the gear

I have a giant duffel bag full of things I'll need and want that, but really if I went with a change of underwear, a tooth brush and my camera bag I'd be a happy girl.  I will have quite a few toys with me.  I know some of y'all are photo nerds like me and I'm just so psyched about my this trip I'll give a run down.  I recently bought myself a Nikon D7000 and a 35mm prime lens.  Let me tell you, this combo is fun.  The D7000 is just fantastic. There are enough reviews out there that I'll let you read about others gushing about it if you want.  But I am loving it.  I also am bringing my Nikon D80 as a backup body.  Hard to believe I bought that camera almost 5 years ago.  A few guys a camera store scoffed at me when I mentioned having that camera.  I don't know what they were talking about.  Its treated me well for the past 4+ years and will be a great second body for the trip.  The 17-55 and 50-200 are coming too.  I don't use the zoom too much but if I get to see some wildlife it'll be nice to have.

Heres where the fun part comes in.  Nikon FE2.  This camera was made before I was born.  I've been wanting to shoot some film for a while and can't think of a better time to just jump into it again.  I met someone last week over a sweet sweet twin lens reflex camera and later that week got to hold real prints.  Really real, used to be film, someone spent time with in a darkroom, prints in my hand.  It was a very exciting moment.  I bought a ton of black and white film and had my dad send me lenses. I shot a roll this weekend to make sure the camera is working out well.  No instant gratification here.  I have to wait till Tuesday to see if I got any decent photos. 

I also bought a holga this week.  Talk about a toy.  This is the simplest little camera but it will be fun for Mombasa beach pictures with friends and medium format is just too cool to pass up.   I'm going to have to hire my dad to process and develop all of this film and will hopefully get to spend some time in a darkroom again when I make it home for Christmas next year.  

The bag tops out at a whopping 21 pounds of camera glory.  I. Can. Not. Wait. Ok I'm done.