The Best Wedding Photography Bag of 2021
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photo by bojanstory via iStock
The first time I ever was hired to shoot wedding photography, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. Thankfully, this first client was a longtime family friend who understood that I was definitely not well versed in the industry yet because I showed up with a fake leather camera bag that I purchased just for the occasion.
Within an hour of the shoot, my bag had dug into my shoulder so badly that I began to bleed and needed to leave the wedding to get some gauze and a bandaid. Within the next few hours, both of my shoulders were completely raw, I was in complete agony and was swearing I would never shoot another wedding again.
Now, obviously this isn’t what happened! What did happen was that I went on the hunt for the perfect wedding photography bag. Unfortunately, it took this awful experience with some crappy, cheap wedding photography gear before I did.
To prevent you from making the same mistake I made and buying a terrible wedding photography bag, this article will discuss some different qualities you should be looking for while shopping for a wedding photography bag.
Good Qualities of a Wedding Photography Bag
I think the most essential quality of any wedding photography bag is comfort. I’ve definitely seen what happens when your wedding photography bag isn’t comfortable and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
This means that the shoulder straps should be thick enough to not cut into your skin and that they are able to evenly distribute the weight of all of your gear over your torso, so you don’t get a kink in your neck you can’t get out.
But, it’s also important that your gear is comfortable. This means that the bag should be lined with something incredibly soft, yet durable.
Of course, you’ll need a wedding photography bag that is large enough to fit whatever equipment you’re planning on packing in it. So, if you need to bring your laptop, your tripod, and three extra lenses, keep this in mind while you’re shopping and don’t settle for a bag that won’t fit it all.
I tend to travel a lot for my wedding photography, which means that I also needed a bag that was weather-resistant. I recommend this for every wedding photographer, whether you travel or not, because a wedding won’t be cancelled due to rain and you don’t want to find yourself needing to buy equipment the day of.
Lastly, you’ll want a bag that will help you blend into whatever type of wedding you’re at, which is harder said than done. Make sure your bag isn’t an unnecessarily bright color and make sure it looks nice.
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My Favorite Wedding Photography Bag
It would be a little unfair to walk you through all of these requirements and then refuse to point you in the right direction.
My favorite wedding photography bag this year is Holdfast’s Roamographer. This leather bag comes in either a large, to fit your DSLR gear, or a small, to fit your mirrorless gear. It’s made of American bison leather and is lined in shearling, so you know all of your equipment is going to be kept safe and snug.
It comes with a removable camera insert so that you can fit whatever camera gear you need to for each particular shoot. Another benefit of a removable camera insert I’ve discovered is that it is child-proof. I have had an accident with my toddler spilling juice into my wedding photography bag (without my equipment in it, thank god). I was able to easily clean it out, though, thanks to the removable insert.
For the fashion conscious among you, the Roamographer comes in two different colors: brown or dark chocolate. Both colors are very classic, so that the look of the bag will never go out of style. Since the bag is made of leather, each one is also unique to you and ages beautifully.
The Roamographer also comes with two external leather straps which you can use to carry your tripod easily.
The way you carry the Roamographer is either using the included shoulder strap, which is incredibly comfortable, the small handle on the top of the bag, or attached to the Holdfast MoneyMaker dual camera harness (shown above), which I also own and highly recommend. Importantly, you can strap a small camera to the shoulder straps so that the perfect shot is never out of reach.
Of course, all of this does come at a price. The Roamographer is a $600 investment. But, Holdfast supplies all of their customers with a lifetime guarantee on all of their products. So, this is the last wedding photography bag you’ll ever buy.