After more than 15 years of lugging their camera bags over hill and dale, you’d wonder why I didn’t think of jumping into bed with Lowepro earlier.
Still, this year I did as a part of my plan to attract international sponsors to my bid to promote the traditional cultures of the region and we’ve entered into a sponsorship arrangement so you can expect to see me endorsing their products.
It’s not a big leap of faith as I’ve gone through one of their camera bags every couple of years since I began shooting professionally so I’m familiar with the gear and I can say (hand on heart) that Lowepro produces my equipment of choice.
This year, in recognition of my age and an increasing reluctance to carry 23 kilos of camera gear more than I have to, I have opted for the Pro Runner 450 AW camera bag with the roller wheels (http://www.lowepro.com/prorunner_roller) which I expect to drag around airports of the world. It’s the largest bag I can get into an airplane cabin locker and, with luck, the ease with which I’ll pull it along behind me will convince airport security that my carry-on luggage does not exceed the maximum weight requirements (you only had to witness my pitiful performance to convince them otherwise when the bag was on my shoulder to realise how important this feature will be to me). It’s also the largest size I’m prepared to carry comfortably on my back when I’m shooting.
Beyond that, the bags have always proved to be tough (the main zipper particularly, which is important given I’m in and out of it so frequently (often with the same patience reserved for the 40 kilometre per hour driver ahead of me in a 60 kilometre speed zone), the camera gear is conveniently accessible through a single flap at the front and it’s proved water resistant enough (important in the tropics).
So, we’ll see what the new bags are like. If you don’t see any more postings after this, you can assume I have been dragged kicking and screaming towards the lock-up (with my new Lowepro camera bag in tow) because I wasn’t able to convince the South African airport security people that I was only carrying seven kilos of hand luggage on to the plane.
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