Tim Monzon

Sorry, they're not for hire. They only model for me.

Dinah and Samih were my first prom couple this year. We had a bit of extra time, so we decided to do some editorial style shots. Came out pretty well if you ask me. Though you might wanna click on the picture to get a larger and better view. Is it just me, or does the smaller size look a little blurry to you?

So I have a bit of a dilemma. Over the weekend, I found myself driving around to multiple destinations in the LA area, including Whitter, Pasadena, and downtown LA (USC to be exact). With all the driving, I also found myself lugging a lot of my camera equipment around with me. Now depending on the assignment, I can go a little light with just one camera body, a flash, and a light stand or two. Maybe around 10 pounds for a light shoot. However, if the situation deems it necessary, I suddenly find myself carrying around 30-40 pounds on my shoulders. Multiple light stands, a couple of camera bodies and a few lenses, a monolight, and a battery pack that weighs about 12 pounds by itself. I don’t have an assistant, and the worst part of it is, all my stuff is in shoulder bags, which means all the weight is bearing down on my shoulders alone. Needless to say, this got extremely tiring and painful very quickly.

So I’ve decided I need to upgrade my camera bag. I’ve been needing to for a long while anyways, with all the equipment I carry around now, my current shoulder bag just doesn’t fit everything I need it to. So I need to go bigger. And I’m officially done with shoulder bags. I need to go with a backpack or a roller to make things easier on my body. At least with a backpack, the load is distributed evenly between my shoulders, and my back helps carry the weight a little as well. A roller would be convenient would be convenient because it eliminates the notion of carrying anything on my back altogether, although rolling it over rough terrain or stairs might be a problem. So I’m also looking for a bag that hopefully features both backpack straps and rolling wheels.

This bag could save me space in my trunk, and lots of money on a torn muscle or two.

So far, my research has led me to the Think Tank Airport Security bag. It has both straps and rollers, which I’m sure my shoulders will be more than grateful for. It also has enough room for me to carry all my current equipment, and any future additions, as well as a laptop, with room to spare. Lastly, its dimensions are perfect for travelling: its size meets the requirements of the FAA for carry-on luggage. This is huge, because you never EVER want to leave camera equipment in check-in luggage. There’s a very good chance the bag that’s carrying your equipment could be mishandled, or worse, stolen. I’ve read plenty of horror stories of people who’ve found all their equipment stolen after picking up their luggage by luggage handlers.

That’s all well and good, but what’s the kicker? It’s 330 dollars. Yikes. I could buy a new lens, or a flash, or a monolight for that price. Gah. I guess I’m gonna have to take a few more paid modelling gigs. Well, so far I’ve got two this week, one on Friday and one on Saturday. Then I’ve got a prom on Saturday afternoon, and training for my new job Thursday night. So who knows, maybe I’ll be able to afford one sometime soon. Or if not…. you can also add this to my list of things I’d like for my birthday