Calgary Family Photographer | Paisley Photography

Being a full time wedding and lifestyle photographer in Calgary I get asked all the time what’s in my camera bag. Well, today you get the answers to all these questions such as what camera I shoot with, what lenses I use, what else I have hiding in my camera bag at any given time.

My camera bag is the amazing 2 Sues camera bag by Kelly Moore. I LOVE this bag and have use it every single day for the last 2 years and it is still in great shape. I love how sturdy the genuine leather is, the real metal buckle and zippers and how the inside is purple padded lined and ready for gear! On a wedding day I pack all this and more and it somehow always fits everything I need.

I always, always, always have two bodies on me; my d750 & d610. I do this so I have a backup if god forbid anything happens to my primary body. I shoot 99% of my time with my Nikon d750. This is a great full frame camera with amazing low light capabilities. Its pretty much by baby. I also have the Kenko DSLR wrist strap to help easy the weight on my wrist day after day.

My go to lens is my Nikon 24-70 f2.8. This lens is so versatile, and I love how I can get those intimate close ups as well as those wide landscape shots all with one lens. Beside my bestie, the 24-70, I also shoot with the Nikon 70-200 as well as the Sigma 35 & 50 art lenses. One of the great things about both these cameras is the dual camera card slots. I love this feature and always have two cards in my camera, one Sandisk SD 32g and one 64g. I do this as a backup so if one of my cards goes corrupt I will always have another copy of those photos. I also never write over my cards until the photos have been delivered to my clients. Even though the photos are always backed up in four different places after the shoot I just feel better having the cards as well.

The flash I carry with me everywhere is the Nikon SB910. I am a fast clicker and this is the only flash I have found to be able to keep up to me. The recycle times is amazing and it is rare that this flash won’t fire when I need it to. I also carry spare batteries so I can quickly change the old ones out for new ones lickity split.

Two things I also never leave my home without on a wedding day is backup camera batteries (thankfully both the 610 & the 750 use the same batteries so they are interchangeable) as well as my battery charger. I also carry a cigarette plugin car inverter with me so if we are in the middle of no where and one of my three camera batteries dies I can plug it in and be back shooting in no time!

I carry two different types of equipment to be able to clean my lenses and camera easily on site. One is the Giottos Rocket Air which really just looks cool, but also is insane at removing dust from your sensor or lenses. The other one is the Optex Lens Mate which is also works great for cleaning your gear right there on site.

Besides all the gear I carry I also am still a girl so lip balm can never be away. I adore the Blistex fruit smoothie flavours with my favourite being the triple tropical flavour. If I can’t be on vacation everyday, I might as well have something that reminds me of the beach! As a photographer I am always crawling, laying on the ground, and standing in creeks to get the shot. That means I am also touching a lot of gross things. This is why I always have Bath & Body Works hand sanitizer with me at ALL times! An added bonus is it smell amazing and its pink and sparkly!

Lastly my hard sided paisley business card case goes with me everywhere. This was one thing that my mom bought me when I was first starting my photography company in Calgary. It is always filled to the brim with my own cards ready to hand out, as well as cards from some of my favourite Calgary wedding vendors.

That’s it! Ok, its not everything but a lot of the big stuff or extra gear I don’t carry on me like my tripods, stands, extra lenses, computer, flashes and bodies every shoot or all day. We have another very full backpack that we use during weddings that the hubster carries (seriously one of the best parts of being a husband and wife wedding photography team is he carries the heavy stuff 😉 )If you guys have any other questions feel free to ask away!

[socialring]