Kelly Moore Love

I'm so glad to hear from the comments on my last post that I'm not the only one that gives directions based on old landmarks!  If we all stick together, we can convince others that our way is best! ;-)

I was going to wait and post this tomorrow, but after reading a post today (more on that later) I decided that the fates were telling me to post this tonight!  See that beautiful leather bag in the photo above?  Well that is my lovely new Kelly Moore camera bag.  The truth is that it's not all that new now, you see I bought it just before we left for Europe last month.

If you don't think that a trip to Europe, with the responsibility of carrying all of my camera gear won't break in a new bag in a big hurry, well you'd be very wrong, I put this baby to the test, and it passed with flying colors!

But there is more to this bag than just good looks...though it does look uber chic in the 2 photos above as it is enjoying the views of the Neckar River from the terrace at our hotel in Heidelberg, Germany doesn't it?!  Just me and Kelly, my gear, and a cool San Pellegrino...so worldly isn't she?!

Yeah, she's a seasoned traveler now, but before she flew across the ocean, visited lovely train stations, and learned a little French and German, she had quite a story to tell.

I think you can tell a lot about a company not only from their products, but how they treat their customers.  In my frantic, and frugal ways, I thought I would simply use my big camera backpack for our trip, but then in a moment of panic just days before we left I had a change of heart and went searching for the perfect camera bag which wouldn't be too bulky and could disguise itself as a purse...providing me with everything I needed to look cool while still being able to capture everything I wanted on our trip.

I went online and searched for reviews or anything I could find on camera bags that would suit my needs and I kept coming back to Kelly Moore bags.  The reviews were good...check #1, and they were just so darned amazing looking...check #2...so I was sold!

I went online to the Kelly Moore website and found that the bag I wanted, the B-Hobo was out of stock in the color that I really wanted (Walnut), so I decided on the mustard color instead.  Off my order went into cyberspace, and then I realized that I probably should have opted for a faster shipping method...so I wrote them an email and asked if they could expedite my shipment...No Problem was the happy reply I received back, so I was already loving this company who would now have to scramble to help me out for being dumb and not ordering it the faster way to begin with.


 

I was content...well for a few hours anyway, but I really wanted that walnut brown bag, so I did a Google search and low and behold there it was, in stock, calling my name but on another website...Adorama's website to be exact.

Now I know what you are thinking, fickle me, just suck it up and get your mustard bag and quit being so picky right?!  Nope, I wrote Kelly Moore again, and instead of getting what I deserved...a nasty gram saying, "look lady, make up your *&%^ mind!"  I got a lovely note that said, "sure, no problem, we can cancel your order and let you purchase it from Adorama, and we will refund your credit card right away!"  Oh baby, can you say customer for life...of course that was before I had even checked out the bag to see if it was worth its salt.

After wearing, stuffing, re-stuffing, and hauling my beautiful walnut brown Kelly Moore bag from castles to opera houses, up and down steps, over cobblestones, through train stations (like the gorgeous Strasbourg train station pictured in this post), through airports and beyond, I can unequivocally say that this bag rocks!

It held my passport, cell phone, tickets, credit cards, money, lip gloss, perfume, brochures...oh yeah, and my camera gear too, which included a big honkin' L series 100-400 mm telephoto lens, my 5D Mark II body, my L series 24-70 mm go to lens, my remote, spare batteries, and both lens hoods.  And it was easy peasy to grab things when I needed them, change out lenses, and it made me look like I knew what the heck I was doing!

In all seriousness, I can't say enough good things about this bag, I love it and I would carry it as my everyday purse if I wasn't terrified of wearing it out...which I doubt will happen, but when you find something you love, you want to have it always!  Yup, that's how I feel about this bag.  

But what I love most about this bag is how nicely I was treated by the company that makes it.  I was given the royal treatment and that makes me love it even more!  Tonight when I went about my usual blog reading I came across a post on Di's Blog about Kelly Moore.  It seems that she is more than just a great photographer, bag designer, and accomplished business woman...she's a pretty special person too...click HERE and you'll see what I mean, good things really do come to good people!

And for those of you in need of an amazing and truly workable camera bag that kicks butt, go HERE and order yourself one, you won't regret it, I promise!