Inside Anton Fortein’s Camera bag!
About “What’s in your camera bag Street Hunter!”
In June 2014 we started sharing the contents of the Camera Bag of one of you, one of our awesome StreetHunters.net Readers every week! All images and text in these posts are written by the Readers presenting their camera bags. If you want to participate, please read the rules of participation at the end of the post. Stay Sharp & Keep Shooting!
Inside Anton Fortein’s Camera bag! (Bag No9)
Hiya felow hunters!
Just a quick look inside my bag. I’m afraid this is not a very complicated bag. Just the essential for what I need for a walk-about. Missing from my bag is some bottled water. I will sometimes swap out the RicohGR1 with my Leica iiia, or my Contax167MT. But as most of you know by now, I almost totally use film. This is what I enjoy, and will never push anyone to use anything that seems fashionable, but what makes then feel good, and enjoy shoooting. And as you also know, I shoot mainly on the street, and my bag reflects this. I like crowds and getting up close and involved. I want my images to show involvement with a life lived and experienced on the street.
Contents:
- My To-K-Yo bag
- iPad
- Umbrella and Sunglasses (This is London baby!)
- Reading glasses
- iPod (love my tunes)
- Fuji 9000EXR
- Ricoh GR1
- Spare CR2 battery
- Film case (variety of film for most conditions)
- Spare keys to my g/friends flat
Closing:
As I’ve said, I go as light as possible. Sometimes I can go even lighter. Just my Ricoh in my pocket with a 2nd roll of film in another pocket, and off I go. Enjoy your shooting all and have be true to yourselves. Cheers to Street Hunters for this cool insight to some background into our lives.
Link
You can find out more about my photography on my GooglePlus page.
Rules of participation
Each person that submits the contents of his bag will also be allowed 150 words to describe her / him self to the rest of the StreetHunters.net Readers via the www.streethunters.net website pages! We will even allow one link, back to your website! It will be loads of fun! Why? Well, because we will start to get to know each other through these small 150 word descriptions and of course through the contents of each one’s bags! Now, when we say Camera Bag, it doesn’t have to literally be a bag. It could be a pouch, a backpack, pockets of a jacket, whatever. All we need is the list of all the contents and a photo of those contents on a wooden or carpeted (preferably) floor from above. What must be included in the email you send us? Here is the list of things you need to provide us with in order to have a valid entry:
- 150 word description of yourself and your Street Photography quirks, habits, tips, whatever. 150 words MAX.
- Photo of the contents of your bag and your bag next to those contents on a floor, shot from 90 degrees above. High quality, big size.
- List of items included in your camera bag.
- Link to your website OR blog OR facebook page OR GooglePlus page OR whatever.
- A closing remark 20 words MAX. You can say for example something like Thank for letting me share the contents of my bag, now stop looking into my privates and go take some photos!
We thank you in advance for your participation and we are really looking forward to finding out what YOU are hiding in your camera bags! Send everything in at streethunters.net@gmail.com! Stay Sharp & Keep Shooting!
Nice one Anton, I like your simple, lean set up. Maybe one day I’ll get one of those GR1s (If I sold my DLSR I might be half way there, cost wise…) The film case is great too, is it one of the Japan Camera Hunter ones?
Do you switch between film and digital on a photowalk, or once you’ve decided which to use, do you stick with that and focus on its particular attributes and best ways of working?
Thanks for sharing your bag.
Thanks for having a closer look Dan.
Yes, I did get my film case from Bellamy Hunt at JCH. A great spot to catch some camera porn 😀
I tend to use film for the majority of a walk. I tend to use the digital to ‘warm up’ or ‘cool down’. I find it sometimes very taxing to be ‘in the zone’ for 3 to 4 hours of a walk. I will pull out the Fuji to get my eye in, or loosen up at the start. A typical walk will end when I have shot a complete roll (sometimes the 2nd or 3rd) I will not start a new roll if I feel I can’t finish it on that walk. If I still have some juice flowing, I will pick up the Fuji. But, I will NEVER switch during a walk.
It’s odd that even though the Fuji is a great camera, with auto focus, a mental zoom range, 16mp sensor and can shoot RAW, I still feel it is like a sparing partner before I am ready for the big fight 🙂 if you know what I mean.
I am very aware of what the RICOH is capable of, and of it’s EPIC history. I was very lucky to find the tool to create the kind of images I want to see.
Thanks again for having a closer look Dan
Anton, thanks for the in depth reply, really interesting to hear how you work.
I used to take two, even three (film) cameras on a photowalk, but always spent too much time deliberating which to use. When you just have one, you can properly focus on its particularly strong points and features and use them to their best advantage. Like you saying you never switch during a walk, you have to get your head and eyes and hands attuned to just that one camera you have in your hand, with as little distraction as possible, I feel.
I agree about not starting a new roll of film if you don’t think you’re going to finish it. I try to do this also, but sometimes I know I’m near the end of a walk (ie out of time) and I’ll have maybe 8 or 10 shots left, and these I decide to save them for another day, whereas in the past I’ve used up the roll quickly just for the sake of it, and those final shots have always been a waste of film, to be honest.
I’m tempted by the Ricoh, or a Contax T2, or even a Nikon 35Ti. But I wonder if the significantly greater cost of one of these higher end compacts, compared to something like my Yashica Electro 35GTN, or even a cheap compact like my Konica C35 EF3, would be evident in the photographs I was able to make with it.
Thanks again Anton. I need to get around to photographing and sending in my bag!
(Maybe I should have replied in the SHRC so others could enjoy reading about your working habits, feels like a far more active audience there…)
wow…. how fast 41months fly by!
Interesting jab of my memory cells. Got rid of the Fuji digital. Just couldn’t come to terms with the files (as lovely as they were). The ‘look’ was not for me. I’ve tried the fabled X100, but sadly, that to has me wanting something else. As counter intuitive as this may sound, I still love the hands-on that working with film provides. That is not a knock on anything else, just what makes me feel comfortable, and creative.
Then, I also stopped using the GR1… or to the point, the GR1 decided it didn’t want to work anymore. That was a huge blow, and I still have fond memories of using it. BUT, that camera is just to delicate. The electronics is finicky placing it on a knife-edge. Then it just died!
I came through those dark days, and went through a slue of other cameras. The list includes, Contax T2, Olympus Mju ii, Voigtlander Bessa, Nikon F4, Leica M3 and Leica iii(f), among others… and that’s just the 35mm cameras. The GAS was strong with me! What has this taught me… 1. FILM is what keeps me going. 2. I HATE auto focus! 3. SHOOT WHAT YOU MAKES YOU HAPPY!
Oh, so what am I using now you make ask. Well I am VERY happy with Nikon bodies, and glass. My main 35mm shooter is a very nice FE2. For MF, I am using an equally fine Yashica MAT. Oh and yes, I am also lugging around 4×5 (pinhole and Intrepid).
41 months fly by, and you learn more about yourself
Keep shooting
Hello there Anton my friend! Thank you so much for the update of your gear. I remembered that you had strong G.A.S., especially with film cameras and this post proves that! Ha, I am glad you are still enjoying shooting. And I totally agree with you that we should shoot what makes us happy. That is the only way to photograph. Otherwise photography becomes a drag and if it becomes a drag then, game over. So, yes, shoot whatever makes you happy! Wise words.
P.S. I owe you a print in the post… keep forgetting to send it!
Anton, great to hear from you and what you’ve been up to. I can’t believe how long ago this was either! You were a great inspiration to me in what turned out to be a fairly brief foray into street photography. I’m now back to trees, churches, decaying doors and so on.
Interesting to hear your camera adventures. I’ve been through dozens of cameras too. And I barely shoot film anymore, which I wouldn’t have believed a few years back.
My main summer cameras were an 11 year old Pentax K10D with vintage Taukumar and A series lenses (the combination of the 10MP CCD sensor and old lenses give lovely colours and textures, some might say almost film like) plus an even older Samsung 6MP, which is a Pentax clone and also PK mount, but also makes lovely images.
In the last couple of months I’ve switched almost exclusively to b/w, and discovered the wonderful Ricoh GR Digital III, quite possibly my favourite camera I’ve ever used. So intuitive and intelligently designed, and it has an amazing balance between depth of creative control and pure simplicity, like a DSLR and a point and shoot in one. I went on to get a couple of siblings – the GX100 (virtually the same sensor I think, but a zoom that goes to 24mm rather than the GDRIII’s 28mm prime) and a CX1, with a 28-200mm lens that I use at 28mm 99% of the time, and I couldn’t resist at £20. All three are a joy to use.
So much so, that I have been considering selling all my DSLR stuff and lenses, bar maybe one body and a couple of lenses, and invested in the APS-C GR instead. But then the GRD III is so good this might be overkill.
I still have a few film bodies (Spotmatic F, Contax 139Q, Pentax Program A, Olympus Mju-1, LT-1, Ricoh R1) but as I said barely use them these days.
Where do you “hang out” most online these days?
I recently gave up (again) on Instagram (seems so superficial and full of pointless “likes” and emoticons) and have been exploring Google+ once more, but I’m struggling to find many active photographers/communities of interest to me.
Keep on shooting!
Best,
Dan