Jeff Watkins

Wedding | Last Updated: February 9, 2021

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Hey Hey! I’m Jeff Watkins, a wedding & portrait photographer from Phoenix Arizona and the owner of KolorPHX Photographic CO!

It seems like just yesterday that I was slaving away 90+ hours in a kitchen as a chef at some of the world’s top hotels and resorts! And now I am here living the dream that I had never imagined with my wife Tiffany and my super dope son, Koen Levi.

6 short years ago I picked up my first camera by accident. You can read more about it here.

But anyway… I picked up my first camera by accident to photograph an album cover for a CD my wife was working on.

I had just been laid off of my job as a chef and I didn’t have any money to hire a photographer so I said, what the heck, how hard could it be!

I borrowed a Nikon D50 and used all the Photoshop lens flare I could and made my first photograph. Little did I know, this was the start of something new.

I bought my first camera a week later; it was a Fuji FinePix for $50 at Target. I made my first $1000 with that camera and they were some of the worst photographs you have ever seen!

Through the next few years I filtered through a few bodies for various reasons of upgrading and finding what I really like. 3 1/2 years ago I fell in love with Canon and have never looked back.

Here is what’s in my bag!

Canon EOS R

I know there is a ton of controversy on this body but you can develop your own opinion. For me, after shooting the Mark IV for a few years and not really being a fan of some of the other mirrorless cameras out there, I decided to check out the EOS R.

This guy is freaking rad!! The dynamic range and Canons AF system are what I love the most!!

Sigma 50mm f/1.4

This is my workhorse!! I shoot my Sigma 50 about 80% of the day. It has always been tack sharp on pretty much any body I’ve put it on!! I don’t think I will ever let this guy go!

Sigma 35mm f/1.4

If I had to shoot an entire wedding day on one lens, this is for sure it! The 35 is so versatile you can literally shoot anything with it!

Canon 100mm f/2.8

Dang this lens!! The 100 L has to be IMO one of the most overlooked lenses out there! This is a go-to for macro but I tend to keep it attached during a portrait session and ceremony as well. It’s so dang creamy and fast and for me, the focal length gets me right where I want to be.

Polaroid 600

This is a must-have for me! I love pulling this guy out for a different look and something that I can leave my clients with at the end of their wedding. I have a few of these lying around and I am so stoked that the film is still around!

Flashpoint V860

For years I used name brand (Canon) speedlights and honestly, I wasn’t very impressed. A fellow photographer introduced me to Flashpoint and I have never looked back. The Lithium battery LASTS FOREVER!!!!

Godox AD200

These guys are FREAKING BRIGHT!! I love the AD200s for pairing with my MagMod MagBox on a sunny day to help me overpower the sun. They are definitely more versatile than what I use them for!

MagMod

I cannot say enough great things about MagMod. This product has been a huge game-changer for me!

I use a variety of products from gels to grids and the sphere to the MagBox. They are so fast and the build quality is second to none. You will see photographs created using MagMod scattered throughout my work but they defiantly come out of my bag at every wedding!

RL Handcrafts Camera Harness

I have used some of the other brands and RL Handcrafts is BY FAR more comfortable and durable than some of the other ones I’ve worn.

Western Digital My Passport Pro 3T Portable Hard Drive.

This is a new addition for me. I added it when I moved over to shooting with the Canon EOS R to provide a quick and easy backup. I’ve started using it to transfer my second shooter’s cards as well.

It will transfer a 64g card in RAW in less than 8 minutes with just the push of a button. And the cool thing, I can view the files from the Western Digital App in real time on my iPhone.

Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch

I don’t really need to say much about this. Apple is and has been the industry leader for the creative industry for a while. The 15 inch is the perfect size to carry along for a day of slide shows or a quick sneak peek, etc…

ONA Brixton

I cannot work a day without this bag. It obviously doesn’t hold every piece of gear I own, but it works great for the run and gun parts of the day.

Langly Memory Card Case

I love these guys! I also use a couple of other Langly products but I love the memory card cases. They are easy to store and extremely durable!

Fundy Album Designer

I keep Fundy readily available on my laptop at all times. It is such a great software to show clients a slideshow or a visualization of wall art and not to mention, THE BEST album designer around!

JPEG Mini

Need I say more! JPEG Mini has been a huge asset over the last couple of years. The ability to reduce file size without affecting the image quality is HUUUGE! JPEG Mini saves some much space on my studio computer as well as my external and cloud storage devices.

Accessories

I do not have these pictured because they just looked like a pile of trash but I tend to carry random things in my pocket on wedding days. Pieces of glass, tin foil, plastic wrap and random stuff that I find lying around. You never know what can make a dope photograph! Throughout the week and when traveling you will find me carrying a Fuji X-Pro 2 and/or a Leica M9. They are the perfect size for street and travel!

To close this out, some of my favorite reading material I have listed below…