IN THE BAG: the gear

the other week, i gave you a glimpse into my beautiful ephiphanie camera bag. while the bag itself is quite impressive, it's what it keeps safely stored inside that's most important! my cameras are amongst some of my favorite possessions...which i would bring with me to a desert island, even though the lack of electricity would render them useless after a few days! my gear is what helps me hone my creativity and bring my ideas to life. i am so glad to fill my bag, with what i think, are exceptional pieces of equipment. all my gear has served me well and i was lucky enough to recently upgrade to a top-notch body to snag that extra bit of light and produce the exact images that i feel demonstrate who i am as a photographer.

excuse the iphone photo!

everyone seems to have a story about why they shoot nikon or canon and why their choice is better. my story is fairly simple, my husband had a nikon from back in the film days so when i got my first big girl dslr i went the nikon route so we could share lenses. good thing he was nikon, because i love the crisp, saturated colors...and i like the ergonomics and shutter sound better - it's the little things :).

behold my d800! i looked at the d600, but couldn't pass up how badass the 800 was in comparison.

the nifty fifty has been my favorite lens from the moment i attached it to my d90. it rarely left my side as the fixed lens suits my personality and aesthetic. it remains my primary lens for most shoots and this christmas i upgraded from my original 50mm to this fine piece of glass...

to round out my setup, i have a speedlight (as a backup plan only, love natural light!), a few additional lenses and my phatstrap to keep my camera close at hand when not in her bag or when i feel it unsafe to go strapless. thinking about maybe adding this camera strap into the mix...anyone have any experience with the ciesta line?

what's in your camera bag that you can't live without? in the final installment of this mini-series, i'll show you all of the extra little trinkets i tote around in my bag. let me know what fun gadgets i might be missing!!

in case you missed it, you can read the other post in this series here:
IN THE BAG: Part 1

and because babies make everything better, here's one of my darling nephew enjoying the chilly spring air!

Hooray for MOO!

I had a completely different post planned for today, but when I got home from work I found a nice little surprise waiting in my mailbox so I had to share!!  excitement equals exclamation points, so prepare yourself!! :)

My MOO cards arrived 4 days early, woo-hoo for moo!! don't know MOO? they're a london based company that's headquartered in the US in Rhode Island...so you know i've got to love them for representing my home state with an excellent product.  if you want a discount on your first order, leave me a comment with a way to contact you and i'll send you a coupon code!

I ordered business cards and mini cards so I could have something that was a little more standard and clean plus some picture cards to showcase my work. The business cards are matte, and while they're not the letterpress cards that I long for, the paper quality is great and they feel fancy. I ordered the mini moos in glossy and since moo uses 'printfinity' you can pick as many different pictures as you'd like to make up your set! So fun and so easy to create with their online tools...although the unlimited options made it tough for this gal to commit and actually place my order! Super happy that I finally placed my order, they are just what i hoped for, can't wait to hand them out!!

Excuse the phone photos, I was far too impatient to deal with my real camera!

awh shucks, new best friend?! so kind! not only is their product fabulous, but their packaging...and witty branding...is right up my alley!

PL365 + IN THE BAG

last week one of the inspiration hashtags from project life 365 (PL365) was #in_my_bag and while my photo wasn't all that inspiring - sandwiches for dinner! - it did get me thinking about putting together a blog mini-series about my photography bag.

wait, what's that, you don't know about PL365 and you're missing out on all of my random phone photos of the sky, my feet, food and otherwise uneventful moments in my life?! well stop right there and let's get you squared away before we go any further!!

project life 365 was started by the impressive team at design aglow. i want to work for them, even if it's just to file stuff...i love their aesthetic, so clean and crisp and organized! they create some insanely useful tools, provide inspiration through written word & images, and had the awesome idea to create a community around a daily photo challenge. they give you a hashtag for the day and you find a way to interpret it through photos and then upload via social media and/or through their very own photo uploader. it's a fun way to document a small facet of your life each day and then share it with others participating in the PL365 world. it's not too late to join us!! if sharing's not your thing, feel free to follow me on instagram or just check out my recent posts by clicking on the camera (on the green flag) in my blog header!

so now that you've been fully briefed on PL365 and you've taken time to catch up on all my recent images, let's get back to something everyone loves...a new, and highly functional, bag!!

mmm, swoon...check her out, her name's Lola (officially, i didn't even have to come up with a name for an inanimate object on my own this time, the folks at epiphanie did it for me) and she is a BEAUTY!!

i had hinted to my husband (mz) that i'd like a new camera bag for christmas...as the lowepro backpack i had stolen from him many moons before was making me feel like i needed to be wearing cargo shorts, a visor and some LA Gears...but never really thought anyone would be bold enough to actually surprise me one!!  luckily my mother-in-law is pretty fantastic at finding things that are better than what you would have ever thought to pick out for yourself!! such a lucky girl!! i mean, c'mon the color even coordinates with my logo, seriously!? match made in heaven!

Lola has long shoulder straps plus a longer removable, adjustable, strap which is nicely padded and very handy when toting her & all my gear across nyc or boston all day (check out my boston post to see a glimpse of her in action). she's equipped with two outer pockets, an inner zip pocket and wonderfully soft, padded, velcro dividers. plus a second padded bottom insert so you can have all of your gear stored on the bottom and cover it - in a secret compartment kinda way - to keep personal items on top. i currently have her configured with 6 slots on the bottom and it's plenty to hold all of my gear and daily junk that fills any purse i carry. i'm so so thrilled to have this gorgeous epiphanie bag to keep my camera safe and looking sweet!

stay tuned for upcoming posts in this mini-series where i'll share all of the treasures that Lola holds!