Ever see a photographer hauling around a huge, heavy bag at photo sessions and wonder if it’s just full of snacks and chocolate? (I wish haha!) I can guarantee you we don’t do this just for kicks and giggles. I fill my bag with the tools I need to do my job well, and as much as I would love to have some extra room for snacks, they just wouldn’t fit. Here’s what’s in my bag:

My camera

I use a Nikon D610 Full Frame camera.

Back when I first started my photography journey, I borrowed a friend’s Nikon to play with for a day and fell in love. I quickly bought my own Nikon, starting with the lowest level – the Nikon DSLR 3000.

I eventually outgrew that camera and have upgraded 3 times since until recently when I bought the model I currently use.

Lots of Lenses

I have four prime lenses – 50mm, 85mm, 60mm macro, and 300mm, and a wide angle lens.

I started with prime lenses and those are great for portraits and detail shots, but when I bought my first wide angle lens it rocked my world. I love it for family sessions with little kids, newborn sessions in homes and hospitals (not known for their great lighting, so this lens helps with that.

All of my lenses are important because they help me capture super crisp images and more detail than just the out-of-the-box lenses that come packaged with a camera when you buy it. My take is that you can have an okay camera but great lenses and still get fantastic photos.

Pro tip: use your camera in Manual Mode

I started out like most other new photographers do using auto mode, but I quickly realized that limited what I could do with my camera. Once I started fiddling with the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, I was able to start creating photos I loved.