Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

Moses on the Street

Hey guys,

So I have a pickup truck that I usually drive around in. It's just a regular Ford F-150 with very little space behind the seats.

Anyway, a big problem for me is that I'll be driving along with all of my camera gear in my camera bags on the bench seat next to me, see a photo, hit my brakes ---- and everything on my seat slides forward, hitting the floorboard at some unknown velocity. That has actually happened to me several times. Last year, at night out in West Texas, TWICE within about 15 minutes I came up over a rise and there was a deer standing in the middle of the road. I slammed on my brakes both times and, again, everything on my seat just flew forward.

So I was telling my girlfriend about this and I was saying that I need some kind of canvas bag that I can put BEHIND my seat but still be able to reach all of my gear when I need it.

This is what she came up with.

It has a dowell that runs through the top, two grommets, a "modesty flap" that comes down over the lenses and cameras and stuff, somewhat concealing them, custom-made pockets for my lenses, an oversize pocket for all of my accessories etc... It is suspended on a rope that is secured to the two overhead interior hooks (not sure what they are for, unless its to hang clothes maybe) mounted to the top of the cab.

Here's what it looks like just by itself:

Here is what it looks like with the modesty flap covering it:

Here is a picture of my fabulous and awesome babe holding it up:

And, finally, a couple of shots of what it looks like behind the bench seat:

What I like about it is that it's very unobtrusive behind the seat. If I step into a diner for a bite to eat, all I have to do is lower it and cover it up with a blanket or something and it just looks like a couple of blankets/rags behind the seat. No brandnames .... nothing to indicate that it's holding about 6k worth of photo gear.

Currently it stores:

Two camera bodies, my 5d and my 30d.

My 100-400mm L
My 400mm f. 5.6 L
My 70-200mm L
My Sigma 105 macro
My Canon 16-35 L

My light meter
My flash
All of the other little accessories that I have.

Best of all: when I hit the brakes, everything stays nice and secure, behind the seat in some space that I was not using before.

And, of course, it leaves room for me to have a sack full of BBQ brisket on the seat next to me --- and that's always an important consideration.

Anyway, I wanted to post this because she pretty much rocks my world and I thought it was very nice of her to go out, get the canvas, and make this for me with her sewing machine.

Shelby Lane · 01-19-2009, 06:26 PM

That is pretty darn cool. When you're driving, do you have any problems with it swinging?

Moses on the Street · 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelby Lane

That is pretty darn cool. When you're driving, do you have any problems with it swinging?

No, for two reasons:

1) The back of the seats gently press up against the front of the canvas, preventing back and forth motion in the direction of the engine and the bed of the truck.

2) We purposely placed the grommets outside the mounting hooks (vertically, I mean, when you look at it) by about two inches on either side so that the rope pulls the grommets towards each other from both sides, stopping the swaying from right to left. You can't really see the true angle that the rope takes as it runs down to the grommets because I post processed it to level the photo on account of I was very cramped taking it, but suffice to say it's like a large picture frame with a wire running behind it but one that you actually put TWO nails into the wall to support that wire.