Just got back from 3 weeks in Costa Rica, a place which has been on my wish list for quite some time. And it certainly lived up to expectations.  A great place to visit, with huge variety, wonderful people, and a generally fantastic atmosphere. Pity about the pure misery of traveling by air these days. Schipol, Amsterdam and Panama City are two airports now added to my “never again” list (San Jose airport in Costa Rica, however, was a pleasant and stress-free experience)

Rainforest detail, Braulio Carillo National Park

More Costa Rica stuff to follow soon!

How many articles, blog posts, reviews start off with something like “the search for the perfect camera bag is a never-ending quest” and conclude with something like “the perfect camera bag doesn’t exist”, using this assertion somewhere along the line to justify the confession that the author has an innumerate number of said items ?

Quite a lot. And I’ve read most of them. And I’ve got a lot of camera bags. My favourite so far is the only one I didn’t pay for, an unexpected free gift from Olympus. It’s great for general use and doesn’t get in the way. And I’ve got some heavy duty LowePro stuff for the more epic outings.

But what I didn’t have is a satisfactory combo camera / daypack, and I really, really wanted one for a forthcoming trip to Costa Rica.

I actually hate camera backpacks. They’re a necessary evil, but really, ... instant dork. They always seem so huge, so clumsy, so inflexible.

I spent endless hours looking at catalogs, websites, reviews, etc - because in this neck of the woods, actually getting to see anything other than really basic stuff in the flesh is impossible. I nearly went for a LowePro sling bag. Then a Kata 3 in 1 sling. Then I even considered Domke. And I had a good look at esoteric stuff like Think Tank. But finally I went back for a closer look at a bag I’d dismissed at first: the Kata 467i. And I ordered one. 

And it’s great. A really nice bag which swallows an impressive amount of gear, is comfortable, has plenty of “daypack” space, and can even take a laptop (which I would never use, but the compartment is great for maps and stuff). And it looks really small.

Here, the lower section of the bag holds the following:

- Olympus E-3 and 12-60 lens
- Olympus 50-200 lens, with tripod collar
- Olympus 50mm lens
- Olympus FL36 flash
- Olympus 1.4 teleconverter
- memory card holder

That’s a lot of gear.

The laptop section has swallowed a filter pouch. The rest is empty, apart from the Kata rain cover in one of the front pockets. Oh, and my Gitzo Traveller tripod is attached to the foldaway tripod holder.

You can close it all up faster than than you can say “cabin baggage - no problem sir”.

Frankly, my LowePro Rover AW, which follows a similar concept, but is much heavier and larger but has much less room, and is much clumsier to use, should be embarrassed. Ok, so it has a more robust harness, but even so… the Kata is hardly uncomfortable.

So, there we have it: at least within it’s particular niche, the perfect camera bag… maybe. Time will tell!

I’m really not sure what I think of Robert Mapplethorpe (as a photographer). I suppose he’s been copied so much that it is difficult to understand the original impact he made.

Mapplethorpe exhibition poster, just outside the office

But now I’ve got the chance to find out ... not often photography of this calibre comes here to us down here in the Sargasso Sea.

well ok, not quite Venice. But close enough.

Burano: Xpan with 30mm lens on Fuji Velvia 100

I’d love to say this was planned, but actually it was just a quick grab shot, and when I looked at it, first it really demanded a conversion to black and white, and it really had to remain tilted.

Venice, Feb 27th 2010. Somewhere in the Rialto. I think.

Another Ricoh GR-Digital shot.