9 Father’s Day Gifts for Photographer Dads

fathers day gifts for photographers
Photo by Nicola Perantoni

“Daaaaaaad,” you groaned as he made you pose next to the station wagon with the highway sign for the Largest Ball of Twine framed ever-so-perfectly over your shoulder.

Sure, your dad being an avid photographer was at times inconvenient — but it was a small price to pay, considering how much you learned from him about photography (and creativity, and an interest in the arts, generally).

This year, indulge your dear old dad with Father’s Day gifts that will warm his photographer’s heart.

Under $25:

fathers day gifts for photographers

Some party-dad cuff-links: If your father’s day job requires a starched shirt, help him show off what he gets up to on the weekends with these simple, stylish cuff-links. Just picture it: While he’s shaking hands and making deals, his clients will be noticing not only his confidence, but also his cool accessories.

A wireless shutter release: How many times have you watched your dad set up the tripod, hit the timer, then come running into the frame next to you, only to appear as a weird blur in the image? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Put the controls literally into his hands with a wireless shutter release. They’re surprisingly inexpensive, and oh-so useful.

A lens cap clip: It’s a scientific fact: Dads love to clip stuff to other stuff. Just look at how so many dads clip their phones to their belts! Take advantage of this penchant to help your dad stop losing his lens caps with the Hufa Lens Cap Clip.

$25-$50:

A really rugged clamp: When Manfrotto says no camera bag should be without one of these bad boys, they’re not messing around. We’ll let them explain why: “The Super Clamp holds just about everything: cameras, lights, umbrellas, hooks, shelves, plate glass, cross bars, even other Super Clamps! And they hold these items to just about everything: poles, posts, tripod legs, pipes, doors, stands, and beams – virtually any support you can get the Super Clamps wide jaws around.”

father's day gifts for photographers

The Cordito Cord Organizer: This cord organizer is stylish enough for even the classiest dads, who will also appreciate the cool design-y-ness of it, and the functionality. Never again will he need to borrow one of your cables.

A flexible tripod for his phone: Now that you’ve finally helped Dad figure out how to use his iPhone, take his phone-tography to the next level with this flexible magnetic tripod, which is perfect for safaris, epic climbing trips, Little League games, or whatever else your dad is shooting.

$50+:

A super-hardcore external hard drive: It can be rough to find a hard drive that works as hard as your dad, but the LaCie Rugged 3.0 comes pretty darn close. He’ll appreciate the extra space, the ease of use…and the fact that he doesn’t have to treat it like it’s made of glass.

A camera bag that doubles as a cooler: Know what dads love? Beer. This camera bag doubles as a cooler, making it easy for your pops to head out into the field with everything he needs — including a cold one.

A utility belt: Dads and utility belts go together like dads and really bad jokes that you laugh at anyway. Treat your pop to this useful (if not, um, stylish?) utility belt from LowerPro, because you know he needs to have his hands free to shimmy up trees and into ravines to get the shot. Or because he spends a lot of time manning the grille and perpetually has barbecue sauce on his lense. Either way.

 

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Hanna Brooks Olsen is a writer and editor for CreativeLive, longtime reporter, and the co-founder of Seattlish. Follow her on Twitter at @mshannabrooks or go to her website for more stuff.