Silhouette Bag Review plus GIVEAWAY

February 21, 2014 1:07 am - Published by The Photographer Within - 125 Comments
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Our friends Katy and Michelle, the Red Door Photographers, are back on the TPW blog today with a SILHOUETTE CAMERA BAG GIVEAWAY.  Can you tell we are excited?  We tend to type in all caps when we can’t contain our excitement.  This Silhouette bag is so pretty, and Michelle’s review of it certainly puts it at the top of our wish lists.  Read to the end of the article to learn how you can win your own Silhouette bag.  Although there is only able to be one winner, Silhouette is generous enough to give TPW blog readers a 10% discount code for purchases through the end of April.  Be sure to follow Silhouette on Facebook to hear about future offerings as well.

Silhouette Bag Giveaway at The Photographer Within

It seems as if many women photographers are always on the hunt for *the* perfect bag.  We want one that is stylish, that carries a lot, not too bulky, fits us just right, fits our gear just right, holds our 70-200 2.8 attached to the body, or at least allows you bring it along and is large enough to accommodate multiple lenses.  Let’s not forget about our battery chargers, speedlite, chapstick, wallet …and the list goes on.  Finding that perfect bag is daunting, with so many options and opinions, and it seems as though I have been on an endless journey to find what I was looking for.  In my search, my desire was to find a well designed bag, that I could totally customize and would allow me to carry what I needed to carry, without the bag being too ginormous!  I know…I was asking a lot, but I was determined that bag was out there somewhere.

My search led me to a fairly new company, Silhouette Bags.  I was instantly drawn to the simplicity of the design.  It was classic, clean and it appeared roomy.  I was hesitant to make a purchase because I had never heard of this bag nor the company before.  I was hoping to find some positive reviews or opinions but unfortunately everywhere I asked, no one had experience with the bag either.  I had to decide if I would take the plunge and buy a bag that I knew nothing about or go with a big name bag company and hope that my hard earned funds would not result in another bag that did not meet my needs.  I ultimately decided to go with Silhouette Bags since it seemed to offer exactly what I was searching for.  The ability to help a fledgling company, by way of my purchase, was an added plus.

Once I received my bag and I was pleased with my purchase, I decided to offered to write a review of the bag on my business blog.  They were grateful and generously donated a bag for a giveaway to accompany the review.  Due to a limited following on my own business blog, I contacted The Photographer Within to see if they would be interested in publishing the review and giveaway on their blog, to which they graciously agreed.

Here is my review of the Silhouette Bag

The bag arrives, packaged in a dust bag, which is pretty standard.

I purchased the Chestnut bag and I am very pleased with the color.  It’s not too orange, not too brown, not too light.  The color is perfect and rich.  Even though it is synthetic leather, it feels soft and supple and does not feel stiff and plastic like many other synthetic leather bags.  The hardware has a weathered look, which I like.  I am not fond of shiny gold or silver accents.  The hardware definitely compliments the bag’s appearance and material.  The bag comes with a longer strap so it can be carried as a cross-body, or off-the-shoulder bag.  It also comes with six divider inserts, in three different sizes and shapes (two small rectangle, two square, and two larger rectangle.)  This was a huge selling point because I love being able to customize the inside of my bag.  The inside is completely lined and padded with a cream-colored, soft fabric that allows you to Velcro the dividers to any position on the inside of the bag.  The light-colored fabric makes it easy to see what is inside your bag at a glance!

 Another great feature is the ability to customize the length of the shorter straps.  There are four notches, which allows you to adjust the handles to various lengths, or completely remove them from the bag.

The cross-body shoulder strap utilizes safety hardware to connect the strap to the bag.  This is another great feature, as it poses less risk of clasp breakage or coming unhooked from the body of the bag.

Now, for the most important part.  What can I put in it and will it still close?  In this bag I have my Canon 70-200mm 2.8L with hood mounted backwards and attached to my Canon 6D body, a 100mm 2.8 with hood mounted backwards, a 50mm 1.4 with hood attached, a 35mm  2.0, a Canon 430 EX ii Speedlite, battery charger, lens end and body caps, transfer cable, SD card pouch, 2 lens pens, wireless remote, and finally, my box of business cards.

There are two outer pockets, one on the front and one on the back side of the bag.  There are two more outer pockets, one on each end of the bag. Inside, there is a zippered pocket and a larger utility pocket that is designed for an iPad, books, etc.  This utility pocket is completely lined and padded like the rest of the bag, and is so wide and roomy, that fitting lenses and even dividers in there was easy.

For those that prefer to carry their 70-200 unattached, this bag offers plenty of customizable space to change things up and still allows you to carry multiple lenses, etc.

And here is the bag, fully stuffed, fully zipped and fully closed….

So…am I happy?  YES!  I finally have a bag that can haul everything I need.  The quality is great.  And if you have read this far, keep reading…everyone that reads this blog review will receive a 10% discount code you can use to purchase a new Silhouette Bag!

Upon checkout enter code “PhotographerWithin” and you will receive 10% off your order!  Now…STOP reading and go order your bag!!!!

 

Katy Laulo & Michelle Laulo Pierce
Red Door Photography

Red Door Photography has put a unique spin on business partnership.  Photography duo Katy and Michelle are not only business partners and the best of friends, but they are also mother and daughter!  Red Door Photography, located in Arizona, specializes in natural light, lifestyle photography.  Their business is built on the principle of providing affordable, quality images to families in their area.  Michelle is a stay at home wife and mom who home teaches her three children.  She began her career pursuit with four years of education in film photography before switching to digital.  She is currently teaching photography classes at her local community college, teaching both entry and advanced level photography to other aspiring photographers of all levels.  Katy is a semi-retired stay at home wife to her high school sweetheart of forty-one years.  She began as a self-taught nature hobbyist turned portrait professional.  With their combined mutual passion for photography, they opened Red Door Photography six years ago.  Michelle has become the sole shooter and processor in the business, with Katy’s impending retirement in the next year.  Katy will continue to oversee Red Door Photography’s business and client relations.

Katy & Michelle’s bio image courtesy of Lisa Holloway.

Find Red Door Photography on Facebook and Pinterest, and visit both Katy and Michelle individually on Facebook.

SILHOUETTE BAG GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Want to win your very own Silhouette bag?  This giveaway is open to all U.S. residents.  Leave a comment on this blog post.  TPW forum members can get an extra giveaway entry by posting on the Silhouette Bag Giveaway thread within the forums.  All entries must be posted by 11pm (EST) on Wednesday February 26th. We will use a random number generator to choose the winner.  Winner will be announced Thursday Feb 27th.

 

UPDATED 2/27/14:  Congratulations to Kensie Malmfeldt on winning this gorgeous bag.  Enjoy Kensie!  And thanks again to Red Door Photography and Silhouette for putting together this great review and giveaway.       

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