i’ve been traveling most of days recently and with travel comes the need to incorporate general luxuries. i need bits of happiness, home, and routine to keep my sanity when i’m on the road. with travel also comes the open-minded attitude, the ability to gather the routines & trades of others and try them out for myself. I’ve met so many new people, noticed products and toys of theirs and introduced them into my own daily life, just to keep things interesting. because when you travel and you’re not at home as much as you’d like to be, it’s the little things that keep you sane & grounded at times. from Santa Barbara, CA to Portland, OR to Las Vegas, NV back home to Seattle in the past few weeks, i’ve picked up some new bits of happiness and i thought i’d share some industry related finds and personal fave items of what I’ve been geeking over and loving lately. some of them make my traveling life a whole lot easier. some of them have just become essential to my everyday business productivity and happiness- two things that everyone can always use more of.
1. evernote/penultimate //
flat out, i couldn’t live without evernote. there are a million different ways to keep track of all things business related and i’ve seen many solutions for photographers, specifially. for me, evernote trumps all. i can’t speak enough about how much i love evernote. i use my ipad nearly every second when i’m traveling, jotting down notes, reading, recording things for business, booking new clients while i’m away, etc. all of that and more goes into evernote. i create new notebooks for each new client and start stacking those away to add to later. my invoices are within evernote. all my conference notes are taken in evernote. and with their new app, penultimate, i can write it all in without typing it, making things even more streamlined. the best is when i hit sync after adding anything in and it adds it to my evernote files on my big mac at home. seamless, convenient, accessible anywhere, my love affair. lifesaver, for sure.
2. arbonne //
for my fellow female traveling photogs, i recently got hooked on arbonne’s products and invested in a travel kit. my skin is the softest it’s ever been. and yesterday, i even went without makeup. although it was a tad bit scary, i haven’t done that in forever. my skin feels fresh, rejuvinated, and revived since using this line. cram that nature in a bottle and see the incredible life your skin can gain from it. the convenience of the travel kit has made it my best friend. especially after plane rides that leave my skin feeling swelled and dry.
3. verve coffee canteen //
i’ll admit, unless it’s iced, i’m a slow coffee drinker. iced coffee, i’ll suck on down. but hot coffee, it sits a bit and i take my time. but that doesn’t mean i like it when it gets cold. i just want to drink it more slowly and enjoy it. but we all know, that’s not possible if it just sits. i’ll reach for it later and wonder, stupidly, why it’s cold. and throw it out. moneywaster. and i never learn. i recently fell in love with this coffee thermos. it’s a product of verve coffee roasters, who i fell in love with in california mainly for their branding. LOVE their branding. they’ve taken a kleen kanteen, jazzed it up a bit, and presented a product that keeps my coffee hot for HOURS. i mean it, i pour my coffee in at 8am, it’s still hot at 4pm. kid you not. huge travel buddy of mine.
* and if i’m feeling like tea, which i’ve gotten into lately, i pop some of trader joe’s ginger peach white tea in there on the go.
4. simply noise //
confession: i can’t sleep without white noise. ESPECIALLY when i travel. and sometimes, it’s not easy to turn on a fan or some other white noise maker when you’re traveling. so i found the best white noise generator i could. and of course, there’s an app for that. if you need white noise like me when you sleep, download this puppy. and put it on brown noise. always on brown. you’ll see what i mean.
5. mophie //
i’m attached to my phone when i travel. i’ll admit. there’s too much to instagram. there are emails always coming in. i gotta text my boo when i miss him. bottom line, my iphone needs a battery helper. and she gets one when i travel. my mophie helps her out and boosts her up when she’s down. what’s not to love about a whole extra battery life? mophie is a life saver when everyone else is looking for an outlet to charge their phone. changing lives one battery life at a time.
6. tripit //
tripit helps my non type a self when she doesn’t have everything quite as organized as she’d like. whenever i get an email confirmation on anything travel related (flights, hotels, rental cars, etc) my itinerary is automatically added to that trip. on the tripit app, i can see all of my confirmation numbers, all of my contact phone numbers, all of my times – they’re all stored in one file per trip automatically with no fuss. genius. i’d like to kiss whoever brought this lovely concept to life.
7. brookside chocolates //
dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, blueberries, and cranberries. the perfect travel snack. can i even say more that that? put your hands on these.
8. artifact uprising //
i discovered artifact uprising while i was in vegas this past week at the WPPI tradeshow. i instantly fell in love with their brand and the look & feel of their product. all their products are “inspired by the disappearing beauty of the tangible,” which i can identify with as an artist who produces images. so many images of my travels live on my computer. this company challenged me to create a book out of some of those images and let them live & breathe on my coffee table so others can enjoy them. love that. i’ll also be using them for my new albums that i offer to clients. plus, all their products are made from recycled materials.
9. songza //
i know it’s old news to a lot of you, but i’m still in love with songza.com. it’s like pandora, but you choose a playlist based on your mood, which is even more brainless to me. i’m also finding tons of new artists on there. and when i’m in a rental car driving up the california coast, i pop my phone on the auxilary hookup and listen to a playlist made specifically for the california coast. obsessed with songza.
10. fujifilm x-e1 //
this may sound like the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard. but i don’t bring my camera with me sometimes when i’m out and about walking around because it’s just too heavy. and when i’m taking professional photos all the time, i get sick of carrying around the piece of equipment that runs my business. partly because i’m afraid something will happen to it but also, when i’m messing around and being a tourist, i want something that’s not gonna kill my shoulder and is more portable. i’m also asked a million times a day by hobbyist photographers about where they should invest their money. is there a camera that has a lot of bang for your buck, with interchangeable lenses, that produces bangin images, if i’m not going pro with it? with folks, here’s your answer. my new buddy, ryan moore, blew my mind with this camera that he brings around everywhere. he only travels with this one. and he let me shoot with it some in vegas. i was in love. ask my travel buddies who were pulling me along because i was taking photos of everything and anything. i loved that thing. and personally as a photographer, i’m thinking it would be worth the investment to practice more, take more photos when i travel, and to keep my moneymaker camera free from any harm by leaving it at home. this camear just makes so much sense from where i stand. the quality of the images is what i was concerned with but taking it out for a test drive myself, i was sold. check out the beautiful quality on the image above!
if you are a destination photographer or your traveling a bunch for your work, here’s some of my must haves and latest discoveries. what’s some of your tips and tricks and favorite travel products? i’d love to hear em!
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