Three bags to bring to the beach with your photography gear

Does bringing three bags for your camera gear when going to the beach seem like overkill? It’s actually not! Read on to see why I bring three separate bags to the beach to help protect my gear.

1. Camera bag

If you’re heading out for a leisurely day at the beach, it’s easy to just throw your camera in a bag with all of your other beach gear. Wrap it up in your towel, throw in some sunscreen, grab your lunch and go, right? Wrong! Despite being one more thing to carry, I always prefer to bring a dedicated camera bag, even if I’m just bringing one camera and lens with me.

You want to keep your gear as protected as possible from the elements — mainly sand and water. By the end of the day, your towel and lunch bag will be covered in sand and you don’t want to be putting your camera in there with them. I love to use my WANDRD PRVKE Lite bag for this type of use, as it’s waterproof and compact. 

2. Large garbage bag

I always keep a large garbage bag or two in the front pocket of my camera bag. I use these all the time when I’m at the beach. Often I’m working right at the tide line, and if the tide is going out, the area I’m working in will be quite wet, mushy or full of seaweed. Laying a garbage bag down allows me to put my camera bag down on top of it to keep it dry.

Also, wet sand sticks to everything so I try to keep it off my main bag as much as possible. As a bonus, keeping an extra garbage bag around allows you to pick up any trash you see at the beach. I always follow the “Leave No Trace” philosophy when out in the field, which includes helping to clean up garbage I find whenever possible.

3. Large Ziplock bag

I also keep a large Ziplock bag inside my camera bag. If I need to change lenses when it’s windy or sandy, I try to do it inside the large Ziplock bag as much as possible. I point my camera down into the bag and switch the lenses inside the bag.

Avoiding getting any sand inside your camera is, of course, paramount. As it is, I try to limit the amount of lens changes I make when at the beach, especially if it’s windy. 

So there you have it, the triple beach bag trick. Next time you’re heading out to the beach, remember to throw a garbage bag and a large Ziplock into your camera bag so that you can take the extra steps to keep your gear safe.