Me and My Hadley by Naobumi Obara, Traveller

Sep 2, 2026

English

Interview

Travel Photography

Our Japanese retailer ‘Oriental Hobbies’ is run by Eddie Ogura. Eddie has a lovely friend and customer…. Naobumi Obara, who has travelled all around the world with his Billingham Hadley Original bag.

Naobumi Obara and Eddie Ogura visited the Billingham factory in 2024. During their visit, Billingham presented Mr Obara with a new Hadley Original. The blog interview is referring to this Hadley Original that we gifted him. The Icon Messenger Bag has now launched and is available to purchase here. It has taken inspiration from the Hadley Original externally, but has been re-designed inside to be an everyday leisure bag rather than a camera bag.

Mr Obara has written a blog centered around his old Hadley Original for the Oriental Hobbies website, in English, as well as adding some additional interview questions.

Please note that part of this article has been translated from Japanese to English.

Naobumi Obara with his Billingham Hadley Original Camera Bag in Sakhalin. — *2019 on Sakhalin.*

There is a company called ‘Billingham’, a British camera bag maker.

For many years, I have been using the Hadley camera bag, which is a shoulder bag with a simple design. It has a canvas body with leather trim and two leather straps that hook onto clogballs.

It might be easier to explain it as a traditional hunting style bag that instead holds a camera. It doesn't look like a camera bag.

The first generation, which I used until it fell apart, was found in a corner camera store in London. My current favourite is the second generation. At that time, film cameras were still being used, with F3 loaded with colour film and FM2 for monochrome. And Olympus Mju II as a spare. As for lenses, I travelled with 20mm, 28mm, 50mm and 85mm nicely packed into the Hadley. I always carried five or six rolls of colour and black-and-white film in my front pocket.

Nearly 20 years ago, I travelled to former Yugoslavia, former Eastern Europe, the middle east and Turkey. When I packed the equipment, it was heavy as it was, and I carried it around with its shoulder strap. Shortening the strap would make the bag sit nicely on your stomach, while lengthening it would help the bag sit on your back. I'm not a photographer or a journalist, I'm just traveling and taking pictures.

Naobumi Obara's 2nd generation Hadley Original with the front strap replaced with red versions and a set of traveling equipment. — *My 2nd generation Hadley Original with the front strap replaced with red versions and a set of traveling equipment.*

After a while, the era changed from film to digital.

I bought a Nikon D7000 in 2011, the year the Great East Japan Earthquake struck.

I paired it with 18-200mm and 10-20mm lenses.

Still, I kept an Olympus Mu II in the front pocket as a spare.

My camera bag was still the Billingham Hadley Original.

I tried other camera bags, but the Hadley Original was the most convenient for my travels.

Best of all, I've been using it for over 10 years, so I'm familiar with it, and I don't feel uncomfortable even if it's a digital camera.

Whenever I went on a trip, it was always with the Hadley Original.

After 10 years of use, the leather became damaged and frayed. The sling was also torn.

Still, because of my attachment, I couldn't get rid of it and continued to use it by repairing it myself.

Of course, I thought about buying a new one, but Hadley Originals were out of production and there was nothing to replace it.

My travels are always simple, and I often take a nap with my camera bag as a pillow.

Excessive protrusions interfere with sleep. It's gotta be that smooth Hadley.

Mr Obara using the Hadley Original Camera Bag as a pillow in Serbia. — *My Hadley as a travel pillow (2018 in Serbia, Gucha).*

After the earthquake, I went on another trip with my Hadley Original as before.

Kailash pilgrimage in the summer of 2011.

It was a 40th anniversary trip.

I went around Kailash with the Hadley on my shoulder.

I passed through Kashgar and returned home via Shanghai.

Mexico or Cuba. America's Appalachian Trail.

Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Malaysia in South East Asia.

After Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia in the South Caucasus, I also visited Chernobyl in Ukraine.

Mr Obara 2011 in Tibet with his Hadley Original. — *2011 in Tibet.*

Anyway, the camera equipment I took with me on the trip had to be in a Hadley Original, and I used it a lot.

And the last trip was to Sakhalin on New Year's Day 2019.

Then it became an era of corona, and it became troublesome to go abroad.

Even so, I still carry Hadley when I go out in Japan.

Mr Obara 2019 on Sakhalin with his Billingham Hadley Original Camera Bag. — *2019 on Sakhalin*

Somehow I turned 50.

It's getting hard to carry around a single-lens reflex camera.

Eventually, we will have no choice but to shift to a compact and lightweight mirrorless system.

However, it seems that I will use the Hadley Original, which is familiar with my body, for the trip.

Actually, I would like to ask Billingham to remake the Hadley Original, but there are various circumstances.

Wishes are hard to come by.

In a little while, the COVID-19 may end and I will be able to travel again.

It seems that I will continue to use the old Hadley full of memories for a while.

*The second generation Hadley that travelled around the world. Next to it is the Hadley Pro, which was obtained as a spare, is a little later.*

And now for the interview…

Can you tell the readers a bit about yourself?

I was born in 1971 in Tokyo and grew up in Amsterdam from 3 to 7 years old.

I was educated in a Montessori school that could have made my character unique.

I chose to study anthropology instead of human design engineering as it seemed to be more human like.

Studying anthropology made me keep on travelling everywhere on this planet, not as an anthropologist nor journalist, but simply traveller. However, I was always taking photographs and writing records just in case of getting interview like this!

Mr Obara with his Hadley Original Camera Bag in Pripyat Amusement Park Chernobyl

How did you first develop an interest in photography?

I was given a Nikon EM as my first camera and started shooting as school event photographer.

Even now my classmates keep my photographs for good memories.

From the first moment, I was a documentary photographer.

Since I got camera, always taking photographs as a record not for artistic expression.

We were so interested to read your story of your experiences using a Billingham Hadley Original. Thanks so much for sharing. We did wonder – when did you travel to London and buy your first Hadley?

I was in London from 1998 to 1999, studying anthropology, wondering what I should become.

I was not confident at all to become an anthropologist nor journalist but needed a camera bag to travel to the former Yugoslavia and middle east to see how it goes with the conflicts under the name of religion and ethnicity. I was young and very mature at that time.

I had a Nikon FE with a 28mm lens, but I didn't yet have a proper camera bag. One day, I came across the Billingham Hadley Original displayed in the window at Jessops, near the British Museum on Tottenham Court Road.

It looked completely different from other professional camera bags available at the time. Rather than looking like a typical camera bag, it had the appearance of a shoulder bag. Made from cotton canvas and leather, it felt traditional and sophisticated.

That was the moment I decided to buy the Billingham Hadley Original.

What do you like about Billingham bags?

Design, in one word. Excellent quality of craftsmanship and tradition of British bags.

Rubber film laminated cotton fabric for waterproofing and leather materials for trim and straps. Brass parts for durability and silence not like noisy Velcro.

Simply designed, no special gimmicks but functioning perfectly without stress, with a nice feel to the materials. The waterproofing works perfectly so far, even in the rainy season in south east Asian countries.