Wedding Photography : Mistakes Make Magic

166: What's the Best Camera Bag for Your Style of Photography?

• Catherine Guidry: Wedding Photographer + Educator

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What if the secret to capturing those perfect shots lay not just in your skills as a photographer, but in the type of camera bag you use? Prepare to have your mind expanded as I walk you through the choices that confront every wedding photographer when selecting a camera bag - be it backpacks, shoulder bags, or rolling bags, and how they can impact your photography game. 

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Speaker 1:

Hello there, and thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Catherine Gidry and we're going to be diving into the topic of which camera bag to use on a wedding day. If you are a photographer interested in learning more about how to price yourself, be sure to download our free guide in the description. Choosing a camera bag is very personal and it really varies from person to person. About how you're going to carry your camera gear on a wedding day, I have tried a variety of things over the past 15 years and I can tell you that I've finally landed on what I like. So in this video, I'm going to be talking about things that I really like, things that I haven't liked, and why. The first type of camera bag I'm going to talk about is the backpack style. The backpack style bag is amazing because it's very versatile. You can carry things on your back, which makes you flexible and be able to move on the go. A lot of times, they can fit a lot inside and they're pretty non-obvious, certain and pretty discreet. I know, even with my rolling bag, for instance, a lot of times I'm you know, excuse me, excuse me asking people to move their feet or like watch their step because I don't want anyone to trip, but you never really have that problem with the backpack, so backpacks are very good. For those reasons, when searching for a backpack, you want to find one that is specifically made for photo gear, so it has the compartments, it's really comfortable to wear, but especially that it's going to protect your gear. Examples include the Low Pro, protactic series, think Tank Photos, street Walker series and Peak Designs Everyday Backpack. I personally have and use the Camrette and I love it. I do not travel without it. One of my favorite things about it is that it actually can hold my 16-inch MacBook Pro, which is clutch, and then inside I can fit, you know, several lenses, a camera body, batteries, all of the things. So highly recommend the Camrette. Recently I was photographing a wedding, which I'll get in a minute to what I use. But I was photographing a wedding using my rolling bag and my second photographer that was there with me that day had on a backpack, and I don't know if you know what a New Orleans second line is, but we're essentially like walking backwards to the streets and moving pretty quickly, so I had to stow my backpack on the bus, which took a few minutes to like get it on there, and meanwhile she was ready to go, had her backpack and was just walking in the street. So that's just a little insight into why the backpacks are so amazing.

Speaker 1:

The next thing I'm going to be talking about is rolling bags. So that's what I use to store the bulk of my gear, and the reason being is that I don't want that weight on my shoulders. One of the rolling bags that I have actually does have straps on it, so you can convert it from a rolling bag to a backpack. It's made by Think Tank, but I never use it as a backpack. I actually used it for one second line and I saw I would never do it again because it was so heavy. I really load that bag down with extra gear, extra lenses, batteries, all the things and so it's quite heavy even just to lift up into a car or onto a bus, and for that reason I have chosen to have a rolling bag. I want to feel like I'm prepared, I have all the gear that I need, that I'm not having to pick and choose between whether or not I have like backup gear on me, for instance, and so that's why I've gone with the rolling bags.

Speaker 1:

Examples of rolling camera bags include the Think Tank Photo Airport Series and the Pelican Air Cases. I specifically have the Think Tank International Bag. It's a great size and I love that. It allows me to carry my gear onto an airplane and not have to check it. You really don't want to check your gear if you're flying, so have a bag that's small enough to where you can carry on and keep your your gear inside. One thing that I will say is that I have two Think Tank bags, both of which I've had for almost 15 years, and they're both in great condition. One of them the handle kind of like started to dry, rot, and so I emailed the company and they sent me a cover for the handle and it worked great. But they're super durable, excellent for a lot of gear, and I highly recommend that line.

Speaker 1:

Part two of the gear that I carry is a shoulder bag. So a shoulder bag is going to be something that you know you wear crossbody or on your shoulder, and the reason why I like a shoulder bag is I like to have certain things on my person that are quick and easy to access. When I first started shooting, I was shooting with a lot of prime lenses and changing them very often, and it just made it really easy to do that. Now I sort of keep one lens on my camera for longer, but I still like to have the other lens in my bag in addition to, like, water, batteries, personal items, and so the shoulder bag is really great. People are always trying to take it from me and you know, not take it from me like they're trying to be helpful and say like, oh, that looks heavy, can I carry that for you? Because it almost looks like a purse. But I really wear it almost the entire day. I only take it off really towards the end of the day at the reception, whenever, you know, I'm walking around and kind of at the point where I'm just using my 204070 in a flash, but it's so convenient. So I really love my shoulder bag.

Speaker 1:

The shoulder bag that I use is called the Onochelsea bag, but there are other really great shoulder bag options that are wonderful to use. I also own the Kali bag by kindly. It's a smaller version, and I also like the shoot sack. Although I don't know if the shoot sack is still being made. It's very nice because it's lightweight, but I also love the look of, like, you know a heavier duty bag. Some popular options include the Tenba messenger series, the Ono bags and the Domki F2 original shoulder bag.

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You want to look for a bag that's comfortable to wear and it has compartments. I think one of my biggest pet peeves is a bag a messenger bag without compartments in it. But we also do have like for Brad's bag, for example a compartment that you can put inside of the messenger bag, which works really well. A shoulder bag and a sling bag are kind of one and the same to me. They're just bags that you're able to like keep on you. They're just designed a little differently when you wear here, when you wear across. But a few other examples include the Peak design, everyday sling, the low pro slingshot series and the Tamrak Stratus series. I think it's nice to have a combination of, like a backpack and a sling bag or a rolling bag and a shoulder bag, so that you can keep a few things on you but then have the bulk of your gear in something that you can set down and pick up if you're like moving from locations.

Speaker 1:

The next way to carry your gear that I'm going to talk about is a belt or modular system. So I experimented with this because for a long time I was using the whole fast moneymaker and I still do shoot with that camera strap. It's essentially a dual camera strap that allows you to hold two cameras at one time. But what I found was that my shoulders were kind of bothering me, sometimes in my neck, and so I was like you know, I'm going to switch to a holster type system, like something that I can wear around my waist, and so I switched to the spider system. But it's funny how that happens. I felt like my back started hurting, my lower back started hurting, and so I did eventually switch back to a single camera on a camera strap with my shoulder bag.

Speaker 1:

But I want to talk a little bit more about the, you know, belt system. A lot of people really love the belt system because it allows them to carry a lot of gear on their waist and not on their shoulders, putting any strain on their neck. In addition to like the weight distribution using a belt is that it also gives you that hands free experience. You can, you know, squat down and stand up really easily. The only thing I will say is it makes you a little bit wider than you are in everyday life, and so you have to pay attention to like where you're walking or you know what children you're walking next to Same thing with. I guess the whole vast, because sometimes you can accidentally bump someone. But it is a really great system. So some examples of great modular and belt systems include the Spyder Pro holster system, the Think Tank Photo Modular Belt system and the Peak Design Capture Clip.

Speaker 1:

So other things that you want to consider outside of the type of bag are going to be qualities like organization and capacity. So how much can it hold and how well organized do you feel when holding that bag? That's one of my biggest differences between, say, the Onychel C and the Kindly bag is that one is much smaller than the other and so I can't really hold as much gear and they each hold their own place. But I love the Onyx. It has the exact amount of compartments that I need and it can hold, you know, memory cards. In certain slots they're zippers. It's just really really really well designed.

Speaker 1:

The next thing you're going to want to pay attention to is comfort and ergonomics. You're going to want something that fits well to your size, to your shape. How's the padding? How big is the bag? Is it bulky? And then, of course, the appearance too. There are so many different fabrics and materials that bags are made of Everything from leather to nylon, and those are going to give a different vibe when you're wearing them and even different colors. There's like tan bags, there's colorful bags, there's black bags. I love to wear all black on a wedding day, and so I try to keep everything that I'm holding in that same color vein. But you do want to think about that in terms of, like, the appearance, the overall feel of the bag. You also want to think about durability and weather resistance.

Speaker 1:

A lot of the bags including like the Think Tank series, for instance come with a rain cover, but for all of the bags that I've owned, I read a ton of reviews. I like compare different options and really thought hard about what is this made of and is it going to hold up, something that's not going to rip or tear over time. You want things that are going to last, because a lot of times you know you might get used to a system and then they discontinue it, and so you really want to keep these things up and hold on to them as long as you can. But I really love the fact that both of the on-person bags that I carry are made of leather. I think that they've held up really well, and so the test of time. And then, of course, the Think Tank bags. The zippers are really solid and strong, all the compartments are laid out really well, and so everything's lasted pretty, pretty great over the years.

Speaker 1:

One thing that's really interesting about especially the Think Tank series is the security and theft protection option. So on their bags you can actually lock them. This is pretty crazy, but at a venue that one of the vendors was working at recently that I know, they had left their keys in their bag and their car got stolen from that particular venue, and so because of that, it kind of made me a little bit more aware of what I'm leaving in my bag and where I'm leaving it and for how long. So if you're going to be leaving valuables inside of a bag, just think about you know, of course leaving the bag because you don't want someone to walk off with it, but also, if it's a bag that you feel like you know maybe no one's going to take it per se, you can have it locked so that no one can access what's inside. And then, of course, the additional features of what you're carrying is helpful.

Speaker 1:

You have to figure out what works for you, but some of those additional features might even be a nice exterior pocket for like a styling mat or a tripod or light stands, etc.

Speaker 1:

I know, for example, with the camera I mentioned earlier, that you can put your laptop in it, which is huge.

Speaker 1:

I like search for forever and ever for a bag that could even hold a large 16 inch laptop, so you want to think about those additional features as well. I know that there are so many options out there when it comes to choosing a camera bag, but these are the ones that I've experienced most closely and have the most confidence in, so I hope this is helpful for you and gives you a great starting point for something that you want to try in your own business. What we carry our gear in is very important because it protects it and helps us move and navigate the wedding day with ease, and so, if you have any questions or comments, if you want to share your setup, feel free to drop a comment or a photo, and I just want you to know that I so appreciate you tuning in If you found this content or any of the content helpful on the channel. Please feel free to subscribe and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.