Inside My Camera Bag | Nessa K

I’m Nessa K. I’m a DC wedding photographer who eats, like, a lot of burritos (personally, not professionally). I love 60s French Wave art films, Wes Anderson, and line drawings of plants. I’m lucky that I have a job where I get to ask people to do cool things in photos and they say yes.

This simple kit is everything I carry to a wedding day, but my session kit is even tinier. I shoot with Canon 5D Mark IV bodies that I love so much I wrote a (mildly entertaining, or so I’ve been told) real world review of them here.

I only shoot with L series prime lenses and I regularly switch off between the Canon 24mm f/1.4L, Canon 35mm f/1.4L, Canon 45mm f/2.8 TS-E, and Canon 50mm f/1.2L, leaving the Canon 85mm f/1.2L and Canon 135mm f/2L for ceremonies. I keep a backup Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art in my car at all times, but it’s not my choice for shooting.

The flashes I carry are a Canon 600EX-RT and I had two, but I replaced a broken one of those with a Yongnuo YN600EX-RT flash and I feel silly ever paying as much as I did for the Canon flashes now because it’s an incredible dupe.

I always carry an LED Video Light to weddings. I would include the model, but they’ve discontinued this one! It’s useful for night shots, exits where I have a second shooter to guide the way, and it’s a back up lighting device in case all my flashes fail me at once.

Can we take a moment to talk about Earplugs? I want to put this in all caps for dramatic effect, but I won’t. You are doing irreparable damage to your ears if you’re shooting in front of speakers and not wearing ear plugs! Protect your ears, folks.

Hothands – A must in the winter! I’ve gone through countless pairs of gloves and only fingerless ones will let me do all the things I want on my camera and after a while, my fingers stop working if it’s too cold. I bring a bunch of these and pass them out to the bride, groom, flower girls, and I keep two in my mittens on cold days. In the summer, this is swapped out for an SPF spray because you can still get sunburned even when you’re at work (life is unfair, I know).

Equally important – A Card Case. these obnoxiously colored card cases are shockproof and will absolutely be visible if dropped anywhere. Have you ever dropped a black anything in the grass? It’s gone forever. Get something ugly and you will always find it.

I carry all of this in two super comfortable bags. The Think Tank Glass Taxi is my main backpack where the flashes, back up body, extra flash batteries, and longer lenses are stored – I only carry this on the wedding day to store everything I’m not using currently.

But my Think Tank Turnstyle 10 sling bag is my work bag. I keep this bag on me the entire day when I’m shooting, and it’s the bag I take to sessions. It has a lot of pockets, can be worn as a fanny pack, and and it holds all of my extra batteries and snacks.

Notice these bags aren’t made of leather with strappy things on them. This is because leather is heavy and makes everyone gross and sweaty. I love myself and my body, so I want my cases to be as lightweight as possible so I can do things like walk like a human and pick things up when I’m 60 years old.

Also not pictured but always present – an extra pair of shoes I strap to my backpack to change into halfway through the day (try this, you will love it), gluten free oatmeal bars, beef jerky, Advil, and tampons.

www.nessakphotography.com