Ask Your Candid Wedding Photographer: What’s in your kit bag?

With photography, as with all art, there is always something new to learn. A new angle, a new perspective, a new lighting trick, a composition I’ve never thought of before. I love holding a good photo in my hands and running my fingers over the matte surface. But what I love most is the challenge and my passion to discover something new every day. That said, I can’t pretend that I haven’t learned anything over the course of my career as a photographer , and my fellow photographers (and in some cases, really enthusiastic clients) sometimes ask me what kind of equipment I use. Well, it’s time for the major reveal!

Canon 5D Mark III
My weapon of choice. It’s highly versatile and has been my trusty companion on many projects. It has a 22.3 MP CMOS sensor and can shoot up to 6fps over a range of lighting conditions. This makes it perfect for both indoor and outdoor shots, and can be used to capture both still and moving objects with razor sharp focus .

Sigma 35mm f/1.4
This lens was Sigma’s first entry in their “Art” line of professional lenses, and I fell in love with it at first sight. I use it as my primary lens and I typically shoot around 70% of the event with this. It’s light weight, it focuses quickly, and it gives a beautiful bokeh effect , even in tough lighting conditions.

Canon 24-70 f/2.8
This is my standard zoom lens, and is a workhorse when it comes to this focal range. It provides a very attractive background blur which gives a very aesthetic feel to wedding photos. Canon developed this lens purely for professional use and as expected, the focussing is lightning quick, and the resulting photos are razor sharp. Before I started using the Sigma, this was my first go to lens. If I was allowed to carry only one lens for a wedding, this would be it, and it’s typically the first lens a wedding photographer should buy.

Canon 70-200 f/2.8
This is my go-to telephoto lens. It’s fast and quiet and is one of the best lenses out there to isolate a subject from a distracting background (close ups of brides, macro shots of small objects, etc). The fast f/2.8 aperture lets you gain action-stopping shutter speeds (for the perfect first dance pic!). It lets me shoot from afar and capture intimate moments without intruding. The only con for this lens is the immense weight, and I have slowly stopped using this because of the back pain it gives me lugging it around.

Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT
A highly customizable flash attachment with excellent performance. The Speedlite 600EX-RT gets the job done.

Fuji X T2
My newest love. I recently picked it up, and haven’t been able to keep it back down! Light weight, fast auto focus, beautiful colour tones  what’s there not to love?  I wanted to shift to Fuji because of the weight issues I had with Canon. The X T2 has a titling backscreen which allows me to shoot some amazing angles. I have currently shot one wedding with it and look forward to shooting many more.

Fuji 23mm f/1.4
This lens is an absolute beast and renders some stunning images in a range of lighting conditions. The focal length is just perfect and works for both wide angle shots as well as portrait shots, without needing to switch in-between. All the image correction is optical rather than digital, and that only adds to the superior final image quality .

Fuji 56mm f/1.2
This is hands down one of the best portrait lenses I have ever used. The aperture is perfect for low light shooting and shallow DOF, for all those artistic shots you want to take. The bokeh effect is breathtakingly beautiful and the subject always pops out in ultra sharpness.

Whether you’re a prospective client, or a fellow photographer, I’d love to sit down and have a chat  with you about my work.