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Two weeks ago was my trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was a great photography trip, focusing on a variety of genres including street, landscape, and travel. This trip was a shakedown of my plans for my 2027 international trips - yes, I’m now an international travel photographer! - and I did learn a few important considerations for travel. The most important lesson that I learned is to not overbook my days with things to do. Schedule management is a thing while traveling, and it is very easy to overextend oneself with events. Hand-in-hand with this is scheduling enough recovery time during the trip. I discovered at Niagara Falls that I hadn’t really taken recovery time into consideration, and following day one, I was really tired and felt worn, which detracted from that day’s hoped-for events. It’s ok to rest on a trip; your body needs it. So, my images are contained within my portfolio, but below is a compilation of some of my best.
Yesterday, I spent the better part of the afternoon researching, contacting and WhatsApping several model agencies in Kuala Lumpur. I’ve decided that I want to do a fashion photoshoot in Malaysia with a professional Malay female model, so I’m in the process of organizing that for my January visit. This would mark my first time working with both a modeling agency and a professional model, and I am excited by the opportunity to do so. I would like to continue my growth in fashion work and provide an Asian flair to my portfolio. I am thinking of centering the shoot around the Petronas Towers, the mall and the park as backgrounds, with the theme of a modern fashion vibe again along the lines of the Ralph Lauren/Polo campaign. So we’ll see what comes of this, but I am motivated to make this happen.
I continue to try and figure out what gear I will be taking on my travels, lenses especially, and now namely what bag I am going to utilize. I will be trying to not have any check-in luggage, so therefore I will be limited to two pieces of luggage, suitcase and personal item. I think that for lenses, I’ll be taking a Viltrox 26mm f/2.8 wide-angle, Sony 28-70 f/2 zoom, and 50-150mm f/2 zoom. I might still swap in the 14-24mm f/2.8 zoom, but it depends upon bag space at this point.
Speaking of bags, specifically camera bags, I traveled to Niagara Falls with two Wotancraft bags, the 7L and 10L Pilot bags. I used the both on different days, the 10L for all of my gear, and the 7L for just my Sony A7R-vi and 26mm lens. I really do like the Wotancraft line of camera bags; they are stylish, roomy, and very well-constructed. I might be taking the 10L Pilot bag to Malaysia and Japan, unless I find a more appropriate bag. Wotancraft is coming out with a brand new line of bags called Venturist, and I will be checking out those.
Meantime, I did acquire a new bag that is in the running for my “approved” travel camera bag. I bought the Compagnon Element 12L Sling. It is one of the best-made bags I have ever owned, but very tight on space. But I absolutely love the bag and it might be my “go-to” camera bag. I just wish it had more room for personal items, not just the one zippered pocket, though I can use the interior laptop compartment for certain items such as passport and wallet. I may do a YouTube review on this bag, I’ll let you know. You can see my YouTube vids here.
That’s all for this month, thank you for reading, and o please feel free to I leave a comment.