$5 camera bags...

Photography is an expensive business.  Cameras cost thousands of dollars.  Lenses sometimes cost more than the cameras.  Lighting, batteries, flash cards, sample albums, computer programs, websites, and the list goes on and on.  I have come to grips with that over the years and have learned contentment with what I have.  I never upgrade for the sake of upgrading.  I always make sure that the new piece of equipment is needed and won't put me into debt! Just this year alone, I've upgraded my camera, lenses, software, and bought another flash.  One thing, however, that has not been upgraded since I began shooting about 10 years ago is my camera bag.  I have a big bag that I use to store all the gear I seldom use like backup equipment and such.  But my small bag that I use on a daily basis is a small, black shoulder bag I bought at GAP for $5 while I was in college.  It has served me well, but as I have been building my inventory of lenses and flashes that I use while shooting, I've begun to outgrow the bag.

I've had my eye on a shootsac for quite some time because that is what all the cool-kid photographers in SoCal use.  I tried my friend's out when I shot a wedding in Los Angeles this summer.  It was nice, but I can't seem to stomach spending $179 on a bag!

Well, this morning we hit up a neighborhood yard sale on a walk and guess what I found?  I found an almost new black shoulder bag that is nearly the same size and shape of a shootsac!  Guess how much is cost?  That's right, $5!  Now, it's not quite as cool as a shootsac, but it saved me $174!  I like the sound of that.  Maybe if I start charging $20,000 for weddings like becker, I'll splurge on a more expensive bag, but for now I'm happy with my new $5 bag.  Here it is!