Even though all of us here at Mountainsmith consider ourselves photographers on some level, from iPhone shutterbugs to wannabe photojournalists, our specialty is manufacturing outdoor gear and rugged carrying solutions. As much as we would like to, none of us have ever been on a National Geographic photo expedition, hung off a couple hundred foot wall while shooting professional climbers, or attempted to capture a close-up image of a polar bear. Fortunately, our photo ambassador and camera bag co-designer, Andy Mann, has experienced all of this.
“Bringing Andy onto the design and development process was an absolute no-brainer. ” says Luke Boldman, Mountainsmith’s Design Lead & Product Line Manager. Boldman brought Mann on from outset of the re-development of Mountainsmith’s camera bag line to bring real-world insights to the design room. Andy knows the challenges that pro-photographers face while out shooting in the field, and the Mountainsmith designers invited Andy to share those challenges throughout the development process.
The feature that we want to bring to light today is seemingly un-groundbreaking, but something that will make a great difference for any photographer that is planning a full day of shooting. When Andy is on assignment, he is often carrying multiple batteries and memory cards. He will go through a couple in a day, and it always seems to be at the most inopportune times that his battery dies or memory card fills up. The wildlife is posing, the climber is making an epic dyno move, or the light is just right; and Andy needs to switch out batteries in a hurry. It’s the third battery of the day, and he reaches confidently into the pocket with the green zipper for the fourth and final battery. He pops it in like an action hero loading a gun magazine and he is fully charged and ready to shoot again.
This smooth operation is all thanks to the red and green organizational pockets, that are found throughout the 2014 Mountainsmith camera bag line. What if Andy had grabbed the wrong battery and loaded up a dead one? He fumbles around through a hand-full of batteries trying to find the charged one, and in the meantime his window of opportunity for the perfect shot has closed. While using Mountainsmith camera bags, this never happens again for Andy. The simple technology of a red and green labeled zipper allows him to separate his charged batteries from dead ones, and empty memory cards from full memory cards.
These small conveniences make the difference in the career of adventure photography. Andy has collaborated with the Mountainsmith designers to develop the most intuitive camera carry solutions on the market today combined with the brand’s trademark durability. Check out the new camera line developed with Andy Mann to see all of the innovative features that Andy has brought to the table.
The line can be viewed now on Mountainsmith.com and is available this Fall exclusively at REI stores and on REI.com.