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Every article on this site eventually gets the same question: what should I actually buy? This page is the standing answer. It covers where we buy gear and the tools this network runs on and recommends to members. We keep it short on purpose — beginners are better served by fewer, better choices.
Where we buy gear
B&H Photo is our default for cameras, lenses, lighting, and tripods — deep stock, an honest used department, and decades of serving working photographers. Before you buy anything, watch Lesson 1 of the course so the numbers on the box mean something.
Audio for video work
The fastest upgrade to any video is sound, not glass. A Hollyland wireless microphone kit is the standard first move once you outgrow the camera mic — small transmitters, dependable range, no cables across the set.
Your photo library
The most common disaster we see is not a broken camera — it is a dead drive with ten years of work on it. Mylio Photos organizes and mirrors your library across devices so one failure never takes your archive with it. Set it up the week you start shooting seriously, not after.
Editing and publishing
For cutting short-form video and behind-the-scenes clips, CapCut gets you from footage to posted faster than anything at its price. For the client-facing side — scheduling, replies, a consistent presence across platforms — we use Vista Social.
Keep learning
Start with our own Beginner Photography course — fourteen animated lessons, one idea at a time. When you want to go wider into lighting, retouching, or the business side, Skillshare is the deepest well of structured classes for creatives.
This page is updated as our recommendations change. If we would not use it in our own Richmond studio, it does not go on this list.