Rob Dodsworth
Wedding | Last Updated: February 16, 2021
I’m Rob. A Norfolk Wedding Photographer.
I take photos of people who like each other a lot and want to have a great big party with their friends and family to celebrate the fact.
I never intended to be a wedding photographer.
Like many people, I was asked to photograph a friend’s wedding, over a few pints. And without thinking too much about it, I said, “Yeah, of course!”
Waking up the next morning, I realised that my one camera body and one zoom lens were, perhaps, not sufficient to photograph a wedding.
Being a good friend, I Googled, “cameras for weddings” and at the same time, “interest-free credit cards.”
I’m still a wedding photographer, more than 10 years later. I absolutely fell in love with it.
I get a real buzz out of capturing moments between people. And I also need a way to keep paying off those credit cards!
Cameras
I work mainly with the Sony A9. I have two. I love my A9’s – fast, silent, edge to edge focus points, and that eye focus – Sony witchcraft.
Sony A7 III (not in the picture – it took the picture). I don’t use it all that much but it comes out of the bag on occasion with the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 attached. It’s mostly there as a back-up body should one of the A9’s decide to go AWOL.
Lenses
Sony 24-70mm f/2.8: This is the only zoom in my bag. It gets very little use, compared to my 35mm and 85mm lenses, but I have always loved the versatility of this lens.
The times I find myself using it most are on the dance floor when I can zoom in and out on the action and not have to think about switching to the other camera body. I might also use this during ceremonies where I’m in a tight spot and a wider angle can come in use.
Zeiss 85mm f/1.8: Fast, reasonably light, and well built. My go-to for isolating parts of a scene and for portraits.
Distagon 35mm f/1.4: Superb build and optical quality. My fast glass. It’s not the lightest lens but I’m used to it.
The 35mm is my go-to focal length for about 90% of what I photograph on a wedding day. I like being close to the action and this lens helps me to do that.
Lights/Triggers
Godox V860II: I have four of these. I tend to use flashguns to light speeches (in dark environments) and to light the dance floor. I use it very occasionally for portraits. They are fired by either Godox X-Pro or Godox X1T which allows me to mount a Godox TT350 on top if I need a little extra bounce flash.
MagGrids and CTO’s.
Bags/Straps
For most of the day, my A9’s are attached to a HoldFast MoneyMaker.
I think I saw a lot of other photographers wearing the MoneyMaker and it made them look pretty sexy. I’m not quite sure it does the same for me, but it certainly saves me the neck and back pain that some other set-ups used to cause.
The back-up gear and flash usually hang about in my Think Tank Retrospective 30. I like the way you can ‘mute’ the velcro straps, in case I need to go fishing for gear during the ceremony.
My Think Tank is also handy for being on the road. If I need, this bag will hold my three camera bodies, all my lenses, a couple of flashguns, and my laptop.
Lightstands
I have two Manfrotto Nano Stands for when I want to travel light, such as on destination weddings.
For more regular use, I keep Manfrotto Master Stands handy. Solidly built, they go up quickly and stack together neatly. This helps me to pack-up easily at the end of the night. I keep them in a Manfrotto light stand bag.
Hardware & Software
Up until very recently, I was all in on Apple but I sold my Macbook and iMac for a custom-built PC with a Dell Ultrasharp U2719D Monitor.
I use a Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 on the road and at my coworking space, where I have another Dell monitor.
Misc.
The sensor is exposed on mirrorless cameras and so, I check this for dust more than I used to with DSLR’s. I use a Movo Sensor Loupe to look for dust and then VSGO sensor cleaning swabs. I don’t tend to swap lenses very often between bodies and so a dry wipe with the swabs and a couple of squeezes on the Giottos Rocket Blower are usually enough.
I learnt very early on that bananas are not the best food to pack in your camera bag.
Unless you like your bananas mashed like baby food and you want to spend hours scraping it off your gear, I suggest you pack energy bars instead.
Look after your kit and your kit will look after you. Camera kit with mashed banana on it doesn’t work quite so well.
www.robdodsworth.co.uk| @robdodsworthphoto
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