I’m spending the next month photographing weddings and couples portraits in eight different countries around europe. Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Belgium, Iceland, Denmark, Greece and Italy. I not only have to bring the right equipment, but I have to lug it on multiple airplane, bus and car trips thousands of miles around the continent of europe.
I’m also a sissy little girl so I can’t carry much weight. I have to be very picky about what I’m bringing with me on this trip.
I decided to keep things as minimal as possible so here’s what I’m taking:
Canon 5d mark iii body: The canon 5d mark iii is the classic wedding camera body. This camera takes solid great quality photos, has good low light abilities and can take the beating cameras often get during weddings. I once dropped mine and it’s now duct taped together and still works awesome.
Canon 70-200: I don’t know how people can function without a 70-200. This lens takes sweet photos and the bokeh is to die for. Prime lenses are sometimes a bit sharper and some photographers prefer that, but I love the versatility that comes with a zoom lens. I don’t like being up in people’s faces during a wedding so the fact that I can zoom in without moving any closer makes me feel a lot more comfortable.
Canon 24-70: The 35-70 gives you a much wider view of the scene. This is what you need when you have a gorgeous irish countryside, a norwegian fjord or the vast mohave desert of california. The 70-200 is much more narrow and is beautiful for helping to focus on a particular detail. The 35-70 helps you see the big picture.
These are the only two lenses i’m bringing for the weddings. I’m also bring a 50mm lens so that I can walk around the cities and take photos without bringing quite so much attention to myself. The other two lenses I mentioned above are big, especially the 70-200. Most places I’ve been to in Europe I have felt safe and comfortable, but there are a few places that I would not want to walk down the street with $6,000 worth of camera equipment flashing around. I figured the 50mm would bring less attention to myself.
For the next trip, I’m going to buy a mirrorless camera which is much smaller and looks very similar to cheap point and shoot cameras.
I also brought a flash, just a low cost Godox. I didn’t bring a slavexxx although I may regret it. It would be nice to be able to do off camera flash, but my bag was starting to get so heavy. I also of course brought a pack of SD cards, 3 batteries and a charger, a hard drive for backing up the photos (could you imagine going on this trip and losing photos??), a few wet wipes for cleaning lenses, a camera remote, and a tripod.
I don’t know if I’m going to use the tripod. I never use one for weddings or couples shoots, but I thought it would be cool to try to get some selfies. I’m a middle child and nobody takes photos of the middle child lol. I hardly have any photos of myself and I’d really like to have some that I like. I’m going to try it although I’m not sure if it’s worth the 2 lbs of carrying around that tripod….