It’s always a thrill to reconnect with old friends — especially when it’s so much fun to follow them on their travels and projects.

We recently reconnected with Dan and Janine Patitucci. Specializing in mountain sport and travel photography, their clients include high profile companies like The North Face, Patagonia and GORE-TEX®. What’s more, they are amazing mountain sport athletes as well as great photographers.

With the Dolomites as their background playground, Dan and Janine don’t have to look far for adventure. But for the next 6-7 weeks, they will be on a whirlwind tour for clients, photographing mountain biking in Tuscany, ice climbing in Norway, ski mountaineering in Chamonix (France), climbing above the Mediterranean in Sicily and alpine climbing in the Dolomintes and Swiss Alps.

If anyone can put our gear to the test, Dan can. He’ll be taking his Toploader Pro 70 AW along. This is the bag we challenged him to try after he posted on his blog that he had stopped using camera bags altogether. Take a look at what he recently wrote about his new Toploader.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be following Dan and Janine as they post updates on Facebook and send us pictures from their travels. Stay tuned — it’s bound to be exciting!

Sam is the PR and Photographer Relations Manager for Lowepro’s Worldwide Marketing team.

Focus On Imaging - 6th - 9th March 2011

It’s that time of year again when the Lowepro UK team load up the vans and head over to the NEC for the annual Focus on Imaging Consumer Show.

The Lowepro Team at last years Event

Come along to Stand B10 to check out the Multi Award Winning Industry leading Lowepro Range including the brand new products like the new S&F range and ILC Classic products.

This year we will also be running some talks with some of the UK’s top photographers Paul Galagher, Colin Prior and David Noton. Places are limted so you will need to register to get a ticket.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS & REGISTRATION

For more information on Focus On Imaging please visit their website here.

Chris McLennan in Alaska in 2010

Loweprofessional photographer Chris McLennan is about to embark on yet another adventure — one we will be following closely over the next 15-20 days.

Last year, Chris photographed portions of the 2010 Iditarod Race, capturing stunning images of solitary sledders and their dog teams gliding through the frozen wilderness. This year, he has upped the ante and will be covering ~1200 km through the territory between Galena to Nome in order to tell the real story — the story of what happens in between check points when it’s just the dogs and their mushers braving blizzards, sub-zero temperatures and some of the harshest conditions on earth.

So he’s off to Alaska again to photograph the 2011 Iditarod Race, but this time with a twist. While shooting the race, he will be the subject of a documentary film and pilot for a proposed TV series. Over the course of the 15-day race, Chris and local guide and former Iditarod competitor Jon Korta will follow the teams along the race course, sleeping in arctic tents and Eskimo villages. They’ll not only be subjected to -40° to -60° Celsius temperatures, they’ll encounter the same challenges and hazards the racers face when traversing this hostile but beautiful expanse.

Read a the full story about this amazing adventure on Chris’ blog — and then watch for posts and updates here and on our Facebook page as the race gets underway on March 5th.

Safe travels, Chris!

Sam is the PR and Photographer Relations Manager for Lowepro’s Worldwide Marketing team.

Australian photographer Stephen Dupont, a long-time Lowepro Featured Photographer, has recently updated his protective carrying systems to respond to both changing equipment, and the opportunities for smaller lighter solutions.

Stephen, co-founder of Australia’s Reportage Festival in 1999, and an award-winning photojournalist in the World Press Photo Awards, has authored four books, and produced a number of collector-edition limited print volumes. He has exhibited extensively around the globe, and is already well advanced with projects for 2011. His first will be a two-month documentary assignment in Papua New Guinea. 

For this assignment the need for flexibility, freedom of movement and rugged protection for the high humidity, hot temperature work, has led him quickly to Lowepro’s new S&F Series system. Stephen will use the S&F Deluxe Technical Belt and Audio Utility bag to support the high video workload of the upcoming assignment, in combination with his Canon EOS 5 Mk II camera system. He will be coupling it to the lightweight Technical Harness, with the Utility Bag 100AW for a spare camera body, and use the SlipLock™ loop system, to attach up to four Lens Pouches, Memory and S&F Lens Exchange cases to the main Harness.

“A key advantage of this new system is its flexible sizing and adjustable harness, along with its really strong materials,” says Dupont.

“When I return to Afghanistan later in 2011, it will be its ability to work over a flak jacket, yet still allowing for rapid equipment changes.” Stephen has been documenting the evolution of the country since 1993, nearly a decade before the shocking 9/11 events of New York.

“In the many situations I’ve found myself covering military confrontations, you just can’t use a conventional shoulder bag or even a backpack. I may often have both a film and digital camera and just a few lenses with me, but it’s vital I can gain access for rapid changes, or switch from stills to video shooting, requiring different shooting styles and different gear.”

Safe travels, Stephen.

John Swainston is the Senior Vice President of DayMen’s Asia/Oceania activities and Managing Director of Maxwell International, the Lowepro subsidiary in Australia. His background includes professional photography as well as sales, marketing and import/export experience.

The 2011 WPPI tradeshow is right around the corner, and we are feverishly getting ready for all the festivities. We’ve got some exciting things we will be unveiling, so if your not able to attend in person, you’ll definitely want to stay tuned to our blog and our Facebook page.

We are partnering with SanDisk and Pictage (they provide a platform for marketing, selling and fulfilling professional photo products online) to give away some cool prizes at the show, so be sure to stop by our booth and ask about the details.

And then there of course is the awesome product. We will have a ton of our hottest gear on hand for you to play with. If you haven’t had a chance to see our new Street and Field product yet, it will be there for you to put through the paces.  This modular system features the Lens Exchange 200 which has been getting amazing feedback from professionals around the world.

We will also be showing off the new Pro Roller Attache x50 which was just awarded Professional Photographer’s “Hot One” award for 2010. This is a killer product that gives professionals the versatility they need to be able to travel easily and comfortably.

We can wait to see you at the show!

Frank Filice is the Marketing Manager for Lowepro USA

I received an interesting email from Lowepro photographer Julie Dermansky about her travels to Egypt to cover the transition from former president Mubarak to the new leadership. I thought you’d find her comments interesting on many levels.

“I got to Cairo just in time for the key moment when Mubarak stepped down,” writes Julie. “Unfortunately my gear was confiscated at the airport. I managed to bring in a flipcam and a pocket camera, having hid them in advance, knowing that my gear might not make it past customs. I’m shooting with a point and shoot, but longing for my SLR. It’s hard to rely on limited gear in such an electric situation. That being said, I’m up for the challenge at hand.”

“The Embassy wrote a letter on my behalf to help get my gear back. There’s a room at the airport with over 100 confiscated bags/boxes of camera equipment.”

Tahrir Square in Cairo after Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman stated Hosni Mubarak's stepped down. Photo by Julie Dermansky.

I responded to Julie asking her to please keep me updated. The next day I received this note from her:

“I recovered the gear today with a dose of tenacity and luck! There are still hundreds of bags of confiscated gear — some nice Lowepro models among them.”

Yaay for happy endings! If you want to know more about the reporting of the event, here is a piece on The Atlantic website with video clips shot just after the VP announced Mubarak had resigned.

Derrick Story is the Photography Evangelist for Lowepro.

We get lots of stories from our customers about their experiences out in the real world. This one came from Brad Lung up in Canada — in his words, “a wicked story” about one of our smaller bags.

Sheldon and the Arctic Cat

Brad and his buddy Sheldon were up in Northern Sashkachewan for some snowmobiling and ice fishing — a ritual undertaken several times a year.  That’s Sheldon in the picture to the right.

Collins Camps (on Lake Bresnard) is owned by another friend, Chris, and seemed the perfect spot to celebrate the New Year and Chris’ birthday. So off they went, on an adventure that brought with it an unexpected twist.

With temperatures down to -20°C (are they crazy???), they set out on Arctic Cat mountain snowmobiles. Sheldon brought along his camera — a $3,000 Canon that he carried inside a  Lowepro Cirrus TLZ, stashing both inside a Search and Rescue bag for transit.

That Cat had Claws!

As they headed back from one of the adjoining lakes, a loose strap on the Search and Rescue bag got caught in the track of the Arctic Cat, pulling the whole thing into the tunnel where it was pummeled by the 2.25 inch lug paddles on the track until they were able to stop. In Brad’s words, “It tore the living daylights out of the Search and Rescue bag .”

Amazingly, the Cirrus TLZ not only came through in one piece, it saved Sheldon’s camera. “I can’t believe this bag took the punishment it did and survived, let alone protected the camera,” Brad said. “Too bad I didn’t get a shot of the Search and Rescue bag — it was totally annihilated!”

Extreme cold and abuse are never a good combination when it comes to camera gear. But we love happy endings. Thanks, Brad, for sharing this one.

Do you and your bag have a story to share? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Sam is the PR and Photographer Relations Manager for Lowepro’s Worldwide Marketing team.