Photographer's Toolkit: The Gear I shoot With

The Photographer's Toolkit: What gear do I shoot with?

So what camera do I use, what gear do I shoot with? I've created a downloadable PDF guide just for you to answer these questions! Photographers are obsessed with gear. I love browsing and checking out new "toys" for my camera. What can I use to continue pushing myself in photography? One example of this is the Pixelstick. Lightpainting is a fun experiment and worth trying out!

Here's a sample of what you'll see in the guide.

What camera do I use?

First things first, you can't pursue photography without a camera. I've had many cameras in my life so far starting with a plastic Pochacco Sanrio film camera I had as a kid, sometime around 2000. Hard to believe it's been over 15 years! Of course before that I often used disposable cameras (remember those?) but this was my very own first camera, a birthday gift from my sister. In case you're curious, this is what it looked like.

Not the most attractive camera I know but hey, I was only 10 at the time! My tastes have changed since. Oh and check out that zoom, 35-50mm. I can still hear the clicking sound of the shutter button now, distinct from digital SLR cameras today.

Flash forward to the present and this is the camera I use: the wonderful Canon 5D Mark III. I've come a long way, haven't I?

I've had this camera for a little over a year now. It took me awhile to save up and make the jump to this "professional" level camera but I immediately fell in love and all that I could dream up with it. Now of course the camera isn't everything. For years I captured amazing photographs on a Canon Rebel. I really learned a lot and grew as a photographer with that camera but there comes a time when you outgrow your gear. I hit a wall in photography. I felt uninspired and unmotivated to take photos and it took me awhile to realize it was because photography was no longer a challenge for me. It's important to continually grow, no matter what you do in life, and a new camera was just the ticket for me.

This particular Canon camera had been a dream of mine pretty much since it came out and even more so when I had a chance to use a previous model (the 5D Mark II) from a mentor. One of the things I loved about this model is the ability to capture double exposures in camera (without the use of Photoshop), a challenge I love to explore. I also was itching to enter the world of video and this is one of the best cameras out there specifically for video along with its 24-105mm f/4 lens.

I can honestly say, I have never been more in love and fascinated by the world of photography and I owe it in big part to this camera. So the next time you're feeling stuck in photography, try something new. It just might lead you to the next best thing.