Changes to this Site


If you've been following this blog for any amount of time it's probably become apparent that I'm not updating it that frequently, which in my mind, is both a good and a bad thing. I started this blog as a creative outlet to share the things I was working on, thinking about, some of our travels, and provide insights on tech stuff for those that might be a touch less nerdy. Since I started in my current work role in late 2023 I've found myself devoting less time to creative endeavors so I've been a bit lax on this blog and all things related. That feels like bad news but I don't think it is. The good news about it is that I've settled in to what I feel is a pretty good groove there and that's translated in to a bit more free time and, frankly, income. As a result of that I'm doing less free-lance photo work and feel that this website doesn't need to lean as hard in to booking gigs. Our recent trip to Japan (which I promise I'll talk about soon) illustrated to me that flexing those creative muscles is important so I've removed the "booking/rates" portion of the site. I am, of course, still open to working on interesting projects-I just don't feel the need to be so business focused and as such this site will now lean more in to creative content.

Challenge Accepted!!!


I did a Facebook post as we were leaving Japan about how much I loved the experience, the people, the food, and really all of it so I won't get in to that here. What I do want to talk about is a challenge I made to myself leading up to this trip and how I prepared for it. What's that challenge you ask? To do it on only carry-on luggage. If we've ever met more than casually you know that might be a bit of a challenge for me. Why? Well, there's a few reasons and the main ones are that I am:

  • a compulsive over-packer who likes to dress well
  • I might need two different blazers, dress shirts, shoe options, and weather conditions vary
  • a compulsive over-thinker who likes to have every conceiveable piece of photo/tech gear to address every "what if" scenario
  • I need my laptop, iPad, backup SSD, spare memory cards, external flash, tripod, filters, cleaning kit, remote trigger, and every focal length from 16-400mm, right?

What I've come to learn over the past few years of travel is that I didn't, in fact, need all of that gear and the reality was that I wasn't going to use most of it and in the way of clothing wasn't going to wear most of it. All that it accomplished was to take up extra space (and if you're talking about the general sizing/volume of my clothing that's significant) and cause me to carry extra weight. That sucks. Schlepping my heavy-assed suitcases up and down the stairs in Lisbon, Portugal last spring really drove this point home. I'm in decent-ish shape and I struggled. Dragging my bulletproof Pelican case loaded to the gills with gear along the cobblestone streets of Paris? Sucked. Having the Sony 12-24 and Tamron 35-150 on my shoulder walking the streets of Puerto Vallarta? Flexible, yes and also totally sucked.


I made the commitment to do a carry-on and personal item only for this trip and I'm happy to report that not only did that totally work, I could have made due with even less and on our next trip I intend to do that very thing. I'll spend the next few paragraphs talking about what I used to do that and share a few images I shot along the way.


The first thing I did was to think about what I "actually" needed from a clothing and bag perspective . Since Tracy was smart and booked a hotel mid-way through our trip that had laundry I figured I could bring about half what I normally would. As memory serves here's what I packed and carried for the arrival/departure legs of the trip:

  • 1 Osprey Farpoint 40L Travel Pack
  • 1 Tenba Skyline 13 Messenger Bag
  • 3 pairs of pants
  • 5 casual t-shirts
  • 5 pairs socks
  • 2 cotton 3 merino wool blend "dress socks"
  • 5 pairs underwear
  • 2 dress shirts (one of which I was wearing when we left)
  • Puffer jacket
  • Rain jacket (glad I brought that one)
  • Jean jacket
  • 1 pair hiking boots (Hoka Anacapa 2 GTX Mid) and I HIGHLY recommend these
  • 1 pair Tom's slides (should have sized up 1/2 size)
  • Sony A7R3 Camera (Me)
  • Sony A7C Camera (Tracy)
  • Sony 85mm F1.8 Lens (Tracy)
  • Tamron 20-40mm F2.8 Lens (Tracy)
  • Sony 20mm F1.8G Lens (Me)
  • Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 Lens (Me)
  • Travel Tripod
  • iPad Air
  • Sony WF-1000XM5 Earbuds (HIGHLY recommend and I got mine refurbished from Secondipity on eBay)
  • Filters/lenses/batteries/charging cables/misc. tech

What's that Smell?


I packed up all of the photo/tech stuff in to my Tenba Skyline 13 Messenger bag and the clothing items I rolled up so as to make them as compact as possible and then tossed them in to vacuum compression bags. Those bags (and the tripod) made their way in to the Osprey Farpoint 40 bag. How'd that work? Great, except the darn thing functioned like a tortoise shell while on the Tokyo/Kyoto trains and was really damn heavy and unwieldly. When we do this again I'm going to scrap the backpack, go back to my hard-sided carry-on bag, and use the trolley strap on my camera bag to mule that along. They Skyline 13 Messenger bag is a 6/10 bag. Decent storage capacity. Whisper velcro doesn't really work and the strap is mid-level at best. Should have kept my Tenba DNA 13 Messenger. Also curious about the Peak Design 10L Sling.


One thing I realized in making the promise to only bring two pairs of shoes was that socks matter. They matter even more when you bring a pair of Gore-Tex shoes as you're worried about rain (which was a good call). If you know anything about Gore-Tex you know it doesn't breathe well and if we're talking about my comfy, cushy cotton socks which don't wick away moisture you probably also realized this leads to some STINKY ASSED FEET/SOCKS. Thankfully, all our hotels had spray bottles with odor eliminating stuff in it-maybe for this exact thing as the Japanese often remove shoes. The merino wool dress socks were much better but their thinness made them less comfy for long walking days. Moving forward I'll invest in merino wool boot socks (and I scored some at Costco yesterday).


Speaking of merino wool I'd like to give a quick shout to Unbound Merino and their shirts. I first learned about them on YouTube from a channel that escapes me where the creator was saying how they helped him to pack less on his trip due to their unique combination of moisture wicking and odor fighting. I was skeptical because they're expensive but I ordered two anyways and since they have tall sizes I was excited. What did I learn? They're freaking awesome. They are wrinkle resistant, absolutely wick away moisture (I don't like sitting in sweaty/icky cotton shirts now), and for single bag travel these are a must have. This is one of those cases where spending more (and quite a bit if I'm honest) gives you more. I could, seriously, travel for 10 or more days on like 3 or 4 of them so I'll be buying a few more for our next adventure.

Tell us about the photo gear, already!!!!


Okay, I know that's what everyone wants to hear about and honestly there's not a lot to say about the gear we brought. Tracy's gear, specifically, she's had for a few years now and it serves her well given its light weight and high image quality, I was thrilled to see how much she shot with the 85mm F1.8 lens on this trip-it's a long time favorite of mine that punches waaaaay above its price point. Personally, I'd decided to "downgrade" from my A7RV to the older A7Riii mainly because I don't "need" 61MP images and the R3's 42MP files are more than enough in most cases. Furthermore, making the change allowed me to have a little extra cash in my pocket for other fun projects. Both lenses I brought along (Sony SEL20F18G and Tamron A071) performed admirably and I've used them in the past. I thought I'd end up using the 20mm more than I did, though I'm glad I had it.


I did take a little heat from an old lady at the Asaka Shrine in Kyoto. Apparently, you're not supposed to shoot on that street with a tripod? I was, in fact, off the street in a parking lot but she didn't seem to care. I told her thank you and put it away. As you all know this is a hobby (obsession?) for me and I frequently think about if my gear is optimal. My experience with the lady in Kyoto got me to questioning if I could do longer exposures without a tripod and when we were in Shibuya I tried to do that very thing (as the site said tripods were okay and the reality is they weren't) with decent (4/10-maybe) success.


One of the things I've seen lately is that some of the medium format cameras have amazing IBIS (in body image stabilization) that can allow their user to hand hold exposures of a second (or more)!!! During our time at the palace in Kyoto Tracy and I were fortunate to meet an older gentleman shooting with a Leica camera and I, of course, engaged him about it. He was telling me about how he loves it and his other camera was a Hasselblad film unit. He uses his cameras for capturing memories of their travels and of his family-like I do. He said, what price can you put on that? While visiting Yodabashi Camera in Akihabara, Tokyo they had a Hasselblad display featuring the new X2Dii and the 35-100mm zoom lens and I fell in love. The interface, the feel in the hand, and OMG the images. I'm obsessed. Now I just need to figure out how to swing the $11k to buy the damn thing.