[Picture] Please Photographers, Stop Wearing Fanny Packs

Have you recently seen someone overly decked out in fanny packs Lee? What has spurred these posts on bad photographer habits? 

a backpack doesn't work for press, and a shoulder bag is not the best tool in many press covering situations. Don't get the post....

Stupid. I use a newswear vest which is like the above fanny pack but with shoulder straps.

Yeah, backpacks and shoulder bags do not work for real photographers. Using a backback to get gear to location is good, but it is too slow once you are there. 

I am absolutely furious about this post. Goodbye Fstoppers, you have officially lost my business for good! If you want your 2 million dollar inheritance, send a wire transfer immediately.

Not the newswear vest, but a custom made one from several years ago when I was green. Don't have any recent pics sorry.

Sometimes its function over fashion... That being said, you won't catch me dead wearing a waist system...

Wow. i was thinking of taking an image of myself wearing my thinktank photo Modular set with belt http://photographysilo.com/product-review/thinktank-photo-modular-set/ but i guess i better think twice after reading this post :)

Just wondering if you realise that in other countries (mainly the UK though I suspect), "fanny" is a euphemism for something slightly different?

I know this post was made in... HUGE jest. But, even when I do cover press events with two bodies and two lenses, plus a smaller 50mm in a bag, that doesn't cut it for running sidelines at an NFL or NCAA BCS game. I don't have an assistant so with a 17-35, 50mm, 70-200, and a 400, 500, or 600mm, a backpack does not work, and a shoulder bag bounces around. I know I look like a dork, but I get the shots.

Wow, dude. Just. Wow. Is there no internal critiquing before you click the Publish button?

I'm sure you intended this to be in jest, but I can tell you as a reader it didn't come across as witty or even mildly amusing. And it doesn't appear from your responses you understand the impact of your own words.

It's irrelevant whether the post was supposed to be funny; the point is its negativity. Why would you want to dump hatorade all over the wonderful little photo/film community you've created here? I thought you developed this company/site to inspire and showcase. What value do posts like this provide? Will a single reader take a better photo? Create a better film? Get anything of value? I mean, can you imagine Chase Jarvis ever posting this kind of negativity?!? 

Forget photography, as small business owners I'm stunned you didn't self censor this one. Stop trying to lighten the mood in your responses and pause for a second to think about how this may have been interpreted by your readers.

Lame, dude. Lame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdO35DnMPws
That is all.

I am painfully aware of "The Fanny Pack Stigma" which coincidentally is a great name for a band.  I've used several different waist systems (note my avoidance of the "f" and "p" word) and against every ounce of coolness I posses I can't get around the convenience and speed of such a system.  I get made fun of almost every time I wear it....by my wife.  I have found that the symmetry of the bag on the photographers body can help deflect some of it's chapstick/sunblock carrying nerdyness.  When worn slightly askew one can retain a small shred of their cool photographer mystique.  I tell myself this every time I use it so please for the love of McNally don't burst my bubble.  I've attached the bio picture from my website for all of you to ridicule. 

"for the love of McNally".... hahahaha... classic!

HAHAHAHA totally guilty !!!! great post !!! I'm all about the belt...and I can take the jokes....I look like a tool...my subject dose not.

ps saving up for the 2nd body so I can ditch the belt

IT'S NOT A FANNY PACK, IT'S A SPEEEEED BELT!  SPEEEEED!

I hang a snoot boot from my belt with my 70-200, Wide angle on my camera on strap, and any doodads in cargo pants pockets. Backpacks aren't fast enough, and fanny packs... fanny packs are effective birth control. Wear one and you may not reproduce.

another example of how digital photography and all the twits that come with it have really dumbed down a  great profession

Hah!  Funny.

Hah!  Funny.

If I'm out on a self-assignment or just shooting for fun, then its a Domke shoulder bag or F-Stop backpack.  Working the lines of press photographer and its the ThinkTank belt system.  Nothing beats the comfort and convenience of it.  How do I look?  I don't care!  I'm making money!

I wear the Think Tank modular belt system anytime speed is of the essence and I can not stash gear somewhere.  When I shoot wedding I usually work a deal with the DJ and leave a locked pelican cable locked to something immovable.  This allows me to strap on two bodies one with a 70-200 and the other with a 24-70 ala no belt.  When I am shooting college football or large events I have to carry my gear with me and if I shot a 6 to 8 hour event with I backpack I would need a chiropractor on standby and I do not even need to mention the speed difference.  So as others said do I look lame, maybe, do I get the shots, you betcha.  Love this post and the site!!!!!!!

I'm sure all these guys care a ton about how they look.

Newswear might make you look like a tool, but I'll take the shot while you're still fumbling with your backpack to get your 300 out.

Lowepro's S&F system for me when on assignment shooting sports!
Otherwise, backpacks.

After shooting in Borneo earlier this year, I simply could not have survived without a lowepro technical belt with multiple slip-lock attachments... An H4D-40, 80mm & a 35-90mm Zoom (Heavy and long) and a 1DSMKIII with the 85mm and a zoom... I may have looked silly but I could always have hands free to climb and a both cameras were seconds away from a shot.

The important question is, does the LowePro technical belt come with at least a strap to go over your shoulder? I've been looking to upgrade to something more modular...

It always amazes me to see the Internets lose it's sense of humour when it's something that directly affects them. You could have made this about ridiculous hipsters shooting out of really inappropriate shoulder bags (which I *totally* do and it's ruined my shoulders, but I look cool) or the guys who buy the ridiculously over-sized backpacks for carting round a 500D, a kit lens and a 50mm, and you'd have had both groups up in outrage.

But you know why you shouldn't have made this post? Because we know action utility belts are the tool of the cool photographer, because Batman wears one.

Where can i by those... hahahahaha

I love how worked up people get about this. Lighten up people.. this shit's funny!

I do feel like Rambo while wearing my TT modular set!