I am very often writing about Travel photography related things, as this is my main activity. But I am doing more and more wedding and commercial work, so I think it is time to write my first “What’s in my bag” article, focused on these assignments.

Unlike travel photography, where I try to travel as light as possible, I do commercial work within South East Asia, and it is much easier to carry gear around in a plane or car (not constantly on my back!).

So there you go: what’s in my bag when doing weddings and commercial work?

First, I always carry around 2 camera bodies. Unless I am shooting a busy wedding, I will only be using one, but the other adds a lot of peace of mind as I know I have a backup camera in case something goes wrong. My main body is a Canon 5D mark 3 while my backup is a 6d (and I do enjoy a lot shooting with the 6D and my 50mm lens, which feels so small and light in my hands).

For wedding work, I am using the same lenses as I do for my Travel photography: a 35mm, a 50mm and a 100mm. People like my wedding work as it looks very natural and somehow similar to my travel work, playing with natural lights.

But I am also always packing now a 16-35mm, ideal for hotel and resort work, shooting the rooms and architecture. Ideally I am thinking about getting a tilt shift lens soon, as it would save me a lot of time in front of the computer, trying to fix distortion.

I also always carry around 2 Canon flashes, as well as some wireless triggers (I use the Yongnuo ones, which are super cheap and have been working great for me for the last 4 years). I use them a lot during commercial work (fashion, product shots and food photography) and they can be fun to use during weddings.

Of course, the usual filters (polarizer, ND with the step up -down rings needed), memory cards, card reader, battery charger, colored gels for the flashes, etc… The usual set of batteries for flashes and wireless triggers, some tape to be able to fix things, my laptop and a few hard disks.

Everything fits perfectly into my Rolling bag, which is a Manfrotto one (same as my light travel bag). I found it a little weird at fist to use a rolling bag, as I was used to always carry things on my back, but I wonder how could I ever work without it now! So easy to travel with this bag, often mistaken for a normal luggage. It fits perfectly into the carry on cabin compartment, and it does roll very smoothly! I can also strap it on the back of my motorbike when doing locally based jobs, very useful!

Plus, it does look great in front of a rose flower wall used as a photo booth background for weddings 🙂