Groovy as a Happy Hippie
The Express Yourself Tapestry Strap by Epic Global
By Andre Easter
8 July 2007
How much do you love your camera strap? Be honest now; how often do you even think about this very vital piece of photo gear that separates your mega-buck investment from the brutally hard concrete sidewalk? As I walk around my home base in Washington DC; I see hundreds of photographers, everyone from tourists to professional photo-journalists, toting their cameras on those same skinny black nylon camera straps that the manufacturers stick in the box as their branded free accessory.
Last year I was in need of a new strap to replace the broken old original leather version on my vintage Ricoh Diacord twin lens reflex. When I remembered those wide and beautifully woven 1960s and '70s era cotton tapestry straps, I set out to find one. We called them "hippie straps" way back in the day, and they adorned not only our cameras, but were the standard for our guitar straps, belts, headbands and (I hate to admit this now) we even had them sewn onto the fraying legs of our Levis and wide-wale corduroy bell-bottoms.
Looking high and low for them in camera stores brought forth no results so I took my search online. Google brought me to Ebay where I found both original relics from the past as well as brand new retro-style straps being offered for sale. Though I was tempted by the lure of some of the decades-old semi-antiques, I decided to try out a new-made and updated version from Epic Global Mall, (Ebay seller: epic0854). When I called the vendor to arrange payment I was lucky enough to hear from him first-hand the story about how he came to have these straps made. Like me, he was tired of having to use the feckless and boring camera straps made today, so an arrangement was made with a company in Indonesia to weave and produce the "Express Yourself" brand.
Naming their series of straps in honor of Native American tribal designs, Epic Global offers ten different styles, available in either the standard version with film loops, or in an updated deluxe version with Velcro-fastened pockets for your memory chips. All of these wonderful straps are 46 inches long and 2 inches wide. I'll grant you that most of today's plastic cameras are a lot lighter than the metal and glass behemoths of yesteryear, but those 2 inches of width do a great job of spreading the weight across your neck and shoulders. Ring fasteners on the ends allow you to hang just about any camera on these cool-looking straps, a nice improvement over the steel clips of the past. The full line can be seen at the website: http://www.epicsoftware.com.
I was so impressed with my first one, (the "Maya" pictured above) that I ended up buying a second new-made strap. The tapestry straps have returned to become an essential part of my photo equipment. Even if your misspent youth didn't include dancing with the barefoot girls at the all-day Grateful Dead concert, these groovy hippie straps are just the ticket to lighten your carrying load as well as looking "far out man."
(Photo by my favorite old hippie girl Pauline.)
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