Behind the Scenes—The Gear and Tools I Use Every Day

I enjoy reading about the gear and tools others use, and I’ve shared my own gear list over the years. However, it’s been a while, so I thought this would be a good time to update that list with my current setup.

This is not necessarily a “recommended” list of gear, but rather what works for me in my quest to create the most flexible and efficient environment for the work I do as a professional photographer, educator, and entrepreneur.

Some Thoughts On Computers

I’ve always loved computers. Some of my earliest memories involve sitting in front of a Commodore 64 and a Vic 20, typing in lines of BASIC code from magazines just to make something—anything—happen on the screen. That early fascination never faded.

Since 1988, I’ve been a dedicated Mac user, probably owning every generation of Macintosh along the way. But I’m not an Apple purist—I’ve also used and owned Windows PCs for just as long. To me, computers are tools, and I appreciate each platform for its strengths.

Having access to both macOS and Windows has been especially useful as an educator. Many of my students use Windows, especially for printing, so being fluent in both systems allows me to help them troubleshoot and optimize their workflows.

That said, if I had to pick just one, it would be MacOS—not just for its elegance and user interface, but also because of the software I rely on daily, like Final Cut Pro and Ecamm Live.

Hardware

Mac Mini M4 Pro
24GB RAM
512GB SSD (supplemented by my Synology NAS – see below.)
Amazing performance in such a small form factor, super quiet and efficient. I have it set up with dual 4k monitors (built-in USB C port and HDMI port), and sometimes connect my iPad as a 3rd monitor using Apple’s Sidecar feature.

CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub
Extends the available ports on my Mac Mini and also adds USB A ports which the mini doesn’t have at all. There are many less expensive hubs available, but unless it’s a Thunderbolt 4 or faster, you won’t get the full speed potential out of your built-in ports.

BenQ SW271 27″ Monitor
Best monitor I’ve ever used for photography and color accuracy in general. The current model is the SW272. I wrote a review of it here.

Logitech Performance Mouse (Logitech has discontinued this model—replaced by MX35)
I’m very selective when it comes to a mouse given how much I use it every day, especially in Lightroom. This has been my all-time favorite for a long time—love the precision, smoothness, and comfort.

Epson P800 and Canon Pro1000
The Epson is the printer I use most often for “every day” prints up to 17″x22″. The Canon Pro-1000 that sees less use these days due to its “high mileage,” but a true workhorse for 8+ years.

While both printers produce excellent prints, they definitely have their differences in terms of operation, ease of use, and support options.

Printing on the Epson P800 is mostly smooth, but feeding matte paper? That’s another story. I’ve had moments where I’ve spent more time trying to get the paper to load than actually making prints. But once it works…the results are worth it.

On the plus side. the Epson is generally faster and doesn’t need to have it’s maintenance cartridge replaced as often as the Canon. At the end of the day, printing at home is an investment in your creative growth, not a way to save money.

GTI PDV-2020e Pro Desktop Viewer
Indispensable for viewing and evaluating prints.

iPad Pro 12.9 M2 (2023) w/ Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard
A fantastic tablet and my primary mobile “computer” that I use whenever I’m not in my studio, including on workshops. I use it for editing images in Lightroom mobile, writing, reading (mostly books), drawing, video editing, and general business tasks.

Synology NAS DS916+
My network storage device that is setup with 16TB RAID, mostly used as a file server, backup server and my own private cloud storage with Synology Drive. Another daily workhorse especially with the ever increasing number of digital files I create and need access on a regular basis.

Sandisk 1TB Extreme Pro Portable SSD
Fast and small external drive that connects to my iPad for video editing and/or backup of raw files.

Panasonic GH4
Main camera for live-streaming and video recording.

Logitech Brio 4K
Backup webcam for live-streaming.

Rode NTG3
Main shotgun mic for video and live streaming.

Blue Yeti Mic
Additional microphone for video recording.

Elgato Stream Deck Plus
Very cool device with programmable buttons that I use to control many things on my Mac, including changing scenes for live streaming, launching apps, volume control, music playing, and various other uses, including shortcuts for Lightroom.

I didn’t think I would use this as much as I do, and definitely plan on getting the Stream Deck XL soon—you can never have enough buttons!

Baron Fig Notebook
My physical way of capturing ideas and thoughts since I really enjoy the physical experience of putting pen to paper. I don’t use as much as I want to or should, but I’m trying to stay off of digital devices every morning in order to make this happen!

Software

Core Applications

Adobe Lightroom Classic
The central hub for everything I do with my images.

Adobe Lightroom (Desktop and Mobile)
Companion app that lets me sync my images from my iPhone to my iPad and LR Classic catalog. I also use it occasionally on desktop for convenience.

Final Cut Pro X (Mac and iPad)
Long time favorite video editing software.

Obsidian (Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone)
An amazingly versatile and flexible app where I do all of my writing and knowledge management in general. I use it to write my newsletters, blog posts, educational materials, plan all the content I produce, and even use it to create many of the presentations I share online.

I track and store everything I’m learning and curious about including book notes, quotes, links, and articles. But mostly it’s about generating ideas and elaborating on things I want to learn since writing is learning.
Definitely my “2nd brain” – I’d be lost without it!

Ecamm Live
Fantastic Mac only software that gives me a production studio on my computer. I use it for all of my live streaming for the Academy, webinars, and Youtube. And because it has Zoom integrated, I also use it for all of my Zoom meetings.

Works great with my Stream Deck to control all scenes from the push of a button.

Carbon Copy Cloner
Backup and cloning app for Mac.

Utilities

Raycast
App launcher and access to many productivity shortcuts for may apps.

iStats Menu
Provides useful stats about my computer in the menubar such as cpu and memory usage, network speed, hard drive space, and much more.

Moom
A window manager—if you have a large monitor or multiple monitors, makes it easy to move and re-size your app windows. And my favorite feature is the ability to save window layouts—I simply open a bunch of apps and then activate a preset to move each window exactly where I want it at a specific size.

iPad / iPhone Only

Readwise (iPad, iPhone)
Keeps track of all my book highlights and notes which I can sync to Obsidian to incorporate into my thinking and writing. It also sends me a regular email with a few random highlights from books I’ve read over the years…a great way to revisit ideas.

Reader (iPad, iPhone)
A companion app to Readwise where I save articles from the web I want to read later, similar to Pocket or Instapaper.

Goodnotes (iPad)
A digital notebook app that I use with Apple Pencil to create sketchnotes of presentations, webinars, ideas, and anything else where I want to think visually.

Procreate (iPad)
The best drawing and illustration app for the iPad imo. I use it to sketch and draw with the Pencil, especially when I’m traveling or moving about. I also love their stance on AI.

Pro Camera (iPhone)
My preferred third-party camera app for iOS.

Synology Drive
Great personal cloud storage system that lets you store and share files, sync and backup any device – similar to commercial services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or MS OneDrive.

Cameras

Yes I do have a few cameras, here’s a quick list.

• Canon 1Ds Mk III
• Canon 6DR
• Olympus E-M1
• Olympus OM-1
• Panasonic GH4
• iPhone 15 Pro

(Various lenses and accessories)

If you have any questions or feedback please share below. I’m always happy to help with your creative setup!