As Billingham marks its 50th anniversary this year, Nigel Atherton delved into the company's history during an exclusive interview with our founders, Ros and Martin Billingham. We are grateful to Amateur Photographer Magazine for generously allowing us to share this interview with you, originally published in their magazine. At the end of the article is a video interview with Nigel speaking to our founders, Ros & Martin Billingham.   Featured photo: A product shot of a System 3 bag, circa 1979, next to some of the tools used to make it. Photo: courtesy/copyright of Billingham ..read more

  Red Dot Cameras, based on London’s Goswell Road is a Leica Boutique dealer ran by the family team of Ivor Cooper, his wife Elaine Cooper and daughter Kimberley. They are renowned for their long experience in the industry, wide range of Leica gear (and Billingham bags) and their excellent customer service. As part of our 50th anniversary celebrations (and Red Dot’s 15th anniversary) we were lucky enough to speak to Ivor about his history in the industry and his wonderful store.   Our interviewee, Ivor Cooper, with his lockdown selfie.   Can you tell the readers a bit about your ..read more

  We are pleased to announce the fourth winner of our Billingham 50th anniversary story competition. This submission was from Mark Harwood, a highly experienced commercial and studio photographer who now focuses on documentary and charity projects. We are grateful to him for sharing his story about how he started out in photography and his use of Billingham bags over the last few decades.   Mark's old 'System 1' Camera Bag (left - the first design of specialist camera bag we made - later renamed the Billingham 550 Camera Bag) and Billingham Hadley Original Camera Bag (right). Im ..read more

  We recently ran a competition asking for the best customer stories in celebration of Billingham's 50th anniversary. We are pleased today to announce the third of our winners, Ishkhan Ghazarian. He is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, based in Toronto, Canada. In this article he tells the story of a trip he made to Mexico with his Billingham following the aftermath of a hurricane.   My name is Ishkhan Ghazarian, I'm a professional photographer based in Toronto, Canada.   Ishkhan Ghazarian with his Billingham Hadley Pro 2020 Camera Bag and Hasse ..read more

  Billingham has been established since 1973. Since that time, some of our customers have themselves gone on to open their own shops and become authorised retailers of Billingham.  We were delighted when we asked for stories to celebrate our 50th year that Jason Regent, owner of 'Regent Tailoring' (in Salisbury, England), sent us his story.   Jason Regent outside his shop, Regent Tailoring. Notice the Hadley Pro 2020 in the window to the left.   I have long been an advocate for Billingham and bought my first Billingham bag over 20 years ago, it cost me somewhere around ..read more

  We recently ran a competition asking for the best customer stories in celebration of Billingham's 50th anniversary. We are pleased today to announce the second of our winners, Gary Etheridge. We are extremely grateful to him for sharing the story of his lucky Hadley Pro Camera Bag.   My story starts several years ago now on a road trip across the USA with my friend Peter. Little did I know my Hadley Pro in camouflage was to be the luckiest bag I'd ever possess. Up until that point I'd battled with many inferior bags that for whatever reason just did not hit the mark. Fina ..read more

  From a very young age, Nick Baker was strangely curious about the most unusual and exotic creatures, collecting bugs, spiders, frogs and other small beings from his garden, and studying them intensely - much to his parents’ dismay! He turned this rather unconventional childhood passion for wildlife into a fully-fledged career as a radio broadcaster, TV presenter, ecologist, author and professional naturalist. No doubt you’ll have seen him on one of his many captivating shows, inspiring new generations of young naturalists and wildlife enthusiasts. When we spotted that Nick is a keen pho ..read more

  Below is the story of Rob Degreef, former Managing Director of our long-time distributor in the Netherlands - Degreef & Partner. That company has now merged with Transcontinenta and Rob is busy with charity work, so we are very grateful to him spending some time sharing his story to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Read that story below.   Rob Degreef with his Billingham 225, gifted to him in the 1980s by Ros & Martin Billingham.   In 1983, when I was 19 years old, I was still living with my parents. My dad had just started up Degreef & Partner, a distribution compa ..read more

  Grays of Westminster is a renowned Nikon specialist retailer, founded 35 years ago by Gray Levett. Famous for its customer service, Grays of Westminster is located in London just a few minutes away from Victoria Station, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. This store holds the unique distinction of being the only company ever to have won all three Dealer of the Year awards voted by the readers of Amateur Photographer, Practical Photography and Buying Cameras magazines in the same year. This is on top of many other awards over the years. Grays of Westminster is also the ..read more

  Liang Dong, is a Chinese photographer. He specialises in portrait photography and is interested in outdoor photography, city photography, wedding photography, commercial product photography and so on. His job requires him to move from city to city and carry equipment for long periods of time. So choosing a reliable "partner" for himself and his cameras is imperative. As a result, he became a Billingham Bags customer. Due to the demands of his work, he usually chooses large Billingham bags. He was interested by the Mini Eventer so we sent him one to review. This is the first time he ..read more