My favorite photography travel equipment, after 10 years on the road:
Body Armor
- Outlier Merino Wool T-Shirt: Thanks to my friend Kevin for getting me this shirt. Best shirt I’ve ever used, and I wear it everyday. Fits well, warm when cold, and cool when hot. Easy to wash in shower with shampoo, dries the next day. Last shirt I’ll ever wear.
- Merino Wool Socks: better than anything synthetic. Dries quickly, is warm, doesn’t stink. Darn Tough Socks is my favorite brand.
- Merino Wool Men’s Leggings (black): no more jeans or pants for me. Flexible which means I can do Yoga and Deadlifts when on the road. “Minus 33” is a good brand on Amazon. I wear black gym shorts over it (to hide my junk).
Camera
RICOH GR II is still my favorite travel camera.
Device
New 10.5 iPad Pro (black), 256GB — my sole computing device while on the road.
Favorite apps:
- ProCreate to make drawings
- IA WRITER: For all my writing
- iBooks: Read .epub ebooks, PDF books (mostly off Gutenberg.org)— reading Nietzsche (Will to Power, Twilight of the idols, The Dawn), Pre-Socratic philosophers (Empedocles, Democritus)
- Music: Default music app, listening to “Culture” by MIGOS, and TRAP music (I like the new “Hold Tight” song by Kanye). Using BEATS X Bluetooth headphones (love the bass, lightweight, and flexible)
- Dropbox: To sync my files. I pay for the premium membership.
- Experimenting with Lightroom CC: processing JPEG images from RICOH GR II with iPad SD card reader, the default color filters look good.
Backpack
Generic North Face Backpack.
Coffee
Traveling with “Clever” coffee dripper, generic stainless steel coffee grinder, and buying light roast coffee on the road.
Whenever at coffee shop, only espresso.
Travel and life hacks
Stay at friends or family houses whenever possible to save money. If not, find cheap Airbnb with 4.5+ rating and lots of reviews (preferably under $80 a night).
Always fly cheapest flights — economy, via Kayak.com, but preferably shortest transit time.
Use Uber whenever on the road, a good luxury instead of public transportation.
If WiFi at home is good, do work and have good coffee at home during the day, and only leaving house or Airbnb in the evening to have a simple dinner. Or go grocery shopping (a fun activity in itself) and cook meat and veggies at home (pork belly, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts, eggs).
Things NOT TO DO when traveling
No more sightseeing touristy stuff. Only things to do when traveling:
- Work at coffee shop.
- See a museum or exhibition we are actually interested in (like Bauhaus museum in Berlin).
- Meet friend or family for dinner.
- Going to moderately priced restaurants to eat good local food (usually share one entree and appetizer between me and Cindy).
What is the purpose of traveling?
At this point, this is why I travel:
- To teach workshops
- Being on the road keeps me on my toes, because it is uncomfortable. Prevents me from being too complacent, also prevents me from accruing physical stuff and goods.
- Expanding my horizons and mind and limits: Recent inspiration seeing printed experimental magazines in Berlin coffee shop/media lab/bookstore. By traveling, I realize the world is much bigger than me and my small self-imposed bubble. A reminder to THINK BIG, and to think GLOBAL.
More thoughts and philosophies on traveling to come.
New: LIMITED-EDITION HENRI CHROMA WRIST STRAPS
Add some color to your life with limited-edition HENRI CHROMA.