Bag Man
I am obsessed with the idea of a “get home” bag, otherwise known as a FEAR Bag (Forget Everything And Run) or bailout bag. The concept is simple: Due to unforeseen circumstances, you need to spend the next 24 hours on your own, away from home, with what you have within arm’s reach.
Go!
On a side note, I recently saw an article where the author’s “bailout bag” was a half-dozen spare pistol mags, a knife, and not one, not two buy THREE smoke grenades. That’s it. He claimed he didn’t need a flashlight, water or storm-related gear because he always “dressed for the weather.”
Just how does one dress for a natural disaster? Inquiring minds want to know!
Getting back on track, I recently figured out the source of this obsession. I started my career as a photographer the old-fashioned way, by assisting other photographers. Location photography is an exercise in logistics: We needed to take along everything we needed for the shoot, have it fit in the vehicle and make sure we didn’t bring too much and slow down the shoot due to a long setup time.
And then there’s the photographer’s gadget bag: Not so much a thing for advertising and commercial work, as those shooters rarely worked out of just one bag, but definitely a thing for photojournalists, especially since we preferred prime lenses over zooms back in that day. I had one bag set up at all times to grab and head out the door if a client called for a quick editorial shot: A Nikon FM2 with drive, a 20mm f2.8 lens, a 35mm f2, a 105mm f2.5 and a Vivitar 283 strobe. Also included in that bag was my light meter, spare batteries, a multi-tool, some gaffer’s tape and a small folding reflector. Was that gear enough to shoot a cover for Forbes? Maybe not. But it was enough to turn out a shot in just about any environment.
As near as I can tell, this is why I’m obsessed with the “get home bag.” Go bags? Not so much. In fact, I had neglected my go bag pretty badly. I refreshed it this Independence Day holiday after years of neglect, and it was pretty shameful. The last time I touched was during COVID: I could tell by all the spare surgical masks I had in the bag. The spare AA and AAA batteries were all corroded, and I took this opportunity to pare down everything and move everything from an ESS backpack into a Hazard 4 sling bag. I’m not as young as I was when I put together my first go bag, and my days of trekking miles with a pack on my back are over.
I’ll have a “go bag” (and a get home bag as well) as long as I live in a hurricane zone. But I’ll do a better job of making sure they’re ready to go at a moment’s notice.
