Photo Packing Panic? | Wotancraft Pilot Sling 7L

Your trip of a lifetime won’t be like the movies. Travel photography is not a commercial set where you can reshoot the same scene from every angle imaginable.  Once the moment is gone, it’s gone… so you need to pack every camera and lens you own… right?  

That’s the dilemma I faced 12 months ago on the night before a flight to Japan - our first overseas trip in 6 years.  I spent that night obsessing over which camera bags to take, and I landed on these two - the Wotancraft 18L Pilot Backpack, and the Pilot 7L Sling.  Then there was the stress of the right cameras, lenses, accessories, batteries, and chargers - in checked or carry-on luggage…  After 19,000 kilometres, 13,000 photos, and 2 weeks spent  travelling across Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and back to Tokyo - I’ve learnt this core truth about travel photography: 

There is no perfect way to pack, and desperately trying to find one will only make you panic.

Are your muscles tense, mouth dry?  Do you feel nauseous, a pit in your stomach?

In Japan there is great premium placed on empty or negative space - “Ma”. this gap in the physical world should be filled not with objects but instead left empty to maximise your creative possibilities.  Wotancraft’s camera bags are designed for this exact purpose.

Rugged mil-spec aesthetic.  Single magnetic fidlock that opens and closes in one satisfying click.  Quick adjust shoulder straps, gusseted side pouches, weather sealed zippers, hidden compartments at the front and the back.  Luggage pass through, padded velcro dividers, and modular accessories are all nice to have, but the main selling point for me is that Wotancraft bags make some of the lightest street photography bags on the market courtesy of the lightweight weather resistant waxed cordura fabric. 

The Pilot bags do come in 18L, 10L, 7L, 3.5L, 2.5L… how do you choose between all these sizes?

Are you feeling lightheaded or dizzy? A slight tingle in your hands and feet?

12 months ago my do-it-all device for photo and video editing was a 14” M1 Max MacBook Pro.  It fits perfectly in the dedicated laptop compartments in both the 18L backpack and 10L messenger bag, but not in the 7L sling.  So… why not the 10L for travel?   

It’s a great daily work bag, but the 10L doesn’t fit inside a suitcase as easily as the 7L.  That extra size lets me fit up to two camera bodies with every lens I own, PLUS a laptop, but that much weight is no fun to lug around on one shoulder.   So I went with the backpack as the main carrier, and the 7L was just a backup for quick trips to convenience stores. 

We were scheduled to land in Tokyo at about 11 o’clock at night, so I was going to leave the backpack fully loaded, so I can grab and go and start shooting first thing the next morning.  Then we arrived. The late night melancholy around Ueno station, the hustle and bustle of Ameyokocho - if you know, you know.  It’s everything I could have hoped for as a street photographer so I wanted to start shooting immediately.  

Out came the 7L sling, Sony A7CR with the 35mm f1.4 G master attached.  50mm f.14 GM, Sony 85mm f1.8, Ricoh GR3X.   The laptop will just slow me down so that stayed in the backpack at the hotel.  I stayed out shooting until 2am that first night and the 7L pilot was invisible - an extension of my normal shooting experience.  The shoulder pad is designed to grip your shoulder, while letting the strap slide in and out as the bag swings around your body, and the magnetic fidlock just needs one-handed operation to open and close.  Switching lenses on the go was no problem, and I could shoot 35, 50, 85, or even 40 using the GRIIIX without any issues at all.  It wasn’t until a few days later while editing photos on the Shinkansen, when I realised this was a big mistake.

Do you have a strong sense of dread?  Danger, or foreboding?

4 days in Tokyo.

Ueno, Asakusa, Shibuya, Daikanyama, Harajuku, Shinjuku.

All my gear on me at all times in the 7L Pilot, could shoot anything and everything I wanted using whichever lens I wanted.  When I looked back at all the keepers most of them were shot with the 35.  The crowded urban scene at crossings and train stations meant there was not that much space for tighter focal lengths. 

Next up was 5 days in Kyoto.

Tourist land marks like Ginkakuji, Kinkakuji, feeding deer in Nara. 

This time it wasn’t 35mm I favoured. Tourists in Kyoto made for less scenic subjects than locals in Tokyo, so isolating subjects with the 85mm turned out to be my most common creative choice. At night on the local back alleys around Kyoto station I had more time to use other lenses, but still the 85 got the most keepers. But there were an awful lot of mediocre shots. More than usual, I had to shoot 1000 to get 10 good frames.  

Ma - the importance of gaps and empty spaces - constraints imposed through the absence of… anything is a vital part of creativity, and that is why I shoot with primes and not Zooms in the first place?  But I fell into the age old trap of not restricting my creative choices  because of just how flexible this bag is.  

My creative decision making, and empty spaces - slowly eroded away.

Is there a tightness in your chest? Do you feel like something terrible’s about to happen and you can’t do anything to stop it?

It all came to a head on day 10.  We were in Osaka on one of the few national public holidays and it was the most crowded I’ve ever seen Japan.  A 35 let too much of the chaos into the frame, and an 85 was too tight.  Went with the 50 - Dotonburi, down the river, strewn across the back alleys, over to Namba.  I think the crowds started to overwhelm me at some point, especially catching the Shinkansen back to Tokyo the next morning. 

On the 2.5 hour commute I was editing photos, switching between 35, 50, and 85, trying to get the cleanest view of Mt Fuji from inside the train.  I was a bit frazzled trying to do a little too much at once, and it wasn’t until we got off the Shinkansen, and arrived at our Tokyo hotel, when I knew. 

My laptop - the 14” M1 Max MacBook Pro that I use to organise my whole creative life - was gone.

Do you feel like you’re losing control?  Trembling, shaking, or sweating?  Hot flushes, a sense that you are getting detached from reality?

The 1 word you need to remember during a panic attack is SPACE.  If your physical space is safe, and you give yourself enough emotional space, it will pass.  Breathing exercises can help, just like having a friend close by, but panic attacks will fade if you give yourself enough space - room to let your anxieties diffuse out into the emptiness - Ma.  

This wasn’t much consolation when I was scrambling for more information about my laptop at the hotel reception, but through the thundering in my ears I could still make out one phrase. 

“Don’t worry, this is Japan.” 

Of course, in Japan - the land of Omotenashi - the cleaners check every seat after a trip has ended.  Lost items get sorted by train, time of arrival, and seat, all into the right clearly labelled box.  I followed the “Find My” signal for my laptop right to the lost property line at Tokyo station.  A huge line of people in front of me - one by one - collected their lost notebooks, iPads, suitcases, even golf clubs - without missing a beat.  No-one seemed fazed, like the return of their lost property was fait accompli. 

I shouldn’t have been worried, either.

“Don’t worry - this is Japan”.

Not only is it a bad idea to leave your laptop on a bullet train speeding away at hundreds of miles per hour, I shouldn’t have been editing while shooting on 3 different lenses to begin with.  It showed how corrupted my empty spaces had become, my lack of creative focus.

I should have packed even lighter each day out - one camera, one focal length, every single day.

The Pilot 7L is the best everyday carry camera bag I’ve ever used - but it’s my responsibility as the creator to pack it as sparsely as I can to give my creative output a fighting chance.  So next time round the 3.5L Pilot - enough space for 1 camera and 1 lens attached will be the best choice for my photography EDC. 

When it comes to 1 camera, one lens, there is one that has taken the internet by storm. Its popularity skyrocketing along with its used pricing on the second hand market.

More on the Fujifilm X100 series in the next post.

Happy shooting everyone, talk soon.

Jack.

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