handmade holiday gift guide // for the photographer

ne thing that I get super excited about it is getting new photography gear.   Whether it's a new lens, new editing presets, or bags and support gear, shopping for camera stuff turns me into a kid in a candy store.  This gift guide has a lot of things on it that I already have and love, so I wanted to share them with you guys because I'm sure you'll love them as well!
My big personal wishlist item this year is the Holdfast MoneyMaker camera harness.  I first saw it when I was in the audience at Creative Live earlier this year at Jen Rozenbaum's session and she was using one and I was like  O_____O   "I NEED THIS."  I don't like traditional camera straps and haven't used one in years, but hadn't found an alternative that really seemed to fit my needs.  While my lenses aren't giant, by the end of a wedding day my wrist would be killing me after holding my camera for 8-10 hours straight.  When I saw Jen using her MoneyMaker I knew it was the exact thing I'd been looking for!
I spent years editing photos in Photoshop and then a couple years ago I really wanted to try out VSCO's film packs because I really loved how they emulated a real film look.  I ended up getting Lightroom so I could use their Lightroom presets and it's made my editing workflow so much faster.  I still use photoshop occasionally for certain things and retouching here and there, but for the most part I only edit in Lightroom now and exclusively using VSCO's 1 + 2 Film Presets.
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Before I stopped using a normal camera strap, I had an IMO strap which I loved.  It was so cute and such an improvement over the boring, stock Canon strap that the camera comes with.  It's such an easy way to make your camera unique and stylish and if you're not shooting for hours on end or need everything that the MoneyMaker strap offers, IMO straps are a great option.  I have their rainbow zig zag strap but I love this one's Pacific Northwest vibe!
I didn't do much in the way of Black Friday shopping, but I was on the hunt for some photography deals that day and one big ticket item I snagged was this gold sequined backdrop!  I fell hard for it a while ago and it was a little present to myself for my business and I'm so excited to shoot with it.  It's on backorder so I won't get it until January, but they've got a bunch of other colors in their sequin collection and a lot of them are half off right now!
One of my best Christmas gifts from a couple years ago was an Ona bag that I use constantly.  It holds my laptop, lenses, camera body and more, so it's my go-to carry-on when I fly.  Unfortunately it's too big to be my day-of shoot back with my extra lenses and such, so I've been using a camera bag insert inside a smaller purse that works so perfectly.  But, I've had my eye on this Ona bag for some time.  It's the same size as the makeshift bag I use now and it's in the prettiest cognac leather.  Swoon!

top photo via benj haisch