Latitude: Travel Bags, Releases of Landmarks, 2018 Goals

Topic 1:    Brent: Bags:
I’ve been on the hunt for the “perfect” backpack since I’m wanting to distribute the weight better than a shoulder bag will do. I looked far and wide and Here’s what I found that isn’t available at B&H.
WolfePack Capture. It’s a backpack with a release mechanism allowing you to lower the pack and swing it around front. You can attach it to the front of the harness for better security. I’m just not sure I would be OK with the cables wrapping around my body.
https://us.wolffepack.com/products/capture
Shimoda Designs bags. They make a 40L bag and a larger bag. The 40L looks good, but its purpose seems a bit more than what I’m needing out of a bag. I expect this bag to be available through normal retailers soon since they are connected with Tenba and had a very successful Kickstarter campaign.
http://www.shimodadesigns.com
Eagle Creek Straight Up Business Brief Case. This bag is awesome. It’s a shoulder bag with integrated straps to turn it into a backpack. It can also perfectly hold my camera insert from my Tenba DNA 13 so it makes for the perfect camera bag too. It also has extra room for stuff inside the bag. Cons: no water bottle holder or tripod holder. I bought this bag for work.
https://shop.eaglecreek.com/straight-up-business-brief-rfid/d/1481C1243?CategoryId=1411
REI Trail 40. I bought this bag and I’m trying it out. Pros… Doesn’t look like a camera bag. It barely fits under the seat in front of me when I’m flying, but it does, it also fits in the overhead compartment on a Q-400, the puddle jumper planes that serves my airport.
It also holds my computer and has an EXCELLENT harness, better than any camera bag I’ve seen or tried. It also has great access to the interior portion of the bag and I use a camera insert to hold my gear, plus it has extra room for chargers etc. It has two water bottle holders, one for my tripod one for my water, and it has built in straps to hold that tripod in place.
Cons, It’s slightly larger than I’d like it, Its pockets for extra gear aren’t optimized for the photographer but workable.
https://www.rei.com/product/880839/rei-co-op-trail-40-pack-mens
 
 
Announcement:    Brent: Two workshops, Ireland and Croatia are now ready to go on the site. Talk briefly about each.
Charleston attendees, I recently added a Sunday workshop with a sunrise boat tour and more.
 
Topic 2:    Brent: Releases and intellectual property revisited.
I know we’ve talked about this somewhat recently, but I just received updated guidelines for shooting on private property and intellectual property from my photo agent.
For those of you that don’t know, I shoot travel images and submit to a stock agency in the Seattle area. They have worldwide distribution and partnerships with other smaller agencies. (it’s not Getty that I’m listed with)
Here’s the basic idea on the restrictions I’m under now, if I want to submit stock:
Street art: Won’t take it anymore. Unless releases are obtained, they’ll only take very little for editorial use only
Architecture: For unique buildings especially, they can’t be marketed commercially, so we need to mark them as “for editorial use only. Same goes for botanic gardens, bridges, homes etc.
Street scenes: Fine if no single business is highlighted. Contributors are encouraged to remove license plates, boat names, ID numbers and the like.
The basic reason this has come up is that folks are finding “their property” or likeness listed on the site and they say they never gave permission for this and are issuing take down requests.