I am a worrier and a planner. I’m also a helper. You put all of these things together and you have someone who has thought of just about every “what if” situation and scenario and has a lot of emergency situations covered for you and your photo session.

Even for a simple family photo session (which are never truly simple and no two are ever the same), I carry my favorite purple camera bag that has actually weighed in at 20 or so pounds. It’s obviously filled with my main camera and lens. I use a Nikon D850 and a 24-70mm lens for most photo sessions. But I also carry an extra camera and a second lens (for backup and for versatility). There’s also an assortment of extra batteries, memory cards and more.

But beyond the technical gear needed for a session, I always have a few other things in my Mary Poppins bag.

What’s in My Bag?

For the kiddos I keep at least one or two snacks (sometimes a cracker is all we need to get a few more minutes) — and I always ask Mom or Dad ahead of time. I sometimes even carry a fun small toy or bubbles or some other small treasure.

For warm days, I have at least one extra bottle of water, but spray and sunscreen. I want my clients to always feel comfortable and to be safe. On colder days, I’ve been known to have things like hand warmers in my bag to offer for cold hands in between shots. Even before COVID, I had things like tissues, wipes and hand sanitizer.

And I usually have a blanket with me in case we want any sitting down or laying down shots. (And a backup blanket in the car in case we want a different color option!).

I’ve got you covered with things like bobby pins, straight pins, sharpie marker, Tide pens, band-aids, lotion, hair clips and more tiny things you may not have with you.

For probably 95% of my photo sessions, I don’t use anything from my bag other than my main camera and lens. But, if you ever say “Oh, I wish we had -this-” or “Oh no, I forgot -this-“, I want to be able to say “Ohhhhh, don’t worry! I’ve got that!” (And if I don’t have it, you better believe it gets added to my bag for the next session.

I just want to take care of you, my client, to make your experience as flawless as possible.