Over the years, I have owned several camera bags. There are at least five bags stored in my closet at this time. Of these bags, my favorite one by far is the Think Tank Antidote v2.0.

I like the Think Tank bag best because it holds so much gear in a relatively small space. Most times, I carry the following in the bag with room to spare:

• Nikon D800 with grip
• Nikon 14-24 2.8
• Nikon 24-70 2.8
• Nikon 70-200 2.8
• Nikon 105 VR
• Sigma 15mm Fisheye
• Several filters

Although I have to remove some lenses, the bag is capable of holding my 500 VR. This amount of storage comes in handy when traveling as the bag is designed to fit into the overhead compartment of an airplane.

While taking pictures in the South Carolina capital city of Columbia, my Think Tank bag finally failed me. I was photographing the interior of the South Carolina Supreme Court building when the zipper of the backpack somehow got off track. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the bag zippered up. Since I had some heavy gear in the bag, it was going to be a major task carrying all of it without being able to strap the backpack onto my back. I wasn't looking forward to walking more than a mile back to my parked car with 25 pounds of cumbersome gear in my arms!

To my surprise, the courtroom security guard came to the rescue. He worked on my bag for quite some time. After ten minutes or so, he somehow got the zipper working again. And his repair has stood the test of time so far--the zipper is still working like when it was new. I was grateful as not only did it make the hike back to the car a lot more comfortable, but I still had a couple of weeks left on my photography trip through the Southeast.

Here's the last shot that I captured in the courtroom before the zipper gave out: