Travel Diary: Basel, Switzerland

Home of Art Basel, Basel sits around an hour by train from Zurich, so I figured it would be a nice little jaunt to head over before meeting family back in Zurich in a few days. Not knowing a whole lot about Basel except for the association with Art Basel, the only thing I really expected is maybe seeing some cool art, so off I went and wandered the city for a few days. Decidedly laid back and chill, the vibe of the city mimicked the flow of the Rhine river through the city. Complete with essentially a party every afternoon on the river with scenes reminiscent of beach hangout days I’ve seen in the tropics, folks were sipping drinks, having a swim, playing tunes…living the good life. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.

I had heard of a graffiti scene in Basel so after a quick google search, I walked across the city in search of a long stretch of wall near the train station. Tunes in the ears (Digable Planets, Tribe Called Quest, etc) and a bounce in my step, I caught myself dancing down the streets. I only realised I was doing this after catching smiles and laughs from passersby. It’s funny how contagious good energy is. Mundane strolls turn into moments of joy. I’m here for it. Graffiti pieces were scattered over the city, from commissioned to maybe not so commissioned. I’m a sucker for trains, so seeing the stretch of painted walls that stretched for kilometers between Zurich and Basel immediately conjured memories of that first time I saw Wild Style as a kid and fell in love with writing my name all over the place. I haven’t done that in a long time other than scrawling in the margins of my countless notebooks, but I’ll never not pause and check out handstyles, bombs, throw ups and full pieces on walls. Similarly, these days, I’ve grown a liking to finding little pools of light and watching what happens. Everything kind of slows down and the only thing that matters is what’s right in front of me. It’s not therapy per se, but damn is it a good exercise in being present. Chase the light and find out what happens.

For my fellow photographers, everything was shot on the Fuji x100v. I picked up the telephoto adapter back in Osaka, so I had the option between the default 35mm and throwing the little adapter and getting a 50mm frame. Super small, I could still travel light and fast.

Travel Diary: Osaka Part 1

On a whim, I found a cheap ticket to Osaka for a sneaky weekend and hopped on the redeye from Saigon and woke up at 8:30 am in Osaka. Gotta love time travel. I’m absolutely smitten with Japan and the opportunity to spend a few days in Osaka was too good to resist. With the yen at a 35 year low, there’s no better time to take advantage. With no real agenda aside from going to Universal Studios for some rollercoasters and Mario goodness (stay tuned for those images) I just wandered, rode trains, ate all the food, and took pictures of every nook and cranny of this incredible city. I only took my Fuji x100v and the ease of shooting definitely reflected in the mountain of images I had to sift through when I got home. Maybe I need to temper that itchy trigger finger so I can limit these posts to just one part? Maybe not. This will be part one of three so stay tuned for more later in the week!

Staying Inspired by Playing tourist in my Own City

Photographers get bored. Something new and shiny grabs our attention, foreign destinations dangle in front of us like carrots. Our cameras sit on shelves when we’re home and not on the road or in the studio. It happens when you live in places people love to shoot, too.….…Or, maybe its me and not photographers in general. But I’d guess this happens to a lot of people. You’ve seen something a million times, the shine isn’t as bright as it used to be despite still being endlessly photogenic to so many others…it becomes the mundane. And, then you have a friend come in town and you get to see your city as a tourist all over again and all of a sudden its shiny again. This time, my good friend, Nev and his partner Jacky, dropped me a line that they were going to be in Saigon for a few days and they’d love to go out shooting like we did 8 years ago the last time he was in Saigon. So of course, I said yes and got excited to play tour guide and act like a tourist in my own town. Every time I step outside of my routine and go shoot in Saigon just for the pleasure of shooting, it’s always a good time. Seeing places with new eyes and all that, right?

On a side note, if you’re not familiar with Nev’s work, he’s one of the most talented people I know. Incredible artist and a damn good photographer too. He’s on his way up to Danang this week to paint a piece up there, so if you’re in the Danang area go check out Nam Jam Mural Festival, say hello and show him where all the good food is.

We went out a couple of afternoons/evenings happily snapping away and catching up on life. As he chatted about Saigon the last time he was here, the sheer change of the city became more obvious than I realized seeing as I’ve only seen the incremental change (albiet more rapid than most places) over the past years. The skyline is vastly different and the city has a bit of a different vibe these days. Looking at some of the images we took last time and going back to the same places was eye opening to see the differences. It was fun hearing an outside perspective and think about the city I live in from a new angle. Nev lives in NYC some of the year and left Atlanta a year before I did, so we waxed on about playing tour guides in our new adopted cities. It’s a fun exercise to get out there, find the beauty in what has become mundane or normal and have an amazing time with old friends. Enough waxing on poetic….

Tips and Tricks: Using Light to Simplify Compositions in Travel Photography

Living in Saigon, street scenes are usually busy, chaotic, and have a million things going on everywhere, all at the same time. It’s sensory overload sometimes even after a decade of living here. Shooting these scenes, it’s often easy to fall into the trap of trying to capture everything all in the same frame. We see so many interesting things and we snap away. But most of the time, the result is an image with about forty bajillion competing elements and the viewer is left wondering what the subject of the scene is. It’s like drinking out of a firehose. Not great. That said, there are many ways to avoid this, but one of my favourite ways is letting light guide my compositions, and my viewers’ eyes, to a clear subject. It’s a fun way to cut out some of the clutter and refine and focus your images when the scene is otherwise filled to the brim with everything….all at the same time. Look for little pools of light…and wait for it. Have a look around, anticipate interesting things happening in the light before you. Let light create shapes and guide your framing. No leading lines? Use a shaft of light to guide those eyes. Messy background? Drop down that exposure and shoot for the highlights. Put that messy background in shadows so it’s not distracting. And always remember, you don’t need to tell everything in one image. Create a series that’s interesting and tells a story through vignettes….kinda like those little pool of lights you stalked when you were shooting.

For all the folks interested in what gear I use, these were all shot on an old Fuji x100s. Yeah. the S. Nothing fancy. Just chasing the light.

What other little tricks can you think of to make otherwise hectic compositions cleaner and more compelling? Leave a comment below. Let’s see all those little things you’ve learned!

Travel Diary - Sri Lanka Part 1 : Columbo

I got a little shutter happy this past trip to Sri Lanka and ended up with far more images that I cared to sift through, but with that, I had the fun problem of trying to pare down the mountains of images into something that would be not akin to drinking out of a firehose. So, here we are. This first batch of images are all from Columbo and it’s not hard to understand how I got a bit overzealous and snapped away if you get to travel here. While most people hop in and out of Columbo, I absolutely love shooting here. The Columbo Fort station, Pettah Market, it’s a street photographer’s dream. Keep checking back for parts 2 and 3 where we head down to the beaches and to the old Dutch fort of Galle. On that note, we’ve extended our Sri Lanka photography tour next year and so sign up over here and join us!

Travel Diary : Komodo and Nusa Penida, Indonesia

It’s been crazy busy lately, so I’ve had a backlog of images from some travel earlier this year and I’m just now able to get to these. Over the summer, Komodo was calling and I definitely answered. The small town of Labuan Bajo was a dusty little town the last time I was there and while its still a small town, it’s definitely not dusty anymore. Looks like a substantial investment in infrastructure has led to a boom in development. Nicer roads, a massive increase in food offerings and considerably more tourists. It felt like a different place. It doesn’t look like its spiraled out of control, so I’m hoping it retains its laid back vibes for a bit longer.

Following Komodo, I popped back to Nusa Penida to see some friends and have a pitstop before heading back to Saigon. It’s always such a good look to not worry about going to see much and just slowing down to hang with friends. Only there for a couple nights, I didn’t get to shoot much, but the light was incredible and I couldn’t help but including a few frames in this post.

For the photographers, I travelled light and fast so I shot all of these on my little Fuji x100s.

Travel Diary: Coron, Philippines

It’s been over 8 years since I’ve been to Coron and I’d heard things had changed drastically since then, so as I headed back to the land of WW2 shipwrecks and incredible scenery, I wondered how this sleepy town of my memory had changed. While there’s actually a pub that serves craft beer, and there’s a bit more traffic, it still had much the same vibe as I remembered. Super friendly people, incredible diving, and a laid back air that seemingly only island life can have. While most of my time was spent underwater exploring the Japanese wrecks from WW2, I made use of the surface time to wander around and take some street shots here and there. Of course, I tried (key word “tried”) to capture the jaw dropping vistas of the surrounding islands, but I’m well aware of what ticks the boxes as far as what I love shooting. Either way it was such a nice return to Palawan with new eyes!

For the photographers, these were all shot on my trusty little Fuji x100s. I love (and my back as well) having such a little camera for these types of trips.

If you like these types of images, head on over to my Instagram and give it a follow!

Travel Diary: Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor

Recently, I had the opportunity to hop over to Siem Reap to revisit the temples of Angkor for the first time in 9 years. My previous visit was my first to Cambodia and within 6 months of moving back to Southeast Asia. Needless to say, it was an incredible trip to an absolutely magical place. The temples of Angkor are out of a storybook to say the least. It was a lesson in very early rises to avoid the crowds and to see the temples at their very best. Moments of stillness as the sun peaked through the jungle burned some truly unforgettable memories into my mind. So, when the time came to take a weekender, I was quick to jump at the chance. I wondered how Siem Reap, the city just a few kilometers outside of the temple complex, had changed over the last decade. Had it fallen victim to overdevelopment and lost its charm? Had it survived the pandemic? Would the magic I experienced exploring the temples still be there years later? I had so many questions. One way to find out, right?

I opted to fly into Siem Reap this time and was greeted by a slick, shiny airport. You can tell tourist dollars have been put into it to support this Unesco World Heritage destination. Apparently a new airport is being built now, so I’m curious to see how this one will compare. Siem Reap seems to have weathered the storm of the pandemic with tourists already back, albeit not at pre ‘Rona numbers. Honestly, it feels like a happy medium right now as it felt completely unsustainable the last time I was here. Tour busses clogged the roads, temples felt like ant hills crawling with tour groups - it felt hectic. Not exactly what I envisioned when 1000 year-old sacred temples came to mind. In any event, while tourists are back and the economy has seemed to have rebounded, it didn’t feel like navigating a stampede within the temple complex. Quiet moments were abundant, yet the town didn’t feel like a ghost town like so many other destinations following the last two years. It was a nice balance. I hope the reopening of the world won’t cause this to devolve into the roving hoard of zombies it was pre-pandemic. Here’s to wishful thinking…

As far as photography goes, I made the call to leave the Sony kit at home in favor of traveling fast and light with my Fuji X100S. I picked this little guy up in a trade this year and have been playing around with it around Saigon. While it’s so fun to have a lightweight camera around my neck all the time, I’m not gonna lie, leaving the “proper camera” at home was giving me anxiety. That said, I felt like I needed to rip the band-aid off and jump into the deep end. Immediately, it changed the way I shot and travelled. A small point and shoot is certainly lower profile and almost went unnoticed in the quiet, intimate moments. My back also thanked me as I wasn’t hauling around a few lenses and a heavier camera body. Travel flowed and it felt a bit more free in my movements. The equivalent of a 35mm lens is a perfect walk around focal length and allowed me to focus on the moments in front of me rather than thinking about which lens was the best option for each situation. Liberating, really. Although portraits weren’t in the cards with this setup, I was more interested in street and travel photography so not a big loss there. This camera was more than capable for what I was after and the files were great in the edit. I’d be more than happy printing these in bigger formats. I’m couldn’t recommend giving this a try more.

As always, have a look at my IG and give a follow over there for more images like this. And now on to some of my favourite frames.