it was time to decide what went and what stayed. The emphasis was on making a decision to see most of these bags go.
As we proceeded, it also became easier for me to decide what to keep. So, I’ll start with these.
One of my favorite camera backpacks was a Dakine Reloaded 30L. It wasn’t even a widely known camera backpack and dates back a long way. Michael Reichmann (luminous-Landscape) and I both owned them, and we found them not only comfortable to wear but exceptional for use with lots of storage. That bag was staying for sure. The other bags I loved were Guru Gear bags. These were lightweight, came in a variety of sizes, and were perfect for so many aspects of what I did photographically. I should mention that Guru Gear makes a great over-the-shoulder bag and an around-town backpack that I use all the time. I’ll do separate articles on these.
I also decided I needed a few hard cases, So I put aside some pelican cases. I use these to haul video gear, drones, and other equipment. They are also easy to ship to locations if I don’t want to carry all the gear on a plane.
What To Do With All These Bags
Now that I narrowed down the bags I was going to keep, I had to decide what to do with all the bags that I wasn’t keeping. There were a number of options, like Goodwill or posting them online and letting people make their own choices. I ended up finding a local program offering photography to underprivileged folks. They were happy to take a lot of the larger bags. What I had left was a lot of smaller bags, and I dropped a few of those off at Used Photo Pro, and they were happy to offer them to their customers.
Closing Words
After sorting and moving these bags off to various sources for a week or so, I now had a manageable number of bags. I am left with two Think Tank Airport Security roller bags, which I swear by for most of my travel needs. I have 4 Guru Gear bags, a Dakine Reload 30L backpack, and a Domeke shoulder bag (My all-time favorite bag that goes a long way back. My wife saved a Tamrac bag for her Fuji gear. Everything else is gone. I breathe a sigh of relief when I pull into the garage and see only a few camera bags there for when they are needed. Never again will I let myself get caught up in the camera bag addiction.
Swedish Death Cleaning
Also, I am cleaning up a major amount of excess in my life. I just spent a recent Saturday cleaning out my clothes closet, and man, does that feel good. I took five large trash bags of clothes to Goodwill. I will be doing my shoes next. This is part of my on-going Swedish Death Cleaning.
I still have a lot of camera-type gear and drawers and cabinets that need a purge. So, look for news on that upcoming task. Just as an example of what I need to address in that area, no one needs 14 tripods, 12 ball heads, or four high-end filter systems. Stay tuned for the next purge.
I hope this helps you look at your excess photo gear and realize you don’t need it all. I’ll share my other cleanings as they happen. Please comment in the Forum.
Kevin Raber
July 2024
Kevin Raber
Indianapolis, IN
Photography is my passion and has been for 50 plus years. My career in photography has allowed me to travel the world, meet some of the most interesting people on the planet and see things I could never have dreamed of. My goal is to share the passion of picture taking through photographs and teaching with as many people as I can, hoping it brings them as much joy and happiness as it has me. I do this through photoPXL.com, this site, as well as Rockhopper Workshops, and other projects, as well as teaching as Artist In Residence at the Indianapolis Art Center.
