Duffel bags originated in the early 1900’s in Duffel, a town
in Belgium where the thick cloth used to make the bag was manufactured. It was a staple for outdoorsmen in the
beginning and later the army green bag became synonymous with military
personnel. Now the black monogrammed bag
is popular among Jewish parents who like to show their Facebook friends that
their kids are packed and ready to go to sleepaway camp. Unlike the soldiers who would throw their
bags containing survival essentials over their shoulders and carry them for
miles a time, the current day oft-photographed bags are usually only carried to
the front door of the family’s home to await pick up by Camp America
staff in a rented U-Haul.
Mindy Goldfarb of Plainview, Long Island has three children
who will be spending the summer at Camp Huron Lake in the Poconos. For her, packing the six duffel bags the last
two and a half months was a struggle filled with enormous pride once the bags
left her home. “Packing the kids up for
camp is legitimately a full-time job.
Between shopping for new stuff, figuring out what clothing still fits,
and trying to get all the necessary camp survival essentials like an extra pair
of LeBrons or a fourth personalized camp tank top, a mother can really lose her
shit for a few weeks.”
Goldfarb, enormously proud of her packing skills, hired
local photographer George Williams of GW Photography to take some photos of the
fully stuffed bags as they sat by the front door. In addition to the pictures of the bags
alone, Williams was able to get a few action shots of Goldfarb adding extra
shower shoes to her son Jake’s bags and a great shot of the three kids laying
on top of the bags and a few candid shots of the kids behind them.
To Goldfarb, the bags symbolize a reward for the children’s
hard work throughout the school year but to the children they have a much
different meaning. “ I honestly have no
idea what’s in these bags but all I know is that if I came within a ten foot radius
of them, mom would lose it,” explained Jake, 10.
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