I have been on a quest for the perfect camera and equipment bag for filming  Two Moms and a Car.  Finding a bag has been WAY harder than I thought it would be.  Admittedly, I am being very picky. There are several reasons for this.  I am a women travelling with another women. We will be carrying important filming equipment ourselves. We still want to blend in as normal tourists. When I put all these factors together, I found that there were very few options that would work.

Let’s take a look at travelling as a women with a camera bag. This really is a safety issue. If I am carrying a bag,  with the words “Canon or Sony” on it, I am practically screaming to everyone around me that I am a tourist with something expensive inside the bag.  We’ve all seen the traveller with the camera hanging around their neck. Ladies, please don’t ever do that!  It really is not a good idea.

Also, the idea of carrying a backpack of equipment for several days sounds like torture to me. So that eliminates traditional camera bags and professional camera backpacks.  Now, this may work for some of you. People who do nature photography/video love backpacks because they are so versatile. I am rather small in stature, so a backpack would eventually start to bother my back and shoulders.

The third reason I’ve had a hard time find an equipment back comes down to blending in. I don’t want to “look” like a tourist. I want to look like a local as much as possible.  Heather and I tone down the brightness of our wardrobes when we go to Europe. We NEVER wear white athletic shoes and we don’t carry bags or purses that shout our tourist status.

So where does that leave me? Well, I decided to rig my own bag. I found an over sized, black, leather purse. It had  lining in it that we cut open at the bottom. We used waterproof carpet padding and craft foam to add some structure and padding to the bag.  With some double-sided fashion tape we secured the foam and padding inside the liner.  Voile! A custom made camera bag that looks like a woman’s large handbag! It literally fits everything that I need for filming. There is a shoulder strap and it is black. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to use it.

If you have any handy tricks for travelling with camera equipment please leave a comment.

Enjoy the journey,

Courtney