Kelsey Goodwin
Wedding | Last Updated: April 4, 2024
My name is Kelsey Goodwin. I spend most of my time with my puppy Cairo and taking up random hobbies like stand up comedy, app design and fitness competition.
I also love board games, science fiction and geography apps. Food is my favourite thing and I collect cool people.
I’m a hopeless romantic, which is why I’ve been a full-time wedding photographer for the past 6 years (commercial photography is the other 50% of my business).
In 2012, Rangefinder named me the youngest of 30 International Rising Stars of wedding photography.
Last year, Canada Photo Convention named me top 30 under 30 in Canada as well as top 15 most inspiring Canadian wedding photographers by Weddingbells Magazine. My work has garnered several accolades with wppi, bcwa, viwa and fearless.
If you’re reading this, I’m sure you can relate to my love affair with the art of photography, but it’s the business side that has allowed me to grow the most and succeed.
This is why I choose to speak about business systems and marketing at conventions and workshops.
On to the gear! I can be a bit of a gear head even though I don’t consider myself that technical. I used to have a lot more cameras and lenses before it was all stolen the day before a wedding when I was 21. It was about $30,000 and none of it was insured. Lesson learned there!
I also learned that I didn’t actually need a lot of lenses after that, so below are the three that I use to pull off any situation.
Nikon D4
I bought this body when it was Nikon’s flagship and the amount of focus points, battery life and native ISO are unreal. It’s amazing technology but it is quite large!
Nikon D7000
This is my backup body. It does 1080p video which is great for a secondary video camera as well. I took it on my Southeast Asia trip because I don’t treat it very well.
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
I think it’s weird in the industry, but I love zoom lenses. Call me lazy but I’m into the wide look. I have been known to shoot entire events without ever changing from this.
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8
This is my ninja lens. I will also bust this out for compression shots.
Sigma 35mm f/1.4
This is my most recent lens and it’s sharp as sin. The Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 has taken a backseat as my most used lens since the prime entered the picture.
I have really been enjoying the super shallow DOF and sexy bokeh. Combined with the night vision of the Nikon D4, I feel unstoppable in dark situations. Plus I am getting more exercise.
Nikon SB-910
X2
These are really great flashes which I will use with Magmod
s when I need a quick light set up. Sometimes I will pop one on my camera for receptions but they are rarely in my hotshoe.
Profoto B1
X2
These are a very recent addition to replace my old alien bees. I’m looking forward to making some magic with these sexy battery-powered strobes. I will use them to light pretty much everything, everywhere. I will set the Profoto B1’s across from each other at wedding receptions so that the light will look beautiful and dimensional no matter where I shoot all night.
Next on my list is a profoto gridded beauty dish.
Profoto Air Remote
– Pocket Wizard Plus II
– Phottix Strato
– Radio Poppers
– CyberSyncs
I have a lot of trigger brands because they don’t like me.
As the Profoto Air Remote is new, I don’t have much experience with it but I have found that the Radio Popper
s and Cybersyncs
to be by far the most reliable… which is interesting since they are the more affordable ones that I own.
I was excited about the Phottix
for the ttl capability but it rarely fires for me.
I think I am cursed.
Ice Light
X2
I like flash but I also love working with what I can see and set up quickly. I’m looking forward to getting an Ice Light 2
with a higher output and tungsten WB, they are great for my occasional video commissions and making sure you don’t leave anything behind in a dark reception (which seems to happen to me regardless).
I use the Ice Lights at every wedding as you can see by the wear and tear, they are great for detail shots and dark romantic portraits. You also feel like a Jedi.
Fog Machine
$60 at Wal-mart. Light looks sexier when it’s suspended in the air and I’m all about moody images (plus it was great at my halloween party).
Smoke Grenades
I have a few of these in my bag for when I can’t plug in my fogger. I get them at paintball stores, the coloured ones are fun but I always stock up on the white ones since they last longer and will look like natural fog (I used one in that island photo above).
It’s technically illegal and the cops have been called once about a potential forest fire, in which case I retreated my workshop deep into the woods. They only last about a minute and disperses very quickly with a little wind action.
ShootSac
Keeps things at my hip. I burned a hole in it with a tungsten video light but it’s still going!
ThinkTank Airport Take Off
This bag has travelled all over with me, although they have changed the carry-on dimensions so this bag is too large now. Also it’s crazy heavy when it has everything in there.
I wear the ThinkTank Airport Take Off as a backpack when I’m checking in so they don’t think to check it (and then crumple in pain when I’m out of eyesight around the corner).
I still use it at weddings since it’s on wheels! I have a Dakine Photo backpack
for smaller gigs/hiking.
Gitzo Tripod
Super light weight! I switch between the Manfrotto ball to fluid head for photo/video.
Fuji Film Camera
This was a gift from a friend and I use it for real life like camping trips and birthday parties.
Because I don’t see the photos right away, it feels less like working somehow and lots more fun too!
Epson Projector EX5210 XGA 3LCD
I use this for same-day wedding slideshows and sometimes for creative effects.
15″ Macbook + 34″ Dell Monitor
+ Drobo 4 Bay
X2
I recently changed from a dekstop to a laptop/monitor set up and so far it’s been really helpful! My 3440 px panoramic screen has loads of real estate and now all of my images are accessible in one place.
Lightroom Catalogues are on dropbox (with Mr and Mrs.Drobo backing it up). I plan to replace the Drobos
with a Synology DiskStation
.
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