Inside My Camera Bag | Teun Bakker

Hi, I’m Teun and I have been working as a professional wedding photographer in the Netherlands since 2012. I’m a big fan of spontaneous and happy photos with an occasional touch of humour.

On wedding days I like to blend in with the guests while I’m hunting for the moments that tell the story of that day. I love couples who embrace that a wedding day is all about family, friends and connection and realize that it’s okay when things go a little differently than intended.

Capturing these moments is great fun and I’m grateful to be able to make a living doing just this.

Moments or interactions can happen in a split second and I have always made choices with my gear that help me capture these moments in the best way. I’m not loyal to any brand and have used several brands of cameras and lenses over the years. When I replace my gear I decide on what is the best and most cost-effective for my style of shooting.

What has remained consistent is my use of a 35mm plus 85mm lens combination, with just one or two other lenses for backup purposes.

Cameras

I currently use two Canon EOS R6 bodies and they’re an absolute joy to use. Autofocus is quick, accurate, and consistent, which is very important to me. They are also very reliable in low lighting, which is often what we work with at wedding parties. The fact that they have just twenty megapixels is fine by me as I have never felt the need for more resolution and the small files make the process of editing a joy.

Lenses

I have just four lenses, two of which live in my bag as backups. The two other lenses are pretty much fixed to my camera bodies and these are the Canon RF 35mm F/1.8 Macro IS STM and Canon RF 85mm F/2.0 Macro IS STM. I have never owned top-of-the-line lenses always choosing the sensible, more budget-friendly options which work well for me. These two lenses are light, sharp and quick-focusing and do what I want them to do.

My other two lenses are a Canon RF 24-105mm F/4L IS USM and a Canon EF 16-35mm F/4L IS USM (with an adapter). These lenses cover the focal lengths I need in case one of my prime lenses fails. When I do use them, it’s mostly during wedding parties where I’m in the middle of the action on the dancefloor and a wide-angle lens gives better results.

Lights/Triggers

During the day I like to shoot without a flash as much as possible, but when night comes and the party kicks in, I go all-out with flash photography. I use four remote flashes in the corners of the dancefloor, triggers on my cameras and another flash on top of these.

My main flash is a Canon Speedlite 430EX III-RT Flash. I like this as my on-camera flash because it’s quite compact, reliable, doesn’t overheat easily, and still packs enough power for my purposes.

For my triggers and off-camera flashes, I have always used the Phottix brand. The main reason was – and still is – that their Phottix Strato II trigger has four group buttons that allow remote flashes to be turned on or off with a single click plus it can support the on-camera flash. This way I can use both my on-camera flash and remote flashes together or selectively turn them on or off super quickly. I use Phottix Juno flashes as my off-camera flashes because of their built-in radio trigger and proven reliability.

Bags/Straps

A few years ago I purchased a Holdfast Moneymaker dual camera strap and now I wonder how I ever did without this piece of kit. It’s extremely comfortable and it looks badass (not entirely unimportant!).

As a backpack, I use a Lowepro Flipside 300. It’s exactly big enough for the extra stuff I like to carry with me at a wedding, while still being compact and comfortable to carry around for a longer period. I actually never put my cameras in my backpack as they’re attached to my Moneymaker and that doesn’t leave my body during the day.

At the end of the wedding, I stow my cameras away in a Naneu Correspondent C700 bag.

Tripods

I have four LumoPro LP605 light stands and my off-camera flashes are permanently attached to them. They’re extremely compact and they extend to a height that suits me. I’ll admit that over the years they have been kicked over during parties a few times and that’s something that may not have happened with bigger or heavier light stands. I’m willing to accept that trade-off as they are so small, light and easy to carry.

Hardware & Software

I have always been a Windows user and am a little bit of a tech-nerd, so I have built my own custom PC for photo editing. Adobe Lightroom is the one and only piece of software I use to cull and edit my photos. I have created my own preset that keeps evolving ever so slightly, with a consistently colourful and contrasty look.

Final Words

One thing I absolutely love about being a wedding photographer in the Netherlands is the contact with other wedding photographers. In essence, we are in competition but being part of such a warm community of photographers we often share knowledge, recommend each other when someone is already booked and in general just help each other out so in many ways!

www.bestdayever.nl | @bestdayever.nl