Home » A Photographer in the Nappy Valley

Shooting babies – mobile photography set-up

Submitted by on July 22, 2011 – 10:00 am3 Comments

When I started my series A Photographer in Nappy Valley fellow baby photographer Mark Cornwell seemed surprised by that fact that I travel to many of my sessions on public transport.

Whilst not being an ideal situation as it does limit what I carry, it has become necessary due to the fact that parking at the best of times in London is nearly impossible and many of the residential areas we visit are parking permit areas…… oh and being an institutionalised Londoner….. I don’t drive.

On the upside it forces a ‘no naff’ approach to how we shoot.
I’ve never really been one for props but that doesn’t mean that I’m not constantly looking around a clients home for alternative setups.

Here’s the basic kit that I would normally carry with me to a shoot with a newborn to 6 month old.

 

In my camera bag

  • Canon 5D Mk 2
  • 50mm 1,4
  • 70-200mm 4,0
  • 24-70mm 2,8
  • A LensBaby Composer
  • Two Flashguns
  • Radio transmitters
  • Gary Fong Lightsphere
  • A small umbrella
  • Price lists and registration/model release forms
  • A small selection of business cards and other marketing material
  • iPad
  • My quacker (a duck key-ring I got in a birthday party bag)
  • Coloured Gels
  • Memory Cards
  • Spare batteries
  • Light meter

In my Tripod bag

  • A set of collapsible background poles.
  • Two light stands
  • 2 Calumet umbrella holders
  • My ‘cloud throw’ – I’ve no idea where I got this but its great. It can also be used as a background
  • A dark roll up background
  • a baby poser pillow
  • A selection of colourful throws
  • Some hand-knitted baby hats and shorts
In my pocket
  • iPhone (with online calendar open)
  • Oyster Card
  • Coffee Money!

And that’s pretty much it!

You can see some of our latest images at The Portrait Photographers

If you missed it here’s the Photographer in Nappy Valley Series

Introduction - A Photographer in the Nappy Valley

A Photographer in the Nappy Valley – Sunday

A Photographer in the Nappy Valley – Monday

A Photographer in the Nappy Valley – Tuesday

A Photographer in the Nappy Valley – Wednesday

A Photographer in the Nappy Valley – Thursday

A Photographer in the Nappy Valley – Friday

A Photographer in the Nappy Valley – Saturday

  • Mark

    Cheers, Michael. I must take a pic of my bag too as I’m about to blog my tightest setup yet – in a narrow boat on a canal!

  • Mark

    My kit is *slightly* more bulky than yours, Michael. If I was travelling on public transport poles rather than pop-up backgrounds would be my choice. Anyway, here is my kit and it setup in the smallest space that I have done photos in – a narrow boat. http://www.morethanaphotograph.com/general/photography/canal-boat-baby-photography

  • http://www.tpsphoto.co.uk Tim Hoy

    I spent 8 of the past 10 days flat on my back unable to even carry the camera let alone backdrops, lenses or squeaky ducks.  On the mend now – should be ok by next week thanks to a great osteopath Ginny Struthers and some rather powerful painkillers from my GP.  Re; travelling around London – I tend to use my bike wherever possible – I have a great trailer but the suppliers don’t appear to have very good after sales/service so the broken bolt on the trailer prevents me from using it at present so I’m not going to provide a link to the company because of the aforementioned lack of support.  Shame – because it’s a great trailer.