Hey Ya'll! Hope your week is going well. This week it has been chilly outside and I've spent the time writing blogs. This week's blog is the third installment of the Street Photography Gear series. This week we will discuss bags and accessories for street photography. This will be the last in the series about street photography gear. As you know I have an obsession about camera bags. I have gone through many of them and right now I have settled on a few that I will discuss. 

Bags. There are many different ways to carry gear when doing street photography and as I have said in past blogs about street smaller is better. Let's start with the smallest and work our way up. First of all you can go with one camera and one lens and just use a strap to carry your kit with. This is a great way to go if you only have one lens. Next if your camera kit is small enough a fanny pack or a small sling bag can carry a point and shoot and a item or two. I often use a fanny pack even if I have another bag. I like to carry my wallet and phone and keys there to be handy and not pulling at my pants all of the time and slows down the pick pockets. The next size is a sling bag. I love a good sling bag one that is big enough to carry a filter and extra lens maybe even a water bottle. I have one that I have made out of a large lumbar bag (fanny pack) and a camera insert. I call it my purse and like a ladies purse it has all sorts of things in it . From snacks , chap stick, and first aid kit. LOL  The last one I will talk about is a small backpack. It can be designed to be a camera bag although I like the plain ones with a camera insert in them. They blend in with the environment and don't scream I have a 1000 dollar camera inside. They are great for walking around all day and have room for a jacket if it gets hot after a chilly morning. It has room for storing souvenirs without carrying around shopping bags. I have one that is very comfortable and can pull the insert out of my purse and put into the backpack. All but the backpack have easy access but I usually have a Peak Design camera clip on the strap of the backpack and can clip my camera to so I have hands free operation. The main thing with all these types of bags is to be comfortable.

Accessories. Things that a street photographer can use but are not necessary. Tripod, a tripod isn't necessary unless you are shooting at night to shoot car trails or night landscapes. I would suggest a small travel one so you're not carrying a big tripod. Sometimes instead of a tripod if you are trying to show motion is a parking meter or park bench to set your camera on. Filters can become handy like a polarizer. I always have a polarizer on hand just incase I need to knock out some glare or reflection of something.  Maybe a haze or mist filter to give some ambiance to a shot. But filters aren't really a street thing. Then there are all kinds of other accessories that you would have with any other form of photography from light meters, SD card wallets, cleaning stuff and even rain gear for your camera. All of these are optional and personal to you what you think you will need. The bottom line is don't bring the kitchen sink smaller is better and less is more.

There is nothing more that I like is taking a stroll through a town that I haven't been before and having the appropriate kit can make the experience enjoyable and fun. If you bring too much you will feel like a pack mule and you won't enjoy yourself as much. But keeping your kit dry, safe and clean is a must to protect the investment you made on your gear. So until next week Get Out and Shoot!

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 post there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link