Written for Shotkit.com

Hi there – I’m Stacy White! I’m a landscape photographer living in Sarasota, Florida with my husband David and our two children, Ansley & Aidan.

My interest in photography began by taking photos of my children and documenting our lives and travels. As time went on, I decided I wanted to do more with my camera – shooting in automatic mode wasn’t cutting it for me anymore.

About 5 years ago, I decided to learn how to use my camera and became more serious about my photography. I started doing workshops, joined my local camera club, and watched endless videos online. The more I learned, the more I loved it, and my passion exploded! I absolutely love being able to share the beauty around me wherever I am through photography!

My travel time is limited but I try and make the best use of our family trips to explore and seek out new opportunities to shoot. My husband and I both love the outdoors and we continually strive to teach our children to recognize and appreciate the wonder of nature and our world.

Wildlife, abandoned structures, and nature photography are my main passions. I am a member of HeARTs Speak and photograph as a volunteer at my local shelter to help dogs and cats find their forever homes.

I absolutely love my Nikon D810 and Nikon D5. I tend to put a midrange lens on my D810 to capture landscapes and a longer lens on my D5 to capture any wildlife or longer range views. I’ve found this setup to be the best for me to be able to capture images quickly – I don’t have to worry about not having the right lens.

When it comes to lenses, my go-to one is my Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR Lens. It’s a great midrange zoom and is great for most of my landscape work. If I want something wider, I go with my Nikon AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR Lens.

For photographing wildlife or birds, I normally go with my Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens. The lens has a great range, but isn’t the fastest first thing in the morning or late in the day. For low light or when I know I won’t need that much lens, I use my Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR Lens.

I always have my Manfrotto MT29463C Tripod Legs with my Really Right Stuff BH-40 Ballhead that fits my Really Right Stuff L-brackets on my cameras and makes changing from landscape to portrait mode quick and easy. My Peak Design Slide Camera Strap is one of my newest items and one of my absolute favorites – I love the quick-release feature that makes putting on and removing the strap from your camera quick and easy.

Other things that I always pack in my bag are polarizing and neutral density filters, as well as my LaCie 1TB Rugged Portable Hard Drive and Macbook Pro laptop to download and backup my images.

Although I never feel like I travel light, I usually pick gear based on what I am photographing and where I’m headed. If I know that I will have access to my vehicle, I tend to bring more – if I know I will be hiking, I usually go with one camera body and my 24-70mm lens.

This system works for me, but obviously doesn’t work for everyone. I wish I was a minimalist, but unfortunately, I’m not! Find your own path – figure out what works best for you.