Wedding Photography – the kit bag
Wedding Photography – the kit bag
One question that is often asked of me is “what equipment do you use on your wedding day ?”
I find generally this question is asked for 1 of 2 reasons :
- The person asking is a camera enthusiast which will lead to an interesting discussion on the pros and cons of different brands
- They’ve had a bad experience at a friend or family members wedding of a “wedding photographer” turning up with inadequate equipment to do the job leading to poor quality photos and a lot of excuses
Whilst we never mind being asked the question, surely we are being considered as your wedding partner based on the quality of our work – not how we get there ?
I often use the analogy, if you were booking a landscape gardener you’d be more interested on what your garden was going to look like, not what lawn mower he used ??
I do fully appreciate that people are concerned, and rightfully so, that their wedding photographer who they are investing money in to capture their big day is going be able to do the job at hand.
As a standard kit bag, we always carry a minimum of 3 different camera bodies – 2 for permanent use all day and 1 back up. We always carry a minimum of 6 different len’s to cover the full range of shooting conditions and more importantly lighting conditions. We also carry at last 2 flash guns to support in low lighting and usually carry some, if not all of our portable lighting rig in the car – as you never know when conditions are such that you really need a back up.
This may sound like a lot of kit to carry round, but trust me sometimes you need it.
Being out on a shoot last night has prompted me to write this blog as it kind of highlights why you get what you pay for when booking a professional firm to undertake your work for you. I wasn’t actually doing a wedding yesterday it was some work for a company but the principles are the same.
First, I set up my portable lights as I’m doing some formal headshot work. First thing that happens is the cable connector to trigger them breaks. Helpful !!! some may ask why I opt for a cable not a remote trigger – generally I find them more reliable ( ironically ) and I get less misfires than with a remote signal based trigger.
Ok I think, not to worry, ill grab my flashgun and use the infrared signal on that to fire them. Click it on……….press the button……nothing…….Flashgun is not firing at all. I take it off, check it, change the batteries just in case ( even though I know I have only just taken a set off full charge to put into it ). Pilot light is on, display is on, nothing is happening. Clearly the flash head has blown, well it is a couple of years old now and does get a lot of heavy use.
Fortunately, I always carry 2, so reach in my bag for the spare, test it, pop it on and away we go…….or not
Yet again, nothing is happening. This time I discover that the hot shoe on the top of my camera has come lose and is not recognising the flashgun at all…….aaaahhhhhh.
What I don’t have with me is my mini repair kit ( and to be honest when I’m on a paid shoot I haven’t got time to start dismantling the camera anyway). So I chuck it back in the bag and grab the spare out. Its a pretty identical camera anyway, so its not a problem.
All set up now, flash is firing and away we go……..finally.
I grab a subject to test the levels on and grab my camera. I’m holding my button down and the camera lens isn’t focusing. Strange I think, has somebody messed with it and put in on manual ? nope definitely on auto…..mmmmm. I take it off and have a look, give it a shake…..ah it looks like the focus ring has completely broken, that’ll be another hefty repair bill and a few weeks whilst I wait for that one to come back.
Never mind, I grab one of my other len’s that will do the job just as good and finally we are away.
Great set of headshots wrapped up in 30 minutes, job done for the evening.
When people ask my why I carry so much equipment…………..now you know……….
