It took me four years of shooting to finally have gear that I’m not only satisfied with, but PROUD of!  And transparency when running a business is important to me, so today’s post is all about my photography toolbox.  I’m going to walk to you through the camera bodies that I have all the way down to the batteries I use in my flashes and my camera bags.

I have spent the better part of four years upgrading camera bodies and saving money for the lenses that I have. I put money that I earned from sessions and weddings toward this photography toolbox of mine and fought hard to have it.  There was a lot of days where I’d looked at Joshua and nervously ask if I could make this purchase.  He’s never told me no.

Loren’s Photography Toolbox

1. (2) Canon Mark iii
2. 70-200 2.8L II IS USM
3. 100 2.8L MACRO
4. 85 1.2L II USM
5. 50 1.2L USM
6. 35 1.4L
7. (3) 600 ex-rt Speedlight
8. 580EX II Speedlight
9. (6) LP-E6 Batteries (Camera Batteries)
10. 32 Eneloop Batteries for the Flashes
    1. These are the cases I use for the batteries
    2. This is the charger I use
11. (6) Lexar Professional 1066x 32 gb CF Card
12. (3) Lexar Professional 1066x 64 gb CF Card
13. (4) Lexar Professional 1000x 64 gb SD Card
14. (3) JJC Rubber Water Resistant Memory Card Case
15. Spider Holster
    1. I use the Dual Camera Holster
16. Epiphanie Florence Camera Bag
17. Pelican Case

Some helpful information about my photography toolbox:

• The Canon Mark iii is a full frame body, which means that it’s a professional body that professional wedding photographers shoot with.  Some of the greatest photographers use this body (My favorites K’s – Kaitlin and Katelyn).  These bodies also have two card slots.  This is SO helpful because I don’t have to worry about a card failing on a Bride’s wedding day and losing her photos.  It’s happened before to other photographers, it’s a real thing.  With the Mark iii’s, I have piece of mind!
  • HINT:  On the CF card I shoot RAW, and on the SD card I shoot High-Res JPEG
• Aside from my 70-200, I shoot all Prime Lenses.  This means that they have a focal length and allow me to have that beautiful bohek in the background, or for non photography savy people, “blurry” backgrounds.  My 85 1.2 is my FAVORITE lens, and one that I use 90% of the time.  Check back next week for a post on situations that I shoot with each lens!
• I don’t need to shoot with a pocket wizard when doing off-camera flash because I use the 600 ex-rt Speedlights.  They have built in radio transmitters which does the same job as the pocket wizards.  I was absolutely TERRIFIED of OCF until I bought my 600’s, had a coaching sessions with Katelyn James and practiced!  OCF is so easy now with this setup!
• It’s smart to have cases for your batteries you don’t start an unwanted fires.  I’m not kidding here, batteries will start fires inside your camera bags, and that’s the LAST place I want a fire starting…That’s why all my batteries are in cases.  Which if you noticed in the photos, each set of four batteries have their own grouping number (1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4) and grouping 1 batteries go in case 1.  I’m OCD when it comes to my gear, but this system lets me keep track of batteries and I know which are fresh and which are used.
• I stopped using a camera strap in the fall of 2014.  The spring of 2014, Josh and I had our engagement session with Kaitlin Noel in DC for Cherry Blossoms (which I’ve never blogged…making a mental note to blog my favorites from our engagement session in April!) and Kaitlin uses the Spider.  In December 2008 I had a pretty bad car accident in which I broke my collarbone.  To this day, I still have issues.  Josh knowing this, mentions that I should look into buying something similar to what Kait uses, so that’s what I did.  And it’s been WONDERFUL!  Since I shoot with two cameras on wedding days, I have the Dual Camera Holster.
• When I go on Portrait Sessions I pack my go-to lenses in my Epiphany Bag, but when I’m shooting weddings, all my gear travels in the Pelican case.

If you’re thinking that you could never afford a photography toolbox like mine, you’re wrong.  I know this because I once too thought I would never have gear the same gear that the photographers that I admire most have.  Anything that you put your mind to is possible.  You’ll get there one day, and then you’ll write a blog post like I am encouraging others who are starting out to do the same.  If you have any questions, please email me!  I’d be happy to help!