the blog

I recently bought a new camera bag and I’m swooning over it. Like, head over heels in love. Why? Well, let me show you…

Can I tell you a secret? I had never owned a “real” camera bag before. Not even one of the black canvas manufacturer-default ones that normally come with your camera (hello, eBay!). It was time for me to make a serious upgrade and after having tested it out (at a wedding I recently photographed— coming to the blog soon!) I can happily admit that I made the right choice for me– it’s stylish, functional, roomy enough and is a great price! It doesn’t hurt that the color is gorgeous, too ;). I will forever treasure this bag because she serves as a reminder of how far I’ve come in my photography journey. It’s always meaningful when you can invest in yourself, especially with things that help you do your job! =)

Starting with the exterior, here’s a close-up of the magnetic snap closure of the bag. I like these because they don’t look like they close magnetically, but they make it 1933830383384040x more convenient when you’re shooting and need to get in and out of your bag quickly.

The bag has a carrying handle at the top, as well as an adjustable shoulder strap. The strap is made of a seat-belt like material, so it’s durable and comfortable.

Here’s a few examples of what the bag looks like on me:

These two are more of a casual look,

while this is what it looked like on me while I was working. Thanks so much to my second shooter Nicole for capturing this *awesome* shot of me. For some reason I had the bag turned to the front, but for most of the day I wore it to the side.

Thanks to the great shoulder strap (and probably thanks to the weight of the items I had in the bag), I could wear the bag on one shoulder (and as a cross-body bag) without worrying about whether it would fall off of my shoulder. I had it pretty full on the wedding day (the images below don’t show what my bag looked like on a wedding day–it would have less empty space and more of the things I needed), but surprisingly it didn’t feel that heavy to me.

To finish off the exterior, there’s a pocket in the back that also snaps shut. (Fun!!)

The bag has an interior 3-section divider,  which is also removable. You can take it out completely or move of the two inner divider sections around, which reallocates space while still protecting the contents of your bag. While I used the bag I had space in front, behind, and to the sides of the divider for additional items.

When I had the 70-200 in the bag, it was difficult to snap that side of the bag shut, which was not an issue for me because I read the reviews of the bag before I bought it, so I knew that was a possibility. Also, the 70-200 is kind of a beast of a lens and is not something I carry around with me 100% of the time on a wedding day. (Also, the other side of the bag did close with the 70-200 in the bag. Just fyi.)

And lastly, here’s a close up of the two front pockets! I found these were a great place to store things like business cards and wedding day snacks.

I hope this post was useful to you!! Before you invest in any camera bag, be sure that it holds what you need it to hold so that it works for you! I am so excited to bring this bag along to all my future wedding and portrait sessions. You can purchase the bag here. If you have any questions or comments about this post, leave them below! I’d love to hear from you!

…

This post is part of a new series called “faq & how to!” You can find the first FAQ post here. If you’d like to see more of these posts, make sure you follow the blog or like the photography by paulina facebook page! And even more importantly, if you know someone who could benefit from learning about this camera bag, be sure to share this post with them! I’m sure they’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness (as will I). =)