My journey to Iceland began with the flight Milano Malpensa – Keflavik and it was accompanied by the Manfrotto Shoulder Bag.
Once landed, we collected the rental car and we headed straight for the surroundings of the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal area, between the Reykjanes peninsula and Grindavik.
As we moved around from one place to another, all my equipment was contained in the Manfrotto Bumblebee PL-220 backpack, which is extremely convenient because it’s both quite spacious and very ergonomic.
The shoulder bag’s interior is separated by padded dividers that can be custom-shaped and it also has enough room to carry 1 camera body and 3 lens.
Externally, there are various pockets:
– the smallest pocket is located along the shoulder strap, it is quite convenient and can hold a compact flash and batteries;
– in the side pocket I placed numerous circular filters;
– I placed the 10cm X 15cm filters in the front pocket because it’s bigger;
– and in the back pocket, which is slightly hidden, I placed my wallet.
Every morning, after establishing our travel itinerary, we prepared the shoulder bag with the necessary equipment that would accompany me or my assistant throughout the day. Since it’s extremely compact and light it allowed us to tackle the day with very little weight and thanks to the shoulder bag the weight was distributed evenly.
You often don’t know what you’re going up against, and it’s always difficult to manage the choice of equipment to take with you, especially when it comes to long hikes on steep and rocky terrain.
The shoulder bag can be “worn” both on your back and on your chest. It’s convenient to have the opening on the top because it allows you to change lenses very quickly without having to remove the bag from your shoulders and place it on the ground to change lens.
During this trip, the rain was a faithful companion, and put a strain on both the equipment and our patience; and even when it stopped raining, for example when we found ourselves at the foot of the Dettifoss falls (the biggest in Europe!) or the Seljalandsfoss falls (the most spectacular!), the conditions for taking photographs and safeguarding our equipment were really strenuous. A cloud of water generated by the falls smothered us to the point that we had to use the k-way that comes with the shoulder bag. The k-way was useful for both covering the bag, which itself is very water-resistant, and the camera from the water.
What can I say? It ‘s definitely a great travel companion that will certainly not fail to accompany me on my next reportage!