Eat-Sleep-Edit: photography bag for weddings

Kit for weddings

I often get asked what essential you should have in your Kit for a wedding.I'm sure I will forget something on the list, so feel free to add in the comments!

Comfortable shoes (yes you are at a wedding, but your feet will ache at the end of the day)

At least 2 cameras, even if your back up camera is a simple point and shoot, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have a back up
Lenses, now these are your choice, I always have my wide angle for the group photos, my 18-270 for the ceremony makes sure I can get the brides smile and zoom in on Dad wiping a tear away, and then a prime lens for my bridal portraits.
Batteries, you can never have enough, I have got into the habit of finding a plug point as soon as I get to the venue and plugging my charger in, as soon as a battery dies I put it on there, I also have 8 spares.
Memory cards, again, you can never have too many of these
tripod
reflector
a small blanket, just something you can let the bride sit on. (make sure it's a light color, I use a space blanket)
A flash gun (I use a speedlight)
A Flash diffuser (I love the Gary Fong one)
water, a few bottles to drink!

I then have a bag of "essential goodies" that I take to all my shoots, not just weddings. I make sure everything is super small size in here and refill when need be.

Duct tape (Great for everything from fixing broken cameras and taping loose branches out of the way)
Various safety pins
Various bobby pins and hairclips
a nail file
a tiny sewing kit
breath mints
band aids
headache tablets
hand cream
chapstick
fingerless gloves
hand sanitizer
wet wipes
tissues
A FEW DOLLARS in change (the amount of time I grab my camera bag and forget my wallet, those dollars have helped me get a quick snack)
a cereal bar (great for a quick pick me up between shoots)
A small sharp pair of scissors
a lens cleaning kit
a bungee cord
A black Sharpie

You can find more about my photography here
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By definition, " a professional photographer" is someone who makes an income taking pictures. Yes, it’s something we do for fun, but at the end of the day, it’s our profession. In order to have a successful profession, you have to make a sustainable income.

It’s a business and like any business, start-up costs are expensive.

Equipment is expensive, as is maintaining it. The average camera body I use is $3000, lenses $1000 each, Speedlight(Flash) $800, Memory cards $80 each, etc, etc, when I add it all up, my camera bag alone has about $10 000 equipment in it, then there is the pc you need. I have a macbook pro, and photoshop, and add on actions.....That's another 10 000, plus training and college.....

Photography is time-intensive and time is money.Most people think it is just arrive at a shoot, click, click, click, upload, crop, and make money. It's not. I spend on average 30 min editing each image and then often just throw away the results.

So how do I go about letting people know that I do not work for free?

The first reason and it’s simply this: I, as a person (i.e. friend, daughter, advocate, etc.) am a separate entity from my business.

For example, say I have a friend who owns a dress boutique. I would never expect (I hope) to be able to shop this boutique for free, to just take any clothes I wanted.
Why not? The business is a separate entity from my friend and subsequently, our friendship. The same is true for photographers.

We wouldn’t expect a free jewelry from a jeweler, free meals from a chef, nor flights from a pilot. But for some reason, photography has slipped the radar on this and it’s a common expectation that we can do our work for free.

With some good communication and armed with a few examples, we can help others to understand that we’re a separate entity from our business and we cannot make a profession out of something done for free.

Make sure you have price lists available, when friends ask you to do a shoot, say sure, I'll send you my prices, what is your email? Of course offer them a discount or something extra, but don't work for free.