What’s a perfect platform to test out the light weight, flexibility and accessibility of our Flipside Sport AW series you might ask? Well, you might…

Always in pursuit of active adventures, our multi-skilled UK colleague Tim Sadler and his talented biker/photographer friend Tom Laws donned the Flipside Sport 10L AW and 20L AW (respectively) as they competed in the second round of the Mini Enduro bike race series. Pro photographer Charles Robertson took the great shots we’re sharing here.

For those of you not familiar with this form of mountain bike adventure, let’s describe it as a one-day, live-timed, multi-stage race for riders who like to go fast, ride hard and have fun. The May 12th race took place in the Eastridge Woods of Shropshire. Tim and Tom told us these packs worked really well and “comfortably carried camera gear and inner tubes a plenty”.

The Flipside Sport AW pack is designed with a removable camera insert (so you can use this modular functionality to pack other essentials you might use throughout the day) and a hydration-ready side pocket (so you can always have liquid refreshment right at hand).

Tell us what essentials you carry in your Lowepro bags and please share it on our Facebook page.

Editor’s note: Big vistas. Big peaks. Big adventures. Eminent landscape photographer Colin Prior is drawn to all three. Colin Prior is a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a founding member of the International League of Conservation Photographers and spends much of his life seeking out the edges of the world.

 And in May, his next photographic journey takes him to a place that has “haunted his dreams” since his first visit in 1996: the Karakoram mountain range that borders Pakistan, India and China (and home of K2, the world’s second highest peak).

Colin and a colleague are planning a series of expeditions to the range over the next four years; a project culminating in the publication of a new book in 2018. The Karakoram Project is co-sponsored by Lowepro UK, Rab and Lee Filters.

It’s just weeks until his first trip and we asked Colin how his gear preparations are coming along.

Chogolisa, Vigne Glacier. © Colin Prior

This first leg of your project must be incredibly exciting. How do you physically prepare?
I’ve been out walking in the Scottish Highlands on a fairly regular basis and whilst we have few mountains over 4000 feet, the scale is obviously much smaller than the Himalayas. However, notwithstanding this, uphill is still uphill and there is great benefit in building muscle tone which will be crucial in the rarified air of the Karakoram Mountains.

What camera gear will you count on and how will you pack it?
I have worked with the Canon EOS system for over twenty years and will be using a 1DX and 5D Mark III and a range of lenses which will include the latest versions of the 24mm T/S, 90mm T/S, 24-70mm, 70-200mm and 300 f4. I will also carry a Linhof Technorama III with 90mm & 180mm lenses to shoot with Fuji’s Velvia 120. Both systems will be carried in a Pro Trekker 400 AW and the new Rover Pro 45L AW.

K2 and the Godwin Austin. © Colin Prior

What types of imagery do you hope to capture on part one of your journey?
The Karakoram Mountains are in my opinion, the most formidable and majestic mountains in the world and over the four-year period, it is my intention to capture images which honour and hopefully transcend these qualities. There has in reality, been very little authoritative work shot in the Karakoram and this is largely due to their inaccessibility and the political instability in the country. I look forward to the challenges ahead and to seeing the final published book – it will, without doubt, be my magnum opus.

Is there a new piece of gear that you’ll rely on for this expedition?
Without hesitation, I would say my Lowepro Pro Trekker, but there will be an equally important partner – my personal porter who will be responsible for carrying my camera equipment – it will take me all my effort, with the associated effects of altitude, to scramble up the glacier.

What do you like about your Lowepro bag(s)?
Simply, their build quality. Pro DSLR’s and lenses are heavy and they need strong, robust bags to safely transport camera equipment up glaciers and over mountains passes. The new Rover Pro 45L AW will become my ‘day-sack’ which will allow me to carry some camera equipment, water and waterproofs.

Colin Prior is a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a founding member of the International League of Conservation Photographers and spends much of his life seeking out the edges of the world. To see more of his work and learn about upcoming workshops and exhibits, visit his web site. And please stay tuned for updates from us – we’ll check in with Colin as his project continues.

Once again, we pulled out all the stops at Europe’s biggest annual imaging show: Focus-On-Imaging. As Tim Sadler, our category manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, put it, “The pressure was on to rejuvenate the halls and make this year’s show one of the best”.

Lowepro products spotlighted at the show included the Rover Pro AW, Passport Sling II and brand new Flipside Sport 20L AW – the biggest model in our Flipside Sport AW series. For more on this high-performance adventure pack, check out the Camera Diner interview with Lowepro’s Tim Sadler at the 28 minute mark.

We were pleased to have a stellar array of speakers – and as we like to think, members of the extended Lowepro family – take part in the show and engage the crowd with their recent and upcoming projects. The inspirational list of photographers: Colin Prior, David Noton, and Catherine Connor and David Southard from Wild Arena – plus dynamic newcomers to our speaking area including: Percy Dean, Tom Bunning, Luke Massey and Rebecca Litchfield.

To quote Tim again: “Some of the crowds were wild, some of the crowds were mild, but everyone left wanting to get out with their camera and take some great shots!”

Thanks to the UK and European teams, photographers and attendees who made a few days in Birmingham, England incredibly memorable.

Editor’s note:  Self-taught and incessantly driven pro photographer Adam Swords doesn’t stand still very often. When he’s not shooting for clients like Honda, Sony, Canon, Dirt Magazine and Mountain Biking UK, you might find him training in Tang Soo Do (he’s attained a fourth-degree black belt in this form of Korean Karate) or documenting the creative, small business owners in his home county of Warwickshire in the West Midlands region of England. And he writes a very entertaining blog as well.

Adam used the Lowepro Street & Field System for a mountain bike shoot in the Forest of Dean – or as he would say, in his kind of environment ”out in the woods shooting sports”. Advanced Photographer covered the shoot and profiled Adam in a recent article.

We asked him how this modular system worked in a non-urban environment and a bunch of other questions about the day-to-day life and aspirations of a successful, active lifestyle photographer/videographer.

Tell us how your Street & Field System set-up helps with your workflow and shooting style.
I’ve always liked to keep things simple with my photography equipment and when I find a solution that works for me, I stick with it. I’m not one for keeping bang up to date with the latest gizmo and gadget and nerding out over the minutia. In my line of work, I need to be sure that my gear will allow me to focus on one thing, getting “that” shot.

The Street & Field System is perfect for me; it’s a no nonsense set up that allows me to carry the essential bits of kit with me when a backpack or roller case won’t cut it. I use mine in environments and situations that don’t lend themselves to laying a bag on the ground in order get in to them – muddy trails and busy pits at motorsport events for example.

By having the essentials on me and within easy reach it means that I can spend more time shooting and less time worrying about changing lenses or rummaging around for a fresh memory card. It’s not often I’m without James my assistant, but when it’s not possible for him to be prepping the next lens change, or handing me fresh batteries, the Street & Field System almost acts like a second pair of hands.

You often combine video with a still shoot. How do you capture content in both mediums and convey the same theme for commercial clients?
This is a request I’m getting more and more from my commercial clients and I’d say it’s heavily attributed to the state of the economy right now and everyone is trying to penny pinch where they can. Luckily for me, I shoot my stills on a Canon 5D MKII, a camera which just so happens to shoot beautiful high definition video. This means that when I switch from shooting stills to video, I’m often still using the same lenses and camera, so the moving images inherently have the same look as the stills. Plus with me directing, I can ensure that my ideas and direction remains consistent across both media, ensuring the aesthetic qualities of both remain congruent. That said, I don’t always shoot video on DSLRs and when we’re using higher end camera equipment on a shoot, I ensure that our lens choice, colour profiles and final grading keep our shots looking similar. Ultimately though, I’d say that my direction is the greatest contributing factor in ensuring the same theme is conveyed in both the stills and video.

What’s the best advice you ever received from a fellow photographer?
I was lucky enough to intern for Chase Jarvis at very beginning of my career and I learned so much from him and the team it’s hard to choose just one thing.

I heard Chase say “A rising tide floats all the boats” a number of times and it’s an ideology that resonated the most with me. I think sharing what we know and helping each other out is a powerful thing and can only serve to boost the quality of not only our own work and the work of others, but tighten relationships within the industry.

It’s an idea not embraced by all and people are often scared of revealing their secrets to other photographers in case they become competition. But the way I look at it is that if I find myself competing with a new photographer because of what I’ve taught them, I’d better be improving and pushing my skills to the next level – It’s healthy.

What inspired you to create your “We are Warwickshire” project?
I shot a lot of automotive work in 2012 and wanted to work on something completely different. I’m an advocate of supporting local independent businesses and thought that a film series showcasing the amazing businesses and interesting people we have right on our doorstep would be a great way to give back to the community. It also allowed me to give the films a slightly more artistic feel and dial down that “sell, sell, sell” knob that is often ramped up to eleven in the commercial sector. I’ve had a great response to the films so far and will be wrapping up the project in a few months’ time with a screening and networking event to connect more people locally. (Editor’s note: You can see the series here.)

Name a geographical place that you’d love to return to or go to for an assignment.
Easy. California. I was lucky enough to travel out there for a week in 2011 for a shoot and I fell in love with the place. Without sounding too hippy, I think it’s my spiritual home.

Favorite new accessory that thrills you each time you use it?
Do I have to choose something photographic? Because in all honesty my favourite new ‘accessory’ is my mini remote control helicopter that I’m learning to fly like a boss around my living room and land on coasters. If I have to make this answer more photo-nerdy, then as a result of flying that I’m actually really interested in trying out some filming using a quad copter for aerial shots.

Most unusual item you keep in your camera bag?
A moustache drawn in sharpie on a piece of clear plastic! We use it on shoots to lighten the mood by asking all of the people on set to hold it up and have their photo taken.

Watch Adam’s Street & Field System shoot.

Our Rover Pro AW technical pack was built for carrying a large load of camera and camping gear to the backcountry. So you can imagine the pleasant surprise we got when Rebecca Litchfield – a UK fashion, celebrity and editorial photographer who typically uses camera rollers on her studio shoots – used it as her mainstay bag as she traveled to Poland.

A few weeks back, we chatted with Rebecca about her abandoned places and cultural memory photography and book project. She started her travels in Chernobyl in Central Ukraine (you can read more about that portion of her trip here).

The latest leg of her photographic journey took her to remote and historically significant sites in Lower Silesia, including the Liban Quarry and an abandoned chapel.

She carried a LOT of camera and personal gear – a full range of bodies, lenses, accessories, a tripod, camping supplies and plenty of creature comforts. It all fit in the Rover Pro 45L AW.

Rebecca gives a complete account of what she carried, how she packed, the way she traveled and the Rover Pro AW features she most appreciated (including the comfortable, trampoline-style suspension system) in her blog. We love her impressions in words and images…and hope you do, too.

Editor’s note: A short while ago, we were introduced to the remarkable work of London-based fashion, celebrity and editorial photographer Rebecca Litchfield. It’s fair to say we were immediately drawn into her moody imagery. Rebecca’s been a working pro for just over six years, but her list of clients and accolades gives her the credentials of a seasoned, visual storyteller. She was chosen as Professional Photographer of the Year 2009 by Professional Photography Magazine and as a semi-finalist for the 2010 Hasselblad Masters Awards.

 Her current editorial project will take her to a variety of countries in search of abandoned places and cultural memory, and will culminate in a book at the end of 2013. You can see her work, read her blog and experience her Day of the Dead Abandoned Photography site. Recently, Rebecca returned from Chernobyl in Central Ukraine – the first stop of her project’s journey – and tells us a bit about that experience and her work.

 
Your images of abandoned places are so haunting and intriguing. What is it about the past that entices you to document the current state of these places?
I have always found considerable aesthetic beauty in things decayed, the objects that remain, but may soon disappear forever. They tell a story of a long and interesting past like artifacts in a museum. Some people travel to the ruins of Rome, the crumbling Colosseum, others to Peru to see the enchanting ruins of the Machu Picchu. These majestic and culturally important places are slowly crumbling with time and one day will disappear from humanity in their entirety. But I see no difference between these iconic world sites, which attract tourism, and the abandoned places known to so few, we must not let these hidden histories disappear.

Hidden from the master narrative of history, these places are imbued with a wealth of meaning and wonder, a history of their own, which I strongly believe deserves to be recorded for posterity too. I believe it is absolutely vital to sensitively preserve this of a once-rich time before it is gone forever.

Whilst some may look at the decay in these places as simply reflecting the destruction, I perceive them as museums; the buildings and extant objects as beautiful exhibits of what once existed. Moreover, they are hauntingly beautiful memorials to the ordinary people who once lived and worked there, but whose existence, whose stories are ephemeral risk of being extinguished forever if they are not somehow recorded. It is reality that these places will cease to exist very soon, and as their memories begin to fade, these places will be forgotten. It is essential to record these pasts so that the narratives of history will furnish, as full and true a record as possible, chronicling history from above and below, no matter which ideologies shaped them.

My fashion photography has always been very conceptual with a dark nature running throughout and now I feel my exploration of such abandonment full of ideas and cultural memory compliments my style of photography greatly.

The aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster has been photographed often in the last 25 years. What do you hope your images convey about it now?
I have been struck by the extent of urban abandonment in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states in the former Eastern Bloc. I have had a deep fascination for the former USSR and its history for a long time, but I have recently become particularly drawn to the many ghost towns that used to be thriving communities behind the Iron Curtain but now lay derelict, uninhabited, broken shells of what they once were. My aim with this book is to attempt to capture something of their essence in my photography, to preserve and tend to the memories they still hold before they too are lost as time rolls inexorably on. We must not let these hidden histories disappear.

Chernobyl has been photographed a lot, but each year the power plant changes, now with the new sarcophagus being built and the nearby town of Pripyat evolves as nature claims it back. The most poignant thing is that nature is slowly taking back what it once had and the landscape is slowly changing. The buildings deteriorating more and more each year and vegetation slowly covering it. Maybe in another 25 years the buildings will be just crumbing ruins.

It’s very hard to put into words such an overwhelming experience as the one I had in my three days of being in the zone, I’ve never had such a huge mixture of emotions, it has opened my mind to the fragility of humanity and how the things humans create can cause so much damage to the world and the life that lives in it and I hope that people viewing the photos will get a feeling of this while seeing the details that touched me on my journey.

I guess the most amazing thing I have learnt is that nature will return and claim it all back, that humans may only last a small fraction of the time the Earth will exist as a disaster caused by man or nature could easily wipe us out and yet nature will still claim back the Earth. It has also taught me to cherish life, when you feel bad things are happening, you only have to think of those that have given their lives in such tragedies or live with the pain caused by them. It has made me see how lucky I am, there is great tragedy all over the world unseen by many and I hope that through the pictures I have taken and will share that other may realise that life is fragile and we must cherish what we have and never take it for granted.

I have captured Chernobyl and Pripyat in what I feel is a slightly more artistic representation then a lot of the documentary shots that exist already, I aimed to capture the atmosphere and tragedy of the decaying town, to produce a series of beautiful images that would grab the attention of people to look more closely, then when realising what they are of, make them think more about the tragedy that had happened in Chernobyl.

How do you use High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging to create a mood or a particular point of view?
I use HDR as part of the processing of my images; I take a series of 7 exposures while the camera is mounted on a tripod to capture the whole range of lights and darks of the image. This is impossible to do in a single exposure. I then combine all of these exposures into one image using software called Photomatix.

You can adjust the gamma, strength, luminosity, white, blacks, detail, saturation, temperature etc. to create a tone mapped image. I find that the image produced is very untrue to what the original scene is, it almost looks unreal and un natural so what I will then do is us this on a layer over the most correctly exposed photo of the seven taken and use it on an opacity just enough to bring out the lights and darks, I will select areas where I will remove the HDR completely where it looks un natural and only use it where the image was too dark or too light to begin with.

The resulting image means no area will be too dark and no areas blown out with highlights. I think HDR is wonderful to use in this way if you use it subtly, when photographing in Chernobyl, I felt the need to document it more in a documentary way, I wanted the final images to look beautiful, but not unreal, I wanted to capture it in a sensitive way that was true to how I viewed it so using HDR subtly was the key.

Does your fashion photography inform the work you’re doing for this project?
Over the last year, primarily to complement my fashion work, I have begun photographing abandoned buildings. What had originated as a hobby and a chance to location scout for future fashion shoots has become much more serious and important to me. Indeed, my deepening passion for this kind of photography, which is categorized as ‘urban exploration’, has inspired me to start exploring the medium further in order to develop my range as a photographer. I believe my photographs sensitively capture something of societies and cultural that have been abandoned or lost to the modern day

With so much academic and intellectual discussion of the concept of cultural memory prevalent at the moment, I believe that my exploration of this theme in my work is both timely and important.

I would have to say that my exploring began as a way of location scouting for my fashion work and I have now got a large library of amazing locations for me to shoot fashion editorials, but more importantly it has also helped me look more widely at how I produce a fashion image. Moving forward I will be shooting more on location then in the studio as I did previously, I hope that with fashion shoots in the future I will  convey the atmosphere I find in these places within my images. Over the next few years I am excited to be combining the two to create a series of beautifully atmospheric conceptual fashion shoots within abandoned buildings. Working on the book will aid my development as a fashion photographer, as capturing a mood and atmosphere as well as the surrounding location is very important and something I want to establish in my fashion photography.

Editor’s note: Tim Sadler, our category manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa shares some really cool news with us: the Flipside 500 AW received a coveted Gear of the Year Award (GOTY) from a panel of judges that included industry experts and editorial staff from Bauer Media. The largest, privately owned publishing group in Europe, Bauer offers more than 300 titles in 15 countries, including Digital Photo and Practical Photography magazines. This year, UK marketing manager Natalie Littlehales boarded a boat in London, cruised on the Thames and accepted the GOTY award with a champagne toast. Not a bad way to receive kudos!

“Last week saw the annual UK Gear of the Year awards hosted by Bauer Media take place in London. Suppliers and retailers from around the UK boarded the William B boat and were treated to champagne and fine dining whilst the cream of the industry crop received their awards for the best product releases of the last 12 months.

The sought-after ‘GOTY’s’ are chosen by editorial teams from both Digital Photo and Practical Photography magazines and our UK team were very excited when the Flipside 500 AW won the award for Best Camera Bag of 2012.

Since launching the Flipside 500 AW earlier this year, it has become a firm favourite amongst the media and the action sports crowd – which includes the likes of professional photographers Geoff Waugh and Roo Fowler. Visit the product page to find out more or watch the video!”

– Tim