# Overpacked > Travel far, document it poorly, and pack too many cameras. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### Hey, I'm writing over here! URL: https://www.needoptic.com/about/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T02:55:36.000Z I go on adventures with a crew of capable people who tolerate my presence as the designated photographer. I travel with my family to places that require a helicopter or a long explanation. I cook seriously, eat enthusiastically, and attempt to compensate with mediocre athletic skills. I have too many hobbies. I'm a jack of all trades, painfully aware being a master of none. I have so much confidence that half the time I make it through based on delusion alone. I buy an excessive amount of photography gear, pack too much, and then write essays about what I saw through the viewfinder. You can find me on [X](https://x.com/needoptic?ref=needoptic.com), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/needoptic?ref=needoptic.com), and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aurimasadomavicius/?ref=needoptic.com). 📍 Chicago, IL --- Also, check out [https://devbridgefoundation.org](https://devbridgefoundation.org/?ref=needoptic.com) where our mission is to empower Lithuanians around the globe by expanding access to innovative knowledge, fostering entrepreneurship, and strengthening Lithuanian culture worldwide. ### The gear URL: https://www.needoptic.com/the-gear/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T14:39:38.000Z We've arrived at a time and place where consumer camera sensors out-resolve the human eye, where modern glass produces images so sharp that the clarity makes my head hurt. And yet photography gear continues to wet an insatiable hunger for the new. We caress the overpriced magnesium alloy chassis', trace the nicks and scratches of cameras that have accompanied us through moments that bring meaning to this life. Here's the evolving, excessive list of gadgets that help me notice things and hurt my back during travel. > “The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality.” > **Henri Cartier Bresson** ## The Leica's (Q2 + Q3) I have never dipped my toes into the viewfinder business. That may become a future maneuver, but I grew up fascinated with capabilities of digital cameras and naturally progressed from a Canon Rebel 2000 into the Canon Mark's, etc. At one point I became obsessed with build quality and small size - Fuji turned into a love affair with their X100 line and then the XT's. Finally, I mustered the courage (and the bags of cash) to buy a Leica Q2 28mm in 2019\. 28mm is not the easiest focal length, requires a lot of composition management, but it also has a playfulness which I miss on longer lenses. Interplay of foreground, background, subject, as well as context-setting elements are unique to this focal length. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/cabo-LEICA-Q2-28-mm-L1000034.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/ash-LEICA-Q2-28-mm-L1010049.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030052.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030809.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/vilnius-LEICA-Q2-28-mm-L1000356.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000094-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1040093.jpg) Q2 @ 28mm, Japan, Switzerland, Lithuania, Cabo, Patagonia and more. The quality of glass, size of sensor, and build materials are matched by none in this "compact" category. By the time the Q3 43mm came out I was already standing in line, cash in hand, Leica red dot tramp stamp tattooed above my buttocks. Some of the purity has been lost with the flippy screen on this new model, but it retains the qualities that matter. More on that in a dedicated post... ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1002058-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1002103-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1002192-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1002347-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1002355-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1002402-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) Around Italy with the Leica Q3 43mm ## The Sony A7R V I read somewhere that this camera does everything too well for its own sake. We like flaws and quirks and this thing just doesn't have 'em. It's like that multi-function copier in the office that can burn a continent sized hole in the ozone layer on a single print job. It's technically impressive, but you don't really want to cuddle it in the evening. It's fast, it's a huge sensor, it can film, and it's comfortable to use with its oversized grip. It's also a bit boring. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1002903.jpg) I turned to Sony after getting fed up with Canon's closed ecosystem for camera lenses. Their RF line ballooned in weight in line with the US obesity metrics and it was clear that lightweight, small, metal lenses were nowhere on the roadmap. I know, I know, the RF35mm does exist, but it's plastic, has no aperture ring, and looks like shit. Canon has adopted the Toyota of photography design aesthetic and it's in direct violation of my moral code. Here's the Sony glass collecting dust on my shelf: - Sony FE 24mm F2.8 G - tiny wide angle, weighs less than your vape, survived a hike in Texas. Metal construction, dedicated aperture ring. - Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM - a massive, fat lens to contradict everything I've ranted about up to this point, but the optics are worth it for non-travel stuff. - Sony FE 40mm F2.5 G - just as small, perfect focal length. Contender for the ultimate travel lens title. Crazy optical quality for its size. With the juggernaut sensor in the A7R has plenty of "reach" when cropping. - Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.2 - optically imperfect, but can produce butter @ F1.2\. I bought this before the 40mm, a bit of an outlier in the lineup. - Sony FE 85mm F1.8 - the lightweight (cheap) alternative to the GM option. No dedicated aperture ring. Good to compress perspective on travel, but also a bit redundant with these oversized sensors. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03811-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03746-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03752-SONY-50mm.jpg) The Voigtlander works well stopped down. ## Ricoh GR III x The backup camera. Fits in a jeans pocket. 40mm equivalent and a lovely sensor to boot. No EVF, annoying to use on a bright day. Weighs close to nothing so it goes everywhere. Very useful for an "idiot tourist" cosplay doing street photography. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/R0000116.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/R0000170.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/R0000235.jpg) ## The Fuji era In between the ecosystem switch I dove into the Fuji world attracted by the ridiculously good looking bodies, great ergonomics, light weight, and capable optics for their price point. The X100 series were the first cameras in my collection and, in retrospect, the cameras that taught me the most about street composition. I still own the X100F, although it is largely retired and only goes for a walk much like a collectable Rolex. The X-T2 was my "travel Canon" for close to seven years (along with a myriad of lenses). To this day its a camera with one of the largest collection of images in the database. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/20180121--fog-X100F---23-mm---5740.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF1551-Edit-Edit.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF1648-Edit.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF3023-Edit.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/nyc-X100F-23-mm-DSCF6452.jpg) Urban scapes on the Fuji system. And the XE4 was a bit of an impulse buy in pursuit of an even smaller, more compact package. Every time I pick up one of these older cameras I realize how little has changed in the field. Yes, the sensors are now astronomically large and all have IBIS, but light capture hasn't changed one bit. Composition, quality of light, and comically small number of controls actually matter in the process of image making. > My [thoughts on X100F](https://www.needoptic.com/fuji-x100f-review/) in a separate post. ## Worthy mentions Here are a few random bits of kit that orbit the sun in my vicinity: - Bag choice is[ Nomatic McKinnon Camera Pack 25L](https://a.co/d/0gPF8fGP?ref=needoptic.com). Modular so that you can live your life even if you're not a professional photographer. - Peak Design for their [Slide straps](https://www.peakdesign.com/products/slide-lite?Color=Black&ref=needoptic.com). - [Lowepro Creator Boxes](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1731470-REG/lowepro%5Flp37349%5Fgrl%5Fgear%5Fup%5Fcreator%5Fbox.html?ref=needoptic.com) for camera overpack (esp. if not traveling with a dedicated camera backpack, e.g. hike). - [Prism Lens FX](https://prismlensfx.com/collections/handheld-fx-filters?ref=needoptic.com) filters for some wonky distortion. - [DJI Mini 4 Pro](https://store.dji.com/product/dji-mini-4-pro-combo-rc-2-sb?vid=186621&ref=needoptic.com) for aerial photography. ### Essays URL: https://www.needoptic.com/essays/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T01:59:14.000Z _No content available._ ### Photo essays URL: https://www.needoptic.com/photo-essays/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T14:35:44.000Z _No content available._ ## Posts ### Four days of rain URL: https://www.needoptic.com/four-days-of-rain/ Last updated: 2026-10-07T18:53:06.000Z Signature cumulonimbus clouds rapidly rolling through the sky, sun peeking for minutes, then rain scenting the ground with a childhood smell. The weather is unpredictable here, unlike Chicago. Chicago rain has intent: it announces it is coming with a violent and thunderous front, unloads water with force for a few hours, and then recedes for days. Here it's ebbing and undecided, like a primordial soup in the sky. We're in our flat in old town Vilnius - small by American standards, large by Lithuanian. A hundred square meters of prime real estate. It's a museum outside our windows: 14th-century churches, ringing bells, and defensive walls. The three of us: Ashton, Virginija, and I. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003550-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003556-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) Brought the Leica EV1; it's paired with a 90mm lens for most of these walks. Our unit is a small act of architectural hypocrisy. Old town Vilnius generally forbids new construction, but somebody somehow slipped the permits for this condo building through the overregulated bureaucratic apparatus. A gray, monolithic modern block now sits on the edge of old town and a cobbled street, its floor-to-ceiling windows staring out over a sea of red rooftops and church spires. We're on the top floor, a loft with twenty-foot ceilings in the living space and a modern chandelier hung so high that replacing a bulb would be a riskier proposition than free-soloing El Capitan. Inside, Ashton and I are working our way through the new Lego Batman game on the PlayStation. It's the perfect setup for when Lithuania decides to stain its sky with rainclouds, and warm when the sun dips west in the evening and pours in through those enormous windows. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003835-LEICA-Q3-43-43mm.jpg) A lot of memories here from prior trips, and a lot of nostalgia: both Virginija and I grew up in Lithuania before we emigrated. We know the Lithuanian language. We appreciate the culture, the matter-of-factness, the refined bakeries, the delicate food, the cobblestone streets, the familiar faces, the homogeneity of the population. It's preserved and distinctly Lithuanian, even if Americanisms permeate the media with catchy phrases that sound silly and out of place in Lithuanian sentences. As I get older, jetlag heading East is brutal. We go to bed at midnight because it's bright as day until then, and wake at 3am having successfully completed a nap. Quick workout, breakfast, then another nap at 10am that often lasts until late afternoon and leaves me feeling doped up. Time of day is relative. Ashton isn't bothered at all, collecting 12+ hours of sleep daily. Virginija and I are highly caffeinated zombies. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003466-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003468-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) You're being watched by cameras and you can't go in either direction. Got it. We skipped a year (Michigan last summer), so the house is coughing dust and shaking off rust as we power up the appliances. The dishwasher had calcium deposits that took three cycles to flush. The washing machine is beyond recovery: mold grew inside on the soap residue. The smell and the optics promise complete and utter destruction of any clothes you'd brave to wash in it. Had to scramble and order a new one. We miss our one-thousand-horsepower washer and dryer in Chicago fueled by burning natural gas. The moment we land in the unit, Virginija goes into her nesting phase and opens up an Amazon shopping spree. The orders ship from Germany and require three separate couriers to relay their way into Lithuania. The American cleaning brands and familiar utensils trickle in over the following days, one cardboard box at a time, forming an unstable column by the door. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003489-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003501-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003462-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ## Regulated The boxes are their own comedy. You can't simply throw them out. You have to recycle them. The recycling bins live outdoors, on the street, which is fine, except the opening in each bin is roughly the size of a 15-inch laptop. My only option is to cut every box down to ribbons before feeding it through the slot, or to drive the cardboard out to a mysterious recycling center I have not yet located. One of the boxes is too big to fit and too stubborn to succumb to a knife, and so it sits, undefeated, awaiting judgment day. Everything is small here. Everything is euro-green and sustainable and, to us Americans, frustrating. The United States feels grand. Vast, not just geographically but in the minor details: the size of the cars, the parking spots, the paper towels, the glasses you drink water from, the stores. The list goes on. The rental Audi Q7 luckily has a petrol engine instead of a diesel. It's a plug-in hybrid I have nowhere to plug in but it makes cybernetic noises as braking energy is recaptured to charge the battery. It's large and comfortable, and I hog the narrow Lithuanian roads with pride. Parking in our Lilliputian underground garage is an existential crisis the first few times because why think about clearance on entry when you can save a few euros. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003570-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) The stovetop is induction. Easy to clean, but only the part of the pan in full contact with the surface heats up. I make an omelet and the sides stay runny while the center cooks through. I pair it with a locally grown, fragrant Lithuanian cucumber and the crunchy accomplice takes the edge off. I drive to Kaunas at 6am to skip the Vilnius traffic. A solitary bakery in old town opens at 7am (not typical in slow-paced Lithuania, where the streets start showing signs of life at 9am). Lucci specializes in croissants. I decide to make it my base of operations before the Bison Commerce office opens, a place to grab a light breakfast and a coffee. I order a breakfast croissant sandwich with ham. A lone woman makes my food in between restocking the displays and stamping paper bags with the shop's logo. It is the softest, most buttery, cloud-airy croissant I've tasted in my life, baked, surely, bare minutes before I walked in. I bookmark the location and resolve to tell every contact in my phone about this place. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003543-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003533-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003546-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm-1.jpg) Kaunas old town requires paid parking, so I fiddle with a dedicated app, second-guessing where I am allowed to stop (the yellow curb markings are faded and misleading). Old town also charges an emissions fee for entry: two euros somehow billed to the owner of the vehicle. Maybe there are cameras? I have no clue how it works. Maybe they'll go after the rental company. But knowing Lithuanians, they'll likely just debit it directly from my bank account. Not kidding. The water bottles are also regulated. The cap has to stay attached to the neck, for fear of it littering the environment while the bottle gets recycled. That came down from Brussels. Imagine the economic footprint, the industrial re-tooling for every bottler in Europe, all so a cap can't escape its fate. I can't remember a time I've lost a cap from my water bottle, seeing as it secures the liquid within. I rip each one off in silent protest, hoping the parking cameras track me and report the violation to unelected bureaucrats. Rain soaks me as I hustle back into the Audi. It was sunny fifteen minutes ago. ## The washer The new clothes washer arrives Thursday, followed by two men and an apprentice (you can tell by the spooked glances and the way the kid waits for commands before taking action). The delivery trio rolls the device into our unit and announces the washer is unlikely to fit under our counter. Fear courses through me: maybe I had ordered the wrong one, and the wrath of Virginija will follow. We're properly out of clean clothes. I assure them it's the built-in version. They check the box, nod, matter of fact. The leader asks if I'd ordered the anti-vibration pads. Obviously, I say. He laughs. "They got you. But don't worry, I'll return them for you. These machines have special legs already - plastic and rubber. You don't need the pads. I'll save you the money." Virginija and I both chuckle. A very Lithuanian move. In the US you'd likely get an upsell on the spot, let alone someone volunteering to walk a fee back out the door. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003622-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003634-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) He continues to educate us: how to maintain the machine, how these things are built, the kickoff cycle you have to run empty to rinse the oils out of the machinery. I remember why I admire the people in this country. The apprentice, meanwhile, gets orders to break up the packaging and fusses about with the styrofoam (which is probably organic and edible here). Virginija is dressed in a designer dress shirt (she is running out of clean laundry by now), so we joke we should test the thing on something less fancy and valuable first. We thank them profusely for restoring civilization to our Lithuanian base of operations, and bid farewell. We hang the laundry on the balcony. The dryer has lost its competition against the twenty hours of sunlight a day. I keep my eye on the sky... this is certainly a diversion. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003629-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm-1.jpg) ## Keto, but reverse The Heydekrug bakery sits right next to the Re-Formatas gym I walk to from the apartment. They do the traditional canon: folded flaky dough with jam tucked inside, tinginys ("lazy cake," which is cookie chunks bound with butter and cocoa), napoleon cake, spurgos, and a long bench of other goods that have held their exact taste profile since my childhood. Nothing has drifted. The napoleon tastes like the napoleon did thirty years ago. Every time I pass it after a workout I sneak in (gluten intolerance shamefully ignored and concealed) and buy a baggie of mixed goodies to carry home to Virginija and Ashton. There is something suspect about undoing an hour at the gym fifty meters later, with interest, but I have made peace with it. Ashton breaks new ground by trying and enjoying kibinai. Virginija is on a bleeding edge pastry diet for the trip, which is like Keto, but reverse. There's a freshness and refinement to Lithuanian food that I suppose traces back to people not having had the money for restaurants until fairly recently. A whole generation grew up on feasts their grandmothers and mothers crafted by hand, every dish made from scratch for Easter, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve. Now a plain neighborhood café will run a full-size Italian espresso machine and be opinionated about its beans. The fast food in the food court at Paupys Market is made fresh and is actually good. Red Michelin stars pepper the entryways of restaurants in the narrow streets of old town. You can find all of this in the US, but it takes a big city and usually an upscale room to hit the same marks. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003424-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) "Can your son have cold water?" A literal quote from a waitress in Palanga, the resort town, and not a one-off. I got the same question at multiple restaurants. You can catch a cold from drinking cold water. Or from air conditioners. It is known. Nobody can tell you where the knowledge comes from. It's folk wisdom, grandfathered in across generations. All table water and juice arrives at room temperature, or, on a warm day, warm enough that you could drop in a teabag and let it steep. At one place I asked for ice to insure myself against the obvious, and they added two cubes the size of a blueberry. They were gone within seconds, having made about as much impact as the European emissions regulations. Ashton is very much a sidecar on these trips, though he's developing an appreciation for specific Lithuanian delicacies and experiences. Plombyras, a vanilla Lithuanian ice cream, takes the #1 spot, remembered fondly even when we're back home and a continent away. Karvute, a crystallized sugar candy, is another favorite, as well as spurgos, a cottage cheese donut... I mean orb. Each year he forgets the toys stored in this unit, rediscovers them, awards them a few days of playtime, and forgets them again. Ashton is infamous for his palate. Fruits and vegetables are, to him, literal poison. Funky cheeses, however, are acceptable. So are truffles and caviar, just to give a sense of the range. A typical restaurant order is a plain burger or plain chicken, with very little in between. On a particularly long, sunny day, all of us tired, Ashton was struggling to find anything on the menu. The waitress, in grounded Lithuanian fashion, settled the matter herself: "all kids like soup. We make good soup - broth, noodles, some vegetables." Ashton has just enough Lithuanian to translate the sommelier's recommendation in real time, and releases a full-body shudder at the prospect of soup for dinner. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003702-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003719-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ## One at a time Coming from the US, you arrive pre-loaded with suspicion of government. Lithuania got its freedom back in 1991, after decades of occupation and real atrocities. You'd expect the people to be allergic to being managed and preached to. Instead, lulled by the soothing flow of Euros from Brussels, the country has signed up for an impressive catalog of overreach (during Covid you weren't allowed to leave your city to visit your own elderly parents) and accepts it with a shrug. Then again, the privatization years after the Soviet collapse were so lawless, so openly corrupt, that an entire generation came out the other side with zero tolerance for disorder. People took the trade. The state knows where your car is and can find your bank account, and the prevailing feeling seems to be: good. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003752-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003690-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003684-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) And yet the people, one at a time, keep going out of their way for you in a manner that does not survive the Atlantic crossing. The girl at the coffee shop intercepted my order for a cannoli to tell me it wasn't their best work, and steered me to a chocolate croissant instead. The manager at Topo Centras walked me through my new Nutribullet unprompted, warning me off too much ice so I wouldn't burn out the motor. And a waiter in Palanga recommended a *different* restaurant for lunch, a competitor, because it was better for what we wanted. Comical signs of a people with new money are everywhere. I counted three Lamborghini Urus during a single walk in Paupys, a neighborhood in Vilnius. Our parking garage has a fleet of luxury vehicles tucked in narrow spots, belonging to owners that live in comically small apartments (some of which may cost less than the cars). Flashy brands carry status, and you can feel a distasteful snobbery in the way some of the well-off residents carry themselves. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003766-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) Soviet communism and close to 50 years of occupation left multi-generational trauma here, scars that still echo 36 years after Lithuania reclaimed its independence. Not everything is cloudy, however. The generations born after 1990 are a completely different breed. ## The AC adventure The church outside our flat tolls its bells through the day, and we hear every peal because the windows and balcony stand wide open, blinds drawn against the sun. Three days ago the AC system (one of those buildings where every on-wall unit is chained to a single central brain) went dark. I've filed tickets with the management company, and for the fourth time a calm, pleasant female voice on the phone assures me a worker has been dispatched to address the issue. It's day three. The reassurance is starting to rub. Normally the AC wouldn't matter (temperatures here drop into the high fifties at night), but a heatwave is shouldering its way up from France. I've slept on the couch the last two nights, as close to the balcony as I can get without going full native. Today our patience finally snapped, and our favorite "golden hotel" (Ashton's working title for the ex-Kempinski) caught a booking for a couple of nights. Yes, yes, oligarchy on full display. But they also have the best pool in town and an excellent spa, so we'll survive. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003732-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003746-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) My real fear is that the technician's first visit won't be a repair at all. It'll be the opening move of a drawn-out investigative process whose resolution arrives, calm and pleasant, sometime next season. It is an understatement to say urgency during the short summer season in Lithuania is lacking. A guy does show up, on a Friday night. He is, unfortunately, unfamiliar with our building, our equipment, and the standard operating procedures. With a sad face he tells me that "one of our guys is really sick, and the other one is traveling." My gut read was correct: this will require monumental effort. Multiple days and calls later, I manage to get *the guy* to visit our building. Virginija has her phone in hand, ready to call in a full-scale invasion from a US fleet parked somewhere in the Arabian Sea. The solution is about the same one I use when I'm fixing my mom's Mac. Turn it off, turn it back on. Two times in a row, no less. The digital ghosts clear up their indigestion across the freon pipes hidden in the walls of our building, and crisp cold air starts shooting out of all three units. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003684-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003748-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) By the end of this saga I know more about the design of the air system in our building than I ever wanted to. I have access to the main fuse box in the basement. And I know how to flatline the brain of our AC system, should it ever misbehave again. Some of the charm of our condo dies with the anatomic familiarity of its digestive system. I try to slip *the guy* a twenty-euro bill, letting the capitalist culture seep in through the cracks, hoping to build an incentive structure for future engagements. The large, calm Nick-Offerman-lookalike skips a step and almost levitates away from my folded bill. This man takes pride in his work and needs little affirmation. I give him a solid handshake instead. The unpredictable weather tests my newly acquired AC skills a few more times during the stay. I trip the fuse with a steady hand, sending the budding Skynet AI into oblivion, reminding it of its purpose as a glorified heat pump. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003720-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003723-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003691-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ## An ode to tennis Last year I developed a deeply seated, expensive, and time-consuming obsession with tennis. So I reorganized this trip around it. Still jetlagged, barely off the plane, I scramble to SEB Arena and splurge on full kits for all three of us: me, Virginija, Ashton. Almost certainly more gear than the number of times we'll actually get on a court justifies, but I'm betting on future returns to amortize the purchase. I'd lined up coaches before we even boarded the flight. I'd basically booked a tennis camp and was serving Lithuania on the side. The country I grew up in, the language, the bakeries, the family - the side dish. Vilnius is surprisingly well built out for it. SEB Arena and Bernardinų sodai, the outdoor option, have immaculate courts, plus restaurants, gyms, and shops for gear. The Bernardinai courts sit right in the center of Vilnius: pristine clay, an observation deck, a bar, a big screen running the latest football match, and old oak trees throwing restful shade over the players. Open to anyone, but it feels like a scaled-down version of those romantic European clubs you see on TV when the championships are broadcast across the continent. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003804-LEICA-Q3-43-43mm-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) Chicago is a city of three million. We have nothing comparable. Hard courts scattered here and there, sure, but no infrastructure around them, no service, no shade and a screen and a bar. And Chicago's outdoor season is *longer*. Lithuania gets two, maybe three months of acceptable weather at the very best, and has built the better club anyway. My method for assembling a traveling tennis team was to message every coach listed on the SEB Arena website and try to bolt down three of them in parallel: concurrent slots, three courts, a logistics problem I'd invented for myself. It was blind fire. Whoever's calendar happened to line up was who we'd train with. At 8am I meet my sensei on the clay, an oversized bag of smacking instruments in tow. Two hours on a sweltering, glowing red clay court. I come off it caked in dust to the knees, drenched through, and convinced I'd learned more in that one session than over an entire season back at Midtown. It takes one correct observation and a couple of spartan comments for the forehand, the backhand, and the serve to click into place, the geometry of them finally in my head. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003650-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm-Leica-Camera-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003648-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm-Leica-Camera-AG-28mm.jpg) The calendars that lined up belonged to Lukas, Diana, and Rimvydas. All ex-professionals. Lukas the son of Rimvydas Mugevičius, a legendary Lithuanian player and coach, which I did not know when I sent the message. Diana a multi-year Lithuanian national champion, which I also did not know. I had spam-emailed my way into being coached by the closest thing this country has to tennis royalty, and found out who they were afterward. At this point I have three legendary coaches, which puts me somewhere in the ranks of Sinner or Alcaraz. Cruelly, my poorly coordinated body has no interest in cooperating with my newly enlightened mind. The limbs did not get the memo. I've been doomed since childhood, by genetics and by nurture both, to play the stork in the china shop. I hit my full 6'3" at twelve, and the signals from brain to limbs have been arriving late ever since, perpetually a beat behind, a body too long for its own wiring. My dad, a libertarian science professor, did not believe in physicality. Sport, in his house, was something I caught on TV when nothing better was on. So I came to athletics the way you come to a foreign language in middle age: late, self-taught, and badly accented. Virginija still laughs to my face at my graceful moves on the court. Her standing theory is that the only reason I've survived this long is an overinflated self-confidence and ego doing the work my coordination won't. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003519-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm-Leica-Camera-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/08/L1003512-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm-Leica-Camera-AG-28mm.jpg) A correction. There was, in fact, one sport. I was hopelessly enamored with the kung fu movies of the eighties, and I'd drag my dad to the theater after he'd already worked two jobs. I followed every chop from the edge of a hard wooden seat. He was asleep before the title sequence finished. One day, around age six, I announced that I had to acquire these mystic ways of the East and learn karate. My dad, never one to say no to me, signed me up at a co-worker's dojo, and training began. What I remember is a lot of running, followed by stances with frequently funny names: "Shiko dachi," which to a Lithuanian ear lands somewhere near the word for "pooping." The romance of fighting black-clad ninjas curdled fast once it became clear no ninjas were going to show up to our dojo. I dropped out. My first and last sporting activity of childhood, retired by age six on the grounds that the enemy never materialized. Ashton's first exposure to tennis was a group class, which, to be honest, was less tennis and more an excuse for a pack of kids to run around. So when we proposed coaching, he greeted it as a hostile takeover of his iPad time by physical activity - and tennis, of all things. On court, though, he finds the one-on-one version with Lukas' dad much more to his liking. The drills are calibrated so he can actually succeed at them, and he can sustain a real rally with the coach, which tips the whole thing over from chore into game. After the session he runs through a few shadow-boxing sequences on his own, off to the side, replaying the strokes, which, in my experience, is the most reliable evidence available that a kid is hooked. I sit in the shade that affords little protection from the blistering sun and watch Ashton drill with Rimvydas. The old tennis legend has just enough English to bridge the gap with Ashton's knowledge of Lithuanian. Our shoes are ruined from the clay, red dust seeping into every crevice, sticking to the sweat, the socks, the water bottle. The air is buzzing with flies, bees, an occasional wasp, and the addictive pop of a stroke well placed on a tennis ball. Ashton has no idea who he's training with. Neither did I when I sent the email. ### The ritual of the Leica M EV1 URL: https://www.needoptic.com/the-ritual-of-the-leica-m-ev1/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T17:03:49.000Z The magnesium camera rides in my hand at chest height, an artisanal strap of green paracord curling around my neck. A 28mm Ultron on the M-mount, stopped down to f/8, zone-focused — I can ignore focus entirely on this hunt. ISO is parked high; shutter locked at 1/500\. Every decision that could be made has been made, blocks ago. Somewhere between State and Wabash a ray of light pierces between two high-rises and a woman in red on a bicycle is about to dart through it. I don't raise the camera so much as tilt it. The picture is the only thing left to happen. The curtain shutter snaps and, much like in the John Wick shootout at the Oculus, not a person in the Loop notices the silenced round I just squeezed off. The ghost of Henri Cartier-Bresson nods solemn and restrained approval. I'll discover later the image is mediocre. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003477-q3-43mm-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003559-q3-43mm-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003565-q3-43mm-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) The most spontaneous-looking street photographs come from the most predetermined setups. You front-load every decision so that at the moment that matters, there are none left to make. It took me twenty-some years and tens of camera bodies to learn this, and the lesson finally arrived in the most backwards possible package: a five-figure German box with no autofocus, no stabilization, no lens, and an instruction manual that could fit on a napkin. I should be upfront about something. I am not a Leica guy. The route here ran through [a lot of cameras](https://www.needoptic.com/the-gear/). The Canon 5D and the EOS R — full-frame, full-size, the serious-photographer starter kit with RF glass heavy enough to exert its own gravitational pull. Then multiple Fujis, where I fell for mechanical dials on the surface of the camera and a bag of three lenses that weighed nothing, until the sensor showed me its ceiling (fake GAS reason, still use them). Then Sony, and Sony cameras *mean business*. They are tools. You don't love a tool, you operate it. Then the Leica Q2, where the fit and finish finally got me excited about the red dot — except the Q2 is a fixed lens, and a fixed lens is a wall you eventually hit. [I've written about that one already](https://www.needoptic.com/a-review-of-the-leica-q2-28mm/). ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003006-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1001393-Leica-Camera-AG-35mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1001004-Leica-Camera-AG-mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002992-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) What I never had was the religion. My first proper camera was a film Canon Rebel 2000, around the year 1999, and then the digital floodgates opened, and I've been shooting sensors ever since. I didn't come up genuflecting at the rangefinder. The whole mythology of the M — the patch, the guesswork, the faith — was never mine. I want to *see* my exposure with my one good eye before I take it. So when Leica released the M EV1, an M with the rangefinder ripped out and an electronic viewfinder dropped in, the purists declared a funeral. I bought one. And here is the heresy, stated plainly: the EVF is *better* than the rangefinder. Not a compromise on it. Better. Longer lenses don't black out half the frame. Nailing focus on a face at f/1.4 is trivial instead of a séance. There's less to go wrong inside the body and nothing to fall out of calibration. The pearls are being clutched on forums as we speak. I came to take pictures, not to defend a mechanism. While I'm committing crimes against the brotherhood, let me empty the whole clip. I see no optical or RAW-file benefit to the Leica. None. The megapixel race is finished, as well — there's so much resolution now that the depth-of-field scales engraved on lens barrels promise a sharpness the pixels won't forgive. Modern files carry so much latitude that output from any camera can be pushed to look however you want it to look. The forums full of fanboys reciting "Leica colors" and "Leica pop" get genuinely flustered when someone mounts off-brand glass on an M body, like a Corvette V8 dropped into a restomod 911\. For the record: I don't own a single Leica lens. I wasn't ready to marry one focal length for the price of two kidneys, especially given how I shoot the thing — at f/8, where almost any lens cleans up its own imperfections anyway. I'll buy a Summilux one day, but that decision won't have an essay to justify it away. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1001601-Leica-Camera-AG-35mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003497-q3-43mm-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002025-ev1-voigt-90mm-Leica-Camera-AG-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002953-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) So. No religion, no magic glass, no secret sauce in the files, missing features that a $900 Sony has had for a decade. A reasonable person would ask what exactly I paid for. I paid for the checklist. The EV1 is completely manual, and the workflow is a ritual. ISO stays at 1600 — that decision is made once, in the morning, like coffee. Noise is minimal on the full-frame sensor, and nobody likes clinical files anyway. Shutter sits at 1/500 or 1/1000 to capture gesture. The f-stop is the one variable I keep my hand on — working the depth I want, balancing the exposure as the light shifts. Three decisions, made deliberately, and then they're done. Once the exposure is set and I'm confident in it, all the work that's left is the only work that matters: composition, subject, gesture. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1001663-ev1-voigt-35mm-12-nokt-Leica-Camera-AG-35mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002211-ev1-voigt-35mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002080-ev1-voigt-90mm-Leica-Camera-AG-50mm.jpg) Could I do all of this on the Sony? Probably. But there's no dedicated shutter dial, and half the lenses don't even have an aperture ring. The variables are in there somewhere, buried three menus deep in a plastic interface from Japan that obfuscates the fundamentals. On the Leica they're under my fingers, machined out of aluminum, always visible even if the camera is turned off. The camera doesn't *let* me be deliberate. *It leaves me no way not to be.* It's the manual 911 with every assist switched off. The vibration of the engine sitting behind you, the whine of the transmission, the road arriving through your hands. The 911 does not make me a better driver. Maybe a little. But it makes me feel like I'm the one doing the driving — and that, it turns out, is most of what I wanted. Chaos unfolds on State Street as you walk south from Wacker. Tourists, locals, vagrants, pigeons, and unidentified urban critters play out their theater scenes in front of vacant storefronts while sunlight drops in shifting pools from the towers looming overhead. The light meter inside the Leica sweats profusely at this cacophony of data, recommended exposure flickering multiple stops back and forth. It's useless here. I find myself learning the rule of sunny 16\. I'm dialed in to expose correctly for the actor stepping onto the stage of light, then a quick turn of the aperture ring for the shadows. There's no reliance on a light meter, no guessing, and the only failures are mine to own. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002349-ev1-voigt-35mm-Leica-Camera-AG-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002159-ev1-voigt-35mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002171-ev1-voigt-35mm.jpg) I know how this sounds. A man pays a luxury price and then writes two thousand words explaining the purchase was actually about [*intentionality*](https://www.needoptic.com/the-unintentional-camera/). But I don't think pleasure needs an alibi. The long street walks. The comfortable weight of the thing. The tactile feel of a body assembled by hand in the elf village. The superior ergonomics of the body and the fast, tiny lenses. That's not a distraction from the work of making an image — it's part of the conversation. > And if luxury has become the only shelf where things made in good taste and built to last still sit, then so be it, I'll buy from that shelf. The status is the toll. The craftsmanship is the thing. Here's what the iPhone gets wrong, since the phone is the obvious counterargument. I don't like taking pictures with my phone. Ever. Not because of image quality — I've already admitted that war is over. It's that the phone is the perfect forgetting machine: infinite, instant, frictionless, unfelt. Apple has decided what the image should look like before I ever see it, the act costs nothing, and the moment is offloaded so smoothly that I never actually *look*. Soon the phone will reframe the shot for me with generative AI, and the last decision I had will be gone too. The camera that asks nothing of you gives nothing back. The Leica makes me remember by making me work. It doesn't photograph the memory. It manufactures it. And the phone itself is disposable. I have never once felt sad about an old phone. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003294-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003158-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003213-LEICA-M-EV1-28mm.jpg) But I feel sad about cameras I've sold. I sold the Leica Q2 28mm a few months ago. It had little flecks of sand stuck in its seams from a day on a beach with Ashton. There were dents on the base from knocking against the doors of a metro car on a trip that got more adventurous than planned. That camera recorded Ashton for over seven years, saw our business get sold, captured multiple adventures and trips. The marks were the journey, written on the object. Sell the camera and you sell the evidence. Sure, Leicas hold their value well, but I would argue they should never be sold. It's a relationship for life, says the man who just told you Leica colors are a myth. Which brings me to what the EV1 is genuinely bad at. It is not the best camera for photographing my ten-year-old son. The Sony is better. Even the Q3 is better. The moment the subject is moving, and I've got one hand free, a faster, smarter instrument wins, and it isn't close. The Leica M is a slow instrument. That's the whole truth of it, and the spec-sheet people are correct. And I love having the M with me. I have one set of aspirations for learning to see better in the street, a completely different set of objectives to document my son growing up and traveling through life. Ashton lounging on the sofa at the hotel, brushing his teeth in the morning in his skivvies, buying a corn dog from a kind man at a Halal stand, eating caviar at Kaspia on the Upper East Side (this newfound taste for fish eggs may end up costing more than the Leica). These images will not see the light of day beyond my own repository and require no critical approval. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002721-mev1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003648-q343.jpg) And yet the photograph of Ashton I keep returning to wasn't taken by the smart camera. Midnight on Fifth Avenue, Ashton in front of a steam pipe, the EV1 not quite nailing focus. The Sony's eye-autofocus would have rendered every eyelash. Instead I have a slightly soft frame of my son in the steam and the dark, and it matters more for the miss, not less. A camera that serves the subject, and a camera that serves the photographer. The Sony takes the better picture of my son. The Leica gives me the better hour of my life. I'm no longer sure those are the same hobby — and I'm increasingly sure I don't have to choose, because I'm at six cameras now and the question was never which one is best. It's which one was in my hand when the thing happened. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002179-ev1-voigt-35mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1002213-ev1-voigt-35mm.jpg) Would I still shoot the EV1 if no one ever saw a single frame? Yes. Easily. The largest part of photography, twenty-plus years in, is a conversation with myself — the noticing, the seeing, the slow education of the eye. Sharing is the byproduct. I can look back across two decades of photographs and feel happy and ashamed in the same breath: ashamed at how bad some of the old ones are, happy because that's the measure of how far the seeing has come, and how far it has to go. Here's the part I didn't expect, the part no review will tell you because it doesn't fit on a spec sheet. The EV1 made me more intentional with my *other* cameras. I pick up the Sony now and the ritual comes with me — the slowing down, the *what am I actually trying to do here* before the thing even boots. The worker bodies still do the work. But the photographer holding them came back from the Leica different. Not the frames it takes. The photographer it quietly rebuilt. That's what was in the box. *All images taken with the Leica M EV1 and various Voigtlander lenses: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 90mm.* ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/A7R06894-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/D10F7B4C-647E-41F0-900A-94D40C9980F5.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/06/L1003630-q3-43mm-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ### The unintentional camera URL: https://www.needoptic.com/the-unintentional-camera/ Last updated: 2026-05-02T15:01:14.000Z Repetition bores me. There's a honeymoon phase at first, but eventually the patterns settle and my mind disengages. I've been aware of this for a good chunk of my life - I'll go through a focused, obsessive stint of illustration only to eventually burn out and switch to photography. I'll iterate, refine, learn and then eventually step away for a month or two. Even in business I've put myself in situations and responsibilities where change was part of the role. Fitness is the same - a goal keeps me engaged for three months, but then I need to shuffle things up. More of a sprinter than a marathon runner. The upside, reflecting back, is that I never quit any of my pursuits. They're either in sharp, obsessive focus or dormant and within reach for when I get bored. And making things is the best antidote to boredom. The downside is that it takes me longer to improve than it should. Lo and behold I'm in one of my renaissance periods with photography and, having too much money and time on my hands, I've decided to sell cameras, buy cameras, and write an essay about the madness within. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/533C7059-6433-462E-8DAC-63B1D12CAE60.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1001347-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) Chasing light. **The thesis for this essay is the purpose of photography.** No small topic. We need to start at the beginning. Every trip we make I obsess over the equipment I take with me (see title of website). At first, I worry about utility - do I have the focal lengths I'll need for what I envision the trip to require? I think about ergonomics - how large will my calves get after the twenty-mile hike with the 135mm F1.8? And lastly, I've discovered that [I lust](https://www.needoptic.com/fuji-x100f-review/) for [well-designed tools](https://www.needoptic.com/a-review-of-the-leica-q2-28mm/). Frustratingly, I'm happier with pictures I take outside of travel, but we'll go back to that subject later. Travel is still an inspirational catalyst, and one does not diss the muse. When I got into the [Fuji system](https://www.needoptic.com/fuji-x100f-review/) a decade ago, I discovered the pleasure of small, metal, manual cameras that had physical controls for all exposure settings: shutter, aperture, ISO. I sold all my Canon bodies and glass on eBay. I clearly remember the shift in mindset as I used the small X-T2\. On an early morning in Michigan Martin and I shepherded our kids to the beach for a quick walk. The water was calm and reflective, fog crept over the dunes, and the light had an interesting, diffused quality to it. As the kids rampaged down the beach, I was able to hold the Fuji with one hand and snap wide-angle shots of these careless moments. There was less gravity to having a camera (because it was lighter, hah!), there was less worry about nailing a structurally perfect shot. Is this particular memory amplified because I was taking pictures or is it a coincidence? Photography has a lot of rules. My personality is the same. Breaking out of either, occasionally, is the whole point. Martin had this picture of his kids framed in his office after we got back. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/ash-birthday-michigan-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF5334.jpg) Mirrorless continued to evolve and I dove back into full frame with the [Leica Q2](https://www.needoptic.com/a-review-of-the-leica-q2-28mm/), still compact, and the Sony A7RV, less compact but with a growing library of manual lenses that were close to Fuji in terms of use and feel. Somewhere along the way I also purchased the Ricoh GRIIIx as the ultimate subcompact daily carry camera with a 43mm focal length. I just sold the Ricoh. The Q3 43mm took care of that focal length, but the real reason for our separation is that I've realized there is such a thing as an unintentional camera. This is where my thesis integrates the idea of photography equipment and the purpose of photography. Decisions that are made on hardware level affect intentions. The poor Ricoh was intentionally designed to be a very capable sensor packed into a package that's slimmer than some people’s wallets. It's conceptually a fantastic camera. But the ergonomics, the lack of EVF made it an iPhone on steroids for me, and I already have an iPhone. I'm consciously aware that the iPhone can take exceptional pictures, but my relationship with it and how it sits in my hands dictates that it's not a serious tool. The Leica and Fuji cameras evoke the complete opposite feeling. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1001098-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) I find there are two modes in which my mind works when I take pictures. The first is the travel/documentary style which prioritizes capturing the mood, location, and story of an adventure. All our [overlanding](https://www.needoptic.com/overlanding-23-crossing-the-cinnamon-pass/) [trips](https://www.needoptic.com/overlanding-24-magestic-wyoming/) put me in this mood - camera at the ready, always thinking about storytelling, contextualizing the adventure, and so on. This mode does not afford too much time to plan or think - I'm often cooking with one hand while taking candid portraits of my friends with the other. Or chasing Ashton around the beach while trying to get his expression as he antagonizes a crab. I like the bigger guns for this task. I can use eye/face tracking, the glass outrenders the sensor, flippy screens to go for weird angles, and so on. The other mode is a photo walk in solitude. The walk is the objective and continuity between the shots is not as important. The pleasure I get out of photography is much higher on these walks because I'm usually in a flow state and just let my mind look for beautiful ways to arrange light, patterns, objects, and colors. Sometimes it's the city, sometimes it's the people, sometimes it's just a play of light on a gritty building wall. These shots are also much more "structured" and "designed" because I have the time to play with composition and wait for the right stranger to step into my frame. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/A7R05811-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/Untitled-1-SONY-50mm.jpg) The lakeshore in the summer, Chicago. The Ricoh wasn't great at either of the above. I love shooting in bright light in the city and that makes composing on the LCD inconvenient. The interface/hardware also changes how I use the camera, and I would find intentionality going out the window and "point and shoot" taking over. The limitation is very likely a problem of the operator and so the little Ricoh is now in the hands of a happy new owner in Texas. But selling this camera made me think of being intentional. Reading photography blogs is still my favorite way of learning. A static web page with a high-resolution image is a great way to not only read the perspective of the artist, but to also see the output of their vision and the tools used in a high(er) resolution medium. It drives me crazy when the photographer takes unintentional photos to articulate their point. These include but are not limited to a flower in their garden, a squirrel in the zoo, a closeup of an uninspiring still life where a label of a liquor bottle is intended to document the resolving power of a lens. If you're going to review a piece of kit... why not go out and photograph something intentionally? ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1001534-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1001566-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) Had to get that out. Intentionality in photography changes through time and I respect that we're all in different stages of our optical arrangement journeys. I distinctly remember early phases where I was obsessed with fast glass and a shallow depth of field. At the time it felt professional - something that wasn't available to a regular mortal with a point and shoot. Then came a phase of overprocessing and overmanipulating raw files into surreal colors. HDR was a thing, as well, but I never liked the look of it, so my library is absent of those abominations. I went through a complexity phase where my objective was to arrange many objects in the best possible way using a wide-angle lens. It's all very amateurish and I'm fine with my slow personal growth, as long as it continues. When we got married, Virginija became my sole subject. She's a grounded, quiet person and I was very effective at annoying her with my oversized glass, at every hour of the day. When Ashton was born, I wanted to freeze the experience of the world through his eyes, through the context of him now being a part of said world. I still do it and these are some of my favorite pictures of all time. I'm comfortable with only me enjoying them. The intent is to make them because it matters; the intent is not for others to praise them. It's an interesting exercise to browse through one’s own photo library. I don't particularly like any images from over ten years ago. They're all inconsistent. All different subjects. Landscape, portraits, studio, macro, still life - grasps at seeing, repetitions to get technically correct shots... but there's no voice across multiple images in sequence. It's clear to me I wasn't sure what I liked or what my intention was when taking those images. I may feel the same in another ten years, but we'll have to wait and see. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/A7R03587-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/A7R03717-SONY-50mm.jpg) As I browsed through the library, I was trying to quantify what qualities made an image "good". I don't mean technically sound, but an image that I stay fond of beyond its documentary or aesthetic value. An image that ages well. It's not as easy as it sounds. One common theme is that I don't like saturated colors. Or maybe too many saturated colors. Simplicity of the color spectrum in a shot is usually a good thing. Less is more. I really don't like saturated greens. Maybe my eyes are weird, but no sensor on the planet renders green the way I see it in the real world. Green should be muted. It's the color of calmness, of nature. An out of camera jpeg of a lawn is a criminal offense. I like when a scene has complementary colors that follow color theory. All is well with the world then. There’s always a battle that rages in my mind between the structural and the creative. One arranges the verticals and horizontals perfectly in every shot – that 1% tilt in the horizon makes my skin itch. The other tries to create music in an image where the eye breaks out of the structure and follows a story, a hierarchy of elements. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/A7R03746-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/A7R03752-SONY-50mm.jpg) The other pattern of "good for my eyes" photos is when there are associated memories of the moment when I took the shot and they are crisp and intense. I have a picture of Ashton in his room where he's in his most relaxed, playful state. There's a sharpness to the memory, an amplification - I hear his voice, I remember what games we played right before taking that shot, the light and time of day. Being present. This also applies to other subjects. A few images south of the Loop in Chicago remind me of exact time of day, the weather, the angle of the sun - and this was years ago. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/ashton-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A4018-Edit-1.jpg) > A good photograph is a memory amplifier. There are a few traps in being intentional. In seeking purpose in photography I'll naturally fall back to sourcing approval through blogging, posting, tweeting, reeling and so on. I'm compulsively objective-oriented and it is hard to give up measuring things. But it's hard to measure something that's meant for oneself, not others. The other trap is realizing the banality of photography - tens of thousands of dollars spent on equipment, tens of thousands of images sitting in some data center in South Carolina. Sure, I print the occasional print and make the occasional photo book, but both feel trite, like hanging a self-portrait in your own bedroom. The trap is trying to monetize, give value to something that has already paid back with interest in those moments of Zen, in the snapshots of time flowing around us, in the intimate portraits of loved ones that remind us we're temporary. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/DSCF0215-FUJIFILM-35mm.jpg) Ashton in the pool, end of summer spent in Michigan 2025. Photography is a puzzle. It's a puzzle of romanticizing the world, of carving beauty out of random patterns, of recording a version of reality that is better than reality itself. I know darkness exists. I just don't think there's purpose in documenting it. As time slips through our fingers the only weapon is to act with intent. To be present, to really see, to buy the stupidly expensive camera if it's beautiful, it feels good to use, if that's what gets you out into the street. > Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. - William Morris ### Italy URL: https://www.needoptic.com/italy/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T01:06:49.000Z Milan is our favorite city from the few times we've visited Italy. It's a living, breathing, working city that's unlike the outdoor museum of Florence. Great for people watching in the fashion district, world class dining, and businessmen pounding espresso on every street corner. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002058-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002192-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002103-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002125-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002150-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002121-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002082-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002061-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ## Hotel Castello di Reschio, Umbria Only the fondest memories from this special place. The prettiest, most cohesive hospitality experience where we were taken back a few hundred years Umbria, went hunting for truffles, and learned about the qualities of good olive oil. Reschio is a living estate, shaped over more than three decades with love, rigour and vision. The Bolza family settled in Italy and made Reschio, an over one thousand year old estate, their home in the mid 1980s. What began as the restoration of crumbling ruins gradually evolved into a deeply personal project, one that weaves together architecture, design and family life with a profound commitment to the land. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002215-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002286-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002217-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002364-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002253-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002326-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002355-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002347-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002294-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002288-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002306-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) Understanding the lifecycle of making and appreciating olive oil. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002332-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002228-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002227-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002242-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) Hunting for truffles! ## Lake Como ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002512-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002369-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002560-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002524-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002556-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002437-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002501-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002459-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002371-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002428-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002444-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002478-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002378-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002465-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002471-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002402-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/L1002394-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-43mm.jpg) ### New Zealand: helicopter adventures in the land of the kiwis URL: https://www.needoptic.com/new-zealand-helicopter-adventures-in-the-land-of-the-kiwis/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T14:44:34.000Z New Zealand is a magical land of flightless kiwi birds, jagged alp peaks, and hobbit conservatories. The size of Colorado and with a population of only five million people, and twenty three million sheep, it's a place that shouldn't exist. Alps give way to tropical beaches peppered with seals, fiords are carved by glaciers that rival Norway, and rolling farmlands are home to millions of sheep and Hollywood wizards. This sprawling wilderness is not a host to a single predator or poisonous critter. New Zealand, like a disillusioned Californian en route to Florida, decided to split away from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana and isolate itself from all things that creep, crawl, and nibble by 2,500 miles of shark infested Tasman Sea. Virginija rates it a ten out of ten for this alone. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04778-SONY-40mm.jpg) Lack of evolutionary pressures on the local bird population has resulted in multiple flightless bird species that wouldn't survive a day in a coyote-ridden Chicago suburb. The most famous, and the symbol for New Zealand, is a nocturnal bird called the kiwi. Ashton and I weren't lucky enough to see one in the wild, but the internets are full of this fuzzy meatball creature. Look it up, it's worth it. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05197-SONY-85mm.jpg) Virginija wasn't thrilled with my selection of our steed. ## **Auckland, North Island** We land in Auckland, the largest city of both islands, home to more than 1.7 million kiwis. Please note that we're now using this noun for fruit, birds, as well as people. It's fall in April, cars drive on the left side of the road, and we're in a timezone that is a full day ahead of the US. Time travel is expensive - we lose two full calendar days for transit, but we'll get a refund on our way back. If San Francisco and Sydney had an offspring they would call it Auckland. Younger, smaller, and with a patchy beard of a prepubescent. Foggy residential neighborhoods with English victorian architecture connect to a bustling, metropolitan downtown. A well developed ferry system shuttles tourists and locals across an expanse of bays, inlets, peninsulas, and islands. While generally very clean and orderly, my rosy perception is shattered when I go on a walk down Queens street and see the familiar vagrants, drug use, and urban chaos that could fit right in on State and Randolph in Chicago. A pro-Palestine protest takes place in the center of the main plaza and leaves piles of trash and discarded posters in its wake. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04479-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/R0001336-RICOH-IMAGING-COMPANY--LTD.---26mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/R0001299-RICOH-IMAGING-COMPANY--LTD.---26mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/R0001350-RICOH-IMAGING-COMPANY--LTD.---26mm.jpg) ## **Hobbiton** We're in Auckland for one night only - cultural observations of urban grit will have to take a back seat. Our primary objective for North island is Hobbiton, which is a couple of hours drive south towards lake Taupo. Ashton and I watched the trilogy not that long ago and Gandalf's "You shall not pass" is circulated in our daily dictionary. So it's a must. In 1998 Sir Peter Jackson was scouting the rolling hills of New Zealand for the iconic look of the Shire in a helicopter (we'll come back to those, they're a thing in New Zealand) and found the Alexander sheep farm. A full movie set was built within the farm reconstructing Bag End. After "The Hobbit" the owners of the farm and the studio struck a deal to preserve the little hobbit village and turn it into an attraction that would allow nine year olds to wonder the magical hobbit holes and rolling green hills. For the record, most of the visitors are adults in our group. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04538-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04569-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04572-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04590-SONY-40mm.jpg) Virginija hasn't seen the movies and even she enjoys this exceptionally built, well run, idyllic hobbit museum. Outstanding and passionate tour guide helps Ashton reenact specific scenes across the tour and we wrap up with a pint of hobbit stout, and ginger beer for Ashton, brewed locally at the inn. ## **Lake Taupo, North Island** It's left hand drive all over New Zealand because a certain Captain James Cook from England waddled onto the shores of these islands in 1769 and kicked off a familiar colonial journey. The population today is primarily of European descent with Maori (indigenous) and Asian being the two second largest. The Europeans did as the Europeans do and political undercurrents can still be felt today between the Maori and the Europeans. We spend a few nights at a lodge in Kinloch, a small village nestled on the shore of lake Taupo, and explore the surrounding area. The north island is of volcanic origin. Geothermal power is common and we see multiple plants, tendrils of pipes penetrating the earth, venting hot steam through turbines to generate up to 20% of power for Auckland. Should have looked for a tour of the one of the plants, I reflect now. The south island, however, is of tectonic origin - two plates humping each other and creating the island and a jagged, young strip of alps. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04631-SONY-40mm.jpg) Yes, our plane is peeling. We have a flight in floatplane today. It takes off from lake Taupo and the idea is that you can do a few water landings along the route and quickly see volcanos, geothermal activity, explore the lake, and so on. We get to the pier (not a place I typically expect planes) and wait for our sky chariot Cessna to arrive. Lake Taupo was formed as a result of a super-volcano eruption twenty five thousand years ago, one of the largest on earth. Unlike typical lakes, the edges of the lake are vertical cliffs that can be seen stretching below the surface through crystalline water. While Ashton feeds and then chases around local ducks a prop plane buzzes the shore with two banana-shaped floats attached where the wheels are supposed to be. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04676-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04673-SONY-85mm.jpg) Those pipes - all of them are collecting steam 4,000 feet below the surface. The windshield of our rattling floatplane starts collecting droplets halfway through the flight. I've been trained by Dominic to trust pilots when they warn me about weather systems, and am glad we chose an alternative tour for the day. The volcanos to the east are hidden in dark rain clouds as we splash down for our landing. We head West in our rental to explore the Waimangu Volcanic Valley. Yet another volcano failed to manage its stress and blew its lid at the end of 1800's. A few original photographs remain of the event and the aftermath: ladies and gentlemen with elegant parasols over their heads observing the resulting geysers and smoldering chaos. It's a pleasant two hour hike downhill. We walk by bubbling hot lakes, steaming fissures in the rock bed, pools full of emerald and cyan water (from the minerals), and finally emerge in front of a lake that is the epicenter of the eruption. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250406150234_0226_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250406201100_0248_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250406201116_0249_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250406232105_0255_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250406232510_0271_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04704-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04688-SONY-40mm.jpg) **It's ridiculously green everywhere. My Aperture One desaturation slider got a workout trying to make these look reasonable. Also, I brought a drone and didn't use it enough.* The rain we ran from catches up and, not listening to Virginija's request to turn around, I lead us all into a jolly sprint to the end of the trail where we can find shelter. Foggy and rainy is my favorite jam and Ashton giggles as Virginija makes high pitched noises behind us, hopping through puddles, hands above her head, as if that would help any. Also blames me, naturally. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04717-SONY-40mm.jpg) The rain was worth it. ## **Queenstown, South Island** We've intentionally scheduled only a few nights in North Island. Queenstown is a short flight away, but the world here is different. Cold, empty, rugged. We've been many places, but the descent through the Southern Alps makes even the weathered traveller pull out their camera and stick it close to the window. While the peaks of the Alps top out at 12,218 feet (and the Rockies in the US break through 14,440), the appreciation for the sheer size of these young mountains is fundamentally different. The base of the Rocky mountains is at around 5,000 feet, and the base of the Southern Alps is at … sea level. Witnessing the full 12,000 feet of vertical cliff is a first in our lives. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04811-1-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04790-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04769-SONY-40mm.jpg) Queenstown has a vibe of a bumping ski village set by a picturesque lake, surrounded by craggy, snowy tips of the Alps. There's even a gondola operating in town, alas no trails to ski down on this one. Restaurants and shops line pedestrian-only streets and young backpackers stand in lines at Fergbaker for their taste of a native meat pie or a Boston cream pastry. It's dark and cold now and we stumble down one of the alleys and into the Bunker, a speakeasy-like restaurant tucked away in a basement. Strong cocktails, jazz music, and soft glow from midcentury sconces washes away our road dust as we sink our teeth into fine New Zealand provisions. Our next stop is the focal point of the whole trip, the highlight, the peak of both hospitality and adventure. In fact, it may be one of the most memorable experiences we've had in the history of our travel. We're staying for three nights at Minaret Station, an alpine lodge that can only be accessed by helicopter. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04850-SONY-40mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04873-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04842-SONY-40mm-1.jpg) ## **Minaret Station, South Island** The history of the lodge is even wilder than the adventures they put up. It was founded by Sir Tim Wallis, an aviator and entrepreneur in New Zealand. Looking to introduce international visitors both to the beauty of New Zealand as well as the pleasures of aviation, Mr. Wallis created the luxury lodge on a functioning 50,000 acre alpine farm that could only be reached by helicopter. Sir Wallis' story is worth exploring on its own (it involved multiple crashes, near death experiences, recoveries, and continued adventures in restored world war 2 planes), but suffice it to say that it's been a family run business for the last fifty years. Sir Tim Wallace has passed, but his two remaining sons and wife are still involved. In fact, we had some delicious preserves made by Mrs. Wallace. The first surprise of flying a helicopter is how gentle the takeoff and acceleration is. Virginija and Ashton are buckled in the back and I'm sitting next to the pilot while the Queenstown heliport slowly backs away from us, we swing to the side, and float upwards to the Southern Alps. This is the first time flying a heli for all of us. Virginija is not a fan of flying, so I twist in my seat to check on the drama in the back. She's smiling ear to ear and tells me over the radio that she could get used to this. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250409172248_0305_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250409001044_0287_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250409001012_0286_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05143-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05138-1-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05154-SONY-40mm.jpg) I hiked up and down the valley, lodge can be seen on the left. Pictures don't do justice to the grandeur and scale of this island, but I'll try to do my best over the course of the next few days. We're greeted at the lodge and shown to one of four chalets that stretch out in an alpine valley carved by an ancient glacier. The valley rises to the West, descends to the east, continuing to the working farm and Lake Wānaka. A central lodge sits behind and above the chalets where a fire crackles twenty four hours a day, four guest families (including us) gather from day adventures to sip on cocktails, share stories, and a world class chef prepares outstanding tasting menus each night. It all feels incredibly detailed, precise, but also warm and down to earth. It's luxurious in the best sense of the word, without any pretense or snobbiness. We're sharing the property with a few members of the staff, two older couples from Australia (the Aussies), and another young couple and their daughter from Hong Kong. It takes me a while to get used to the Australian accent and dry sense of humor, but a solid vintage of Chablis breaks down international barriers of communication and soon we're in a jolly discussion on best adventures, favorite foods, and American politics (not something you can run away from these days). ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04944-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04943-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04908-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04887-SONY-85mm.jpg) There is a herd of deer grazing in front of our chalet the next morning. The horizon is starting to light up from the sunrise, but we won't see direct light in the valley until around ten thanks to the mountains around us. I bundle up in my technical layers (for the record, I packed just the right amount of hiking gear - I don't care what Virginija says) and, camera in hand, head out for a walk. The staff at the lodge advise me that under health and safety rules I'm allowed to venture up and down the valley, but I must stay in sight of the lodge. Silly kiwis, my American exploratory spirit and Eastern European distrust of authority are in direct opposition to these communist rules. There's zero chance my family will wake in the next two hours so I brave the alpine wind and scamper off exploring the vast range of this property. The trail is easy, the air warms up with a few uphill climbs, and the only moderately dangerous obstacle along the way are sheep turds. I run into a flock of said offenders along the trail, give them a disapproving look, and decide to leave them to their breakfast and recycling functions. Our whirlybird buzzes into view shortly after breakfast. I'm given a stink eye by the hosts for flying my drone and, in retrospect, that may not have been the smartest timing on my part. We meet our guide who has flown in from a nearby town and are told that the route we take may change once we have visual on the weather system that's clinging to the peak of the alps. The plan for the day is to explore the peaks of the alps, cross over to the tropical West side, see the beaches of the Tasman sea, check out the glaciers, and continue with the adventure as we see fit. As we snake our way West through valleys, glaciers, and mountain rivers Ashton speaks up through the radio and tells the pilot that he can see animals on a cliff. I haven't brought it up yet, but there's an intimacy to flying a helicopter - the ability to slow down, hover, turn, and shift direction effortlessly is so unlike an airplane that our family is awestruck by the next maneuver. Our young pilot dips to the side and we're circling back to the spot where Ashton saw movement. The next thing we know is we're hovering in place only fifteen feet away from a sheer rock wall, a pack of goats scampering from rock to rock right in front of us. It's surreal and we all instantly become fans of heli adventures. Ashton gets credit from the guide for his spotting skills and we continue West, climbing above icy ridges of the alps, 10,000 feet above sea level. A turquoise glow becomes visible on the horizon. Our pilot announces that weather conditions have stabilized and we're able to cross over to the ocean. As a side note, we're flying the heli in VFR (Visual Flight Rules). Yes, there's a synthetic horizon on one of the screens, but I would't want to navigate these alps in a fog. We're flying over a wide sandy beach with no signs of civilization or infrastructure. There is no road access to this part of the island and the only foot traffic comes from heli adventures. The landing is soft and our guide informs us that we're going to try and find some New Zealand fur seals. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05008-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04971-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R04957-SONY-85mm.jpg) The fur seals hunt for squid out in the Tasman sea and then undulate themselves onto the large black rocks for some rest and recovery. We're closing in on them after a half hour hike through the leafy coastal forest, but they pay little attention to Ashton's squeaks. The lounging seals make the rocks look as soft as down pillows, their bulging forms contorted every which way, collecting the few rays of sun breaking through the fog. Males are much larger and typically more aggressive, but all we find are females and tens of active pups that make the funniest noises when they spot us. The females raise their heads lazily to investigate, but that seems to exhaust their remaining energy and they flop back down. Every parent can relate. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05032-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05027-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05017-SONY-40mm.jpg) Did you know helicopters can be used for fishing? Neither did I. Seal watching has gotten us all hungry and we're told our helicopter comes with a kitchen. Or maybe a grill. We're told we have some lamb chops onboard, but we'll attempt crayfish fishing in the heli to add some surf to our turf. The pilot unloads us on the beach and we watch as the guide attaches a hook to the heli. The chopper hovers above the water, slowly moving the weighted hook, trying to latch onto a float that identifies a crayfish trap that sits on the bottom of the ocean. Soon a metal cage is dripping water from fifty feet in the air and is being delivered to the shore. Upon inspection we find that the cheeky bastards have evaded our ingenious lunch traps and we'll just have to rely on the overpopulation of sheep to sustain us. Ashton assist resetting the trap and we lift off in a plume of sand. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05084-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05078-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05064-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05046-SONY-40mm.jpg) As we're flying over the alps and hundreds of high altitude lakes our pilot spots a valley sheltered from the wind and announces "I haven't landed here before" prior to setting us down on the shore of a brilliant cyan lake that's fed by a stream ten feet away. Shortly a small camp is erected, the coal grill is making pleasant crackling sounds, and we're sipping on chilled wine while basking in the afternoon sun. We joke around that everyone on the crew has multiple jobs as the pilot, ahem, our chef prepares delicious seared lamb chops and shrimp. We spend the afternoon flying around, visiting Milford Sound from the air, and landing on a snow capped mountain for family pictures and an impromptu snowball fight. This has been an absolutely magical day that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05117-1-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05111-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05101-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05106-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05126-1-1-SONY-40mm.jpg) ## **Milford Sound** The next day we're kicked out of our alpine heaven and are picking up a rented Toyota Hilux. It's a proper blue pickup with knobby tires and my overlanding compatriots send me congratulatory texts while Virginija rolls her eyes so hard that all I can see is her whites. We're driving to Milford Sound today through what is often called the most picturesque road in the South Island. Storm clouds in the distance make for a nice backdrop in my landscape shots, but I'm a little muffed because it's in the general direction where we're driving. A valley etched by a receding glacier ends in a traffic sign and a sheer vertical cliff wall. The traffic light controls who gets to enter the Homer Tunnel first - a single lane, 1.2 kilometer long shaft etched into granite that took over twenty years to complete. The work started in 1935 and was largely done with manual labor, dynamite, and work crews camping in risky high altitude alpine conditions throughout the year. Which reminds me - the cooling in our bedroom is constantly off by, like, half a degree. Need to get it fixed. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05185-1-SONY-85mm.jpg) It's foggy and raining by the time we emerge from the Devil's rectum. We check into our lodge that sits next to a mountain river, pop over to their restaurant, and wrap the day up with a delicious meal at Pio Pio. The ambiance, drinks, and food are all outstanding. It's confusing, because we're effectively in a national park, but the lodge and the food "smell" private to me. I interrogate the lady that brings us the food and am proven correct. The owners of the lodge lease the land from the national park, but the institution is privately run. I reflect that it is a clever way to blend private and federal resources - something we don't do in the US at all when it comes to national parks. Another realization strikes us. There's really not that much to do here. We have a boat cruise scheduled for tomorrow, but outside of a few hikes Milford Sound is a "day trip" destination. And we saw it out of our rotary sky limousine, so, you know… We shuffle a few of our bookings around and decide to check out after our boat trip. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05088-1-SONY-40mm.jpg) There's a whole story about how a sound is different than a fjord, but I'll save you from the national geographic session. Milford sound is actually a fjord. It's a massive water system that resulted from the glacier applying millions of tons of pressure on a mountain range and carving out a V shaped valley. The scale is massive. Thousands of waterfalls cascade down the walls of the fjord, looking like strands of silver on the granite from a distance. To top off the adventure our boat is escorted by a pod of playful dolphins. Ashton announces that he saw a rare pink dolphin. Who am I to argue? ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05221-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05235-1-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05268-SONY-40mm.jpg) ## **Rosewood Matakauri** We're on the Southern end of the island and the plan is to drive North, stop by Lake Tekapo, then continue all the way up to Flockhill lodge - our final stay. My initial route, assisted by Grok, by the way, has me driving for over 8 hours from Milford Sound to Lake Tekapo. I enjoy my Hilux, but not that much. Virginija does not resist to lighten the load and books us for a night at Rosewood next to Queenstown to cut our drive in half. She schedules herself a massage, locks herself in the luxurious bathroom, and sends us away to explore the outdoor pool, sauna, and plunge tub. I bounce between the hot tub and the icy plunge pool, the lake and mountains in front of us slowly sinking into the coming dusk. Ashton takes up the dare and tries out the ice bath, as well. Rosy cheeked, happy, and hungry we go searching for mom, worried she may abandon the rest of the trip for an exchange of a few extra days at the spa. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250412144134_0318_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20250412144219_0319_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_3048-Apple-6.765mm.jpg) ## **Mount Cook, South Island** The island starts out wild in the South and then gets a little tamer the further North one goes. We're going to swing up to Mount Cook today, a short detour next to Lake Pukaki. There's a short, accessible hike there called the Hooker Valley track that even my gentle, comfort-loving compatriots may be willing to undertake. It's late afternoon by the time we drive north on 80 to the base of Mount Cook. It's worth saying that everything in this part of the island is incredibly remote and low density - a sheep farm can be found here and there, but a petrol station may require an hours worth of driving. For whatever reason we're ill equipped for our hike ahead - we skipped lunch to get here, snacks are limited to a scattering of mini chocolates Virginija nabbed at the hotel, and we're carrying a single bottle of water. We enter the parking area of the national park and realize there are no park facilities to speak of - just parking, portapotties, and a trailhead. Ashton gets into one of his moods about the socks not fitting him right, the trail is packed with groups of tourists, and I see an Indian lady with heels on and a stroller coming back from the hike. The reality does not exactly align with the vision we had for this trail and, thirty minutes in, we turn around and bail. This is a familiar feeling, we've been in places like this when we overland in the US. You spend a week in the pristine wilderness without a person in sight and then teleport to a national park crawling with people, RVs, tents, mediocre food, and traffic jams. In retrospect, timing is everything with popular trails and a morning hike would have been just right. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05385-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05383-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05368-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05362-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05347-SONY-85mm.jpg) ## **Lake Tekapo, Dark Sky Reserve** On the upside, the light is spilling over the mountaintops and I'm getting pretty landscape shots of Mount Cook and the surrounding sheep farms. We make a few stops on our way to Lake Tekapo and arrive to the village at sunset. This area is known as a Dark Sky Reserve - one of the world's largest areas with lowest light pollution, ideal for stargazing. Naturally, it's cloudy on the evening we're here. We try to find dinner but there are fewer options than in a typical frontier town and the best ratings indicate that food trucks may be our only option. I run into a local market to grab a few essentials, order two pizzas from a little truck, and navigate our way back to the cabin where we're staying for the night. With the fire crackling in a fireplace, cold beer in my glass, Ashton curled up under the blue glow of his iPad, and greasy cardboard evidence of consumed pizza pies, we settle into the night. It's an odd village - there's a small central strip with few retail options, a hill with an observatory on top, the famous Church of the Good Shepherd sitting on the edge of the lake, and a wilderness that stretches beyond the visible borders of town. Before we depart for our final stretch of road I have determined to force our family into another, hopefully more successful, hike. The Mount John Summit track should take us a couple of hours to complete, take us all the way up to the observatory on the top of the hill, and circle back through a pine forest. Ashton is rested and inclined for adventures, Virginija is skeptical but I'm hoping to get her deep enough into the hike that backing out becomes impossible. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05502-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05480-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05469-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05440-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05417-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05402-SONY-40mm.jpg) We follow a path North by the lake and Ashton launches into a monologue about an adventure game he is currently playing. It's a futuristic, cyberpunk-ish setting and I'm enjoying his story as we walk. He's chittering so fast and enthusiastically that both Virginija and I can't help ourselves but giggle at the change of mood compared to the day before. Luckily, the trail is empty but for the three of us. We're slowly gaining elevation (for a total climb of 1,300ft) and a breathtaking view of the lake and surrounding mountains opens up in front of us. With a total distance of five miles, it's a healthy three hour hike. The return is a steep sequence of switchbacks through a pine forest and we're all happy it's a descent. Ashton requests a repeat of the pizza we had last night and, snacks loaded in our Hilux, we jump back on the road to Flockhill lodge. It's a pleasant three hour drive, the mountain ranges tapering down and blending into rolling hills, and finally farmlands that stretch as far as the eye can see. Fog rolls through green fields speckled with white patches of sheep as we arrive at Flockhill station, an active 36,000 acre sheep farm sheltered in a valley of the alps. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05518-SONY-85mm.jpg) ## **Flockhill Station** The Flockhill station dates back to the 1800's when a homestead was built in the current location. Eventually the property was turned into an active sheep farm and only recently (last couple of years) a hospitality element was added with a central restaurant/lodge, luxurious villas, and a large four bedroom homestead (that comes with a dedicated chef and attendant). The lodge puts up an incredible tasting dinner every night, outstanding local flavors cooked in an open kitchen, a wood fired oven glowing as the centerpiece. The shelves in the dining area are decorated with various pickled and preserved vegetables, fruits, preserves, herb extracts - all actively used in the recipes we see on the table. A few steps outside is a blooming garden of fresh vegetables, spices, and edible flowers. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05550-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05589-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05612-SONY-40mm.jpg) It's been a long trip, almost two full weeks including travel time, and we're ending it on a good note. We have three nights at this property to wind down before the 20+ hour trek back to Chicago. Our favorite experience here is going on a farm tour with a shepherd and her two herding dogs. One of the dogs, the older and more mature one, is a gathering dog - she runs in a wide circle around the herd of seep and collects up all the stragglers into a tidy circle. The other, a larger and younger female, works as a driving/forcing dog - making the maximum amount of noise and ruckus to drive the sheep in a particular direction. Both dogs are blasting all over the field at the speed of light, clearly enjoying the work, each other's company, and the outdoors. Dogs are taught both vocal commands as well as whistle signals. Each dog has their own system of codes it knows to follow, allowing the shepherd to control two working dogs in the same field. It's incredible to watch, making me think that spending days out in this magnificent nature with loyal animals is certainly not the worst way to make a living. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05735-SONY-40mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05749-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05741-SONY-40mm.jpg) We move a flock of sheep to a new pasture. We find two young bulls at the edge of the property and have to bully (no pun intended, they're not very cooperative) them into returning back to the farm. We visit the shearing facility and learn about the lifecycle of the station, the grades of wool, and the buyers of the final product (e.g., smartwool is one of them, which is cool because I own some of their products). Finally, we visit two young lamb and have Ashton climb into their enclosure and feed them some fresh grass. All of this is made infinitely better by our genuine, smiling guide and her two dogs. New Zealand is a difficult country to get to, a very easy country to enjoy and love. Its tiny population and foreboding landscape make the interactions between people grounded and real. The folks we met and interacted with all seemed connected to nature and the outdoors, all carrying an ease around them that's hard to describe - the very antithesis to the jitteriness, urgency, and anxiety of urban dwellers back home. We're taking off from Christchurch tomorrow, and I hope the tranquility we found travels back with us to Chicago. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05643-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05662-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05619-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05680-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05687-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05711-SONY-40mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R05728-SONY-40mm.jpg) *Shot with s Sony A7RV, a 40mm F2.5 and 85mm F1.8.* ### Tokyo: largest city in the world, respectfully silent URL: https://www.needoptic.com/tokyo-largest-city-in-the-world-respectfully-silent/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T00:46:26.000Z I have a massive backlog of writing to get through. Instead of holding back to post the pictures, I'll update this story as a blog post. It may not make sense at first, but I trust the process. We spent two full weeks whizzing around Japan in bullet trains - from Tokyo, to Kyoto, to Nara, and finally exploring the slower pace of life on the Nakasendo samurai trail and surrounding towns. Here's what we saw, ate, and thought about. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1194-Apple-6.86mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1197-Apple-6.86mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1199-Apple-9mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1201-Apple-6.86mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1205-Apple-6.86mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1206-Apple-6.86mm.jpg) It's odd to start piecing together the trip from pictures of alleys, but I dislike walking down busy promenades with flashy brands and polished marble tiles. They're all the same and could be swapped between Paris, New York, or Tokyo. Jet lag is brutal so I research my morning jog route at 4am, burn through the room reserves of Nespresso coffee capsules, and kickstart the day heading Westbound from the Peninsula hotel. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00820-SONY-50mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00785-SONY-50mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00817-SONY-50mm-1.jpg) Civil engineering meets urban planning meets life. Back alleys of Tokyo. I remember the first impression of Tokyo that morning. For 37 million people it's incredibly silent. Peaceful, even. Granted, I'm running before any sane person is up, but even at predawn hours cities like New York hum with ambulance activity, rushing cabs, hissing steam vents, and the occasional night laborer scuttling to or from their job. But Tokyo is chill. Birds chirp around me as I disturb them with my run, pedestrian crossings beep with polite tones for the visually impaired. I puzzle why every single sidewalk has a yellow central tile with a lego-like surface. I later learn these are "tenji tile" and have been invented by the Japanese 50 years ago to assist blind people with a tactile surface while navigating the metropolis. Now used all over the world, from Sydney, to London. There are (almost) no trash cans in Japan, with the exception of recycling containers next to vending machines. A culture of not creating a mess and thus not having to clean up after is practiced. Schools don't have janitors and students take turns cleaning the classrooms and common areas. Streets are spotless and my shoes are clean from dust after a week of running and walking. The absence of trash cans originated in the 90's when a deadly sarin gas attack was carried out in a busy Tokyo subway. The government took out containers that could hide potential weapons and people adjusted around the change. It's unusual to see people eat or drink while on the move and wrappers, cans, and other disposables are carried along to be recycled at home. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00816-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R01446-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1171-1-Apple-6.86mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00759-SONY-50mm-1.jpg) Can't help but compare to the US. Japan does have an advantage from its homogeneity - only 2.3% of the population is foreign. Deep traditions, focus on respect, and a collectivist tendency to follow government directives have created a truly unusual place that I believe is one of the last of such kind on Earth. On the other hand, economically Japan has been flat for the last thirty years and is on the precipice of population collapse. Our guide told us that retirement continues to slip deeper into old age, most elderly having to continue working to supplement their income. I don't know enough to comment on bad policy, but suspect there's also a behavioral element. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00833-SONY-50mm-1.jpg) I ran or walked most of the mornings on the trip. Family always manages to deal with jet lag better, so they snore away while I'm prowling from corner to corner in the hotel room. I would typically wait to just before sunrise, grab my phone or camera, and head out for a couple of hours. It gave me a chance to see a less busier side of our destinations, especially in Kyoto, where the narrow streets are incredibly packed during the day. On the second day in Tokyo I saw the famous salarymen, and women, emerge from bars at 6 in the morning, still tipsy from the night of drinking the work week away. In another alley a drunk office worker was being summoned from the sidewalk by a less impaired colleague. Seems like even the most proper of cultures will find a release valve and it includes more than drinking. Yes, you know what I'm talking about. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00996-SONY-50mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00720-SONY-50mm-1.jpg) We were lucky with our timing for the trip. We landed in Tokyo just as the cherry blossoms were about to bloom. As we made our way to Kyoto and beyond, the warm weather followed us and we ended up having two continuous weeks of sakuras in their prime. Onwards to Kyoto on the bullet train! ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R01013-SONY-50mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R01026-SONY-85mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R01062-SONY-50mm.jpg) ### Lithuania from a drone URL: https://www.needoptic.com/lithuania-from-a-drone/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T00:11:41.000Z Don't have much of a story for this one except that I almost gave up on the little DJI after local regulatory requirements sent me down a rabbit hole of drone pilot education curriculum, paid applications, pilot licenses, and other legalese nonsense that only a feverish Brussels bureaucrat could come up with. Naturally, the government of Lithuania has a full service website cooked up just for this. For a country of less than three million residents it's... excessive, to say the least. I solved all my problems by updating the control module software of the drone and finding out that, hey, the Mini skirts under the regulatory umbrella due to its size. Lovely, taxpayers are really getting a run for their money. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240711061700_0062_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240711061740_0064_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240717085824_0183_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240717085835_0184_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240717085857_0185_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240707095251_0014_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240709112516_0050_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240707105251_0029_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240707105206_0027_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240716131049_0153_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240717052120_0168_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240716131304_0158_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240716131140_0155_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240714132829_0099_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240703033908_0066_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240703034002_0068_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240703034226_0072_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240704211725_0108_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DJI_20240711072531_0071_D-DJI-6.72mm.jpg) ### Overlanding '24: Magestic Wyoming URL: https://www.needoptic.com/overlanding-24-magestic-wyoming/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T14:17:12.000Z I don't have a story for this trip. Took me half a year to finish processing the batch of images and I now realize this was one of the more challenging adventures. As I started planning the route in early spring of '24 I discovered that most of our stops in Wyoming were at much higher altitude. In fact, a few of my trails were getting hit by snow storms just weeks out from the trip, roads were getting closed for cleaning, camps were pushing out their season openings. I kept sending the group weather forecast data heading into the trip, warning everyone that the trip may turn into a ski adventure. It didn't get as bad, but there were a few mean evenings. One of them made us bail on our crossing of the Beartooth Highway and we ended up camping with a few annoyed grizzlies, if the signs were to be believed. Anyway, enjoy the kaleidoscope of majestic landscapes that can all be found in the great state of Wyoming, USA. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02527-SONY-85mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02531-SONY-85mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02555-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000213-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02577-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02578-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02576-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02650-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02626-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02624-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02621-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02618-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02617-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000234-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02607-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000218-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000221-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02661-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000242-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000254-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02720-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02640-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02732-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02736-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02751-SONY-50mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000313-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000301-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000333-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000330-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02852-SONY-85mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000420-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03140-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02945-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02908-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03093-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000348-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02893-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03134-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000417-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03074-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02968-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R02986-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03149-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000392-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000401-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03019-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03059-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000444-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03144-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03164-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03152-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000443-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R03155-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000438-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm.jpg) Captured with a Leica Q2 @ 28mm and Sony A7R. ### The mission to Big Bend National Park URL: https://www.needoptic.com/the-mission-to-big-bend-national-park/ Last updated: 2026-04-18T14:34:24.000Z At 6,000 feet of elevation the temperature has fallen to 35 Fahrenheit and we're shivering. No amount of tactical layering helps, and we are forced to retreat to our tents and seek shelter from the elements. As the surrounding canyons fade into inky blues, we chidingly question Eimis' weather forecast accuracy. We're ten miles deep in the park and this is going to be a rough night. The seed of trouble to come was planted during a typical, idle phone conversation with Dominic, upon which we decided on the need for a special, boys only mission. The most experience hiker from the group, Eimis, picked Big Bend for exactly this reason: nested on the border of Mexico in the Western part of Texas, the park holds an isolated mountain range in the middle of the desert and is a nightmare to get to by road. The Lone Star state is unapologetically massive, and the closest commercial airport is seven hours away. We, on the other hand, had an idle plane practically clawing its way out of a hanger, a thirst for adventure, and an allowance from our families to bugger off into the wilderness for the next four days. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00673-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00660-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00667-SONY-85mm-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00681-SONY-85mm.jpg) The Big Bend National Park receives the least number of visitors of any parks in the United States. Named for the kink in the Rio Grande River, it's unique in that it encloses all of the Chisos mountains within the park boundary, shares a border with Mexico, and is home to a wide range of wildlife, including pumas, black bears, coyotes, and others. The mountains are sky islands – a mountain formation that is completely isolated in the desert from any other formations and rises to an elevation of 7,832 feet. Yeah, I didn't know it existed, either. Dominic and Eimis are pilots. I mock their choice of hobby as glorified bus driving, which never fails to rile them up. "It's not a hobby, it's a way of life", crackles a response through my headset. It's easy to throw stones from the back seat of the Cirrus SR22, as my chauffeurs toil over the screens of the G1000, discussing engine temperatures, approach vectors, and other air balloon terminology that soon blends into a soothing stream of chatter that I don't understand and fully ignore. Personally, I was a bigger fan of the previous Beechcraft airplane that Dominic owned – it had a table in the back for my drink and I could stretch my legs out. Currently I'm pretzeled together with our hiking gear, but at least I have permission to deploy the parachute, built into the roof of the plane, if both Eimis and Dominic suffer a concurrent stroke induced by sexy cloud formations or whatever else excites pilots these days. My nap is interrupted by the captain, "Do not scratch the window behind your head, it's made of plastic." I guess the glass window model was a luxury option. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00327-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00355-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00358-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00366-SONY-85mm.jpg) We don't have enough fuel for a direct flight from Chicago to Texas' nether region and, after a freak accident, Dominic has had his bladder replaced with a lady's purse. Eimis identifies a small private airport in Oklahoma that should alleviate both constraints. We have weather to consider, as well, and I quote, "it's very unlikely that we'll have clear skies across half the continental United States". For the next leg of the trip my logistically gifted friends have mapped multiple airports in case we have to divert due to severe weather. Duplicate rental vehicles are awaiting at both strips. I adjust my position to recover blood flow to a tingling ass cheek and grumble about the economy conditions of these airlines and the pilot's phobia of a few cumulous clouds. Dominic and Eimis swoon over the gentleman running the small airport in Oklahoma. Pilot tales are exchanged, and we learn of the time when a couple of Warthogs flew over the small strip during an airshow. Boys are charmed by the good looks of Marlboro man and impressed by his stories. I turn down the volume of my headphones as the fan service continues into seven thousand feet. I observe the landscape fade from greens into yellows as we continue the second leg of our journey and approach Lajitas Airport. It is so remote than even the FAA is confused on the arrival procedure for the airport, there is no radio, nor radar availability. A thin cloud layer obscures the ground, we rely on synthetic vision to navigate the shifting terrain below. Eimis identifies a break in the clouds, and we drop elevation to get a visual on the landing strip. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00372-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00384-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00389-SONY-85mm-1.jpg) Those are the legendary B-52s down there. Freedom delivered from 30,000 feet. There's a charm to Terlingua of a town that is on the precipice of getting investment and being developed into a major attraction, which I imagine what the likes of Telluride or Jackson would have felt like years ago. It has a large private airport which is not yet used by commercial airlines. The National Park sits visibly on the edge of town and is easy to reach. Hip and well-designed hotels and vacation rental properties are cropping up like mushrooms after the rain and a few lively restaurants cater to the hungry appetites of explorers and locals alike. Staying true to Texas and the self-sufficient attitude of remote and lesser populated states, urban planning does not exist in the town. People line up in front of an ice cream stand while a trailer that has seen much better days adorns the background. A parking lot extends to both sides with vehicles and trees planted in random patterns. Most of the secondary roads in town are gravel and a dusty haze hangs in the air as pickup trucks load up with outstanding breakfast burritos from a TexMex restaurant and pull away. We can't help but smile and nod in approval as blood circulates through the calcified arteries of this wild, forgotten, resurrected mining town. Once two thousand men strong, Terlingua faded into obscurity in the early 40's after bankruptcy of a Chicago mining company. From 2017 to 2024 the population of the town has doubled to 154, hopefully a preview of the future growth. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00399-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00406-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00409-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00414-SONY-24mm-1.jpg) Chicago and Boston are known as the largest expatriate communities of Lithuanians. The Ellis Island Museum estimates that over 600,000 people of Lithuanian descent live in the United States, but nowhere does it say that they find employment at a random BBQ restaurant in Terlingua. It doesn't take long for the three of us to grow suspicious of the accent that our blonde restaurant attendant is displaying and the next thing we know is she has pulled over a chair to our table and we're discussing best trails in the park and people we know in the community. The weird keeps getting weirder in this remote ghost town. Later the same day the three of us are having dinner at an outdoor cantina of Starlight Theater and a UFC fight plays on a large outdoor monitor. The fighter is Lithuanian, and the fight takes place in Kaunas Arena, Lithuania. We shake our heads in disbelief, shrug, and order another round of beers. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00418-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00417-SONY-24mm.jpg) We drive out for a short hike by the Rio Grande river before turning down for the night. The trail we're taking is in the Santa Elena Canyon – a massive scar carved out by water in a wall of stone. The Rio Grande is the 4th longest river in in North America, spanning 1,900 miles and acting as a water source for seven states in the US and Mexico. The river is also the geographic border that separates the land of the free from the land of the churro, which we playfully invade a few times. We plot a few routes for smuggling illegal narcotics, but locals tell us there are easier places to cross the border that "have roads and don't require hiking through 50 miles of mountainous terrain of a national park". ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00431-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00434-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00423-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00422-SONY-24mm.jpg) We retreat to the safety of Texas, discuss the fashion of cowboy boots, pick up bottled drinking water for our hike tomorrow, and fold in for the night. Eimis shuffles in predawn light and starts making coffee, reflecting that we're civilized company and have not kept him up by snoring. Chilled overnight, we siphon the water into our packs and, for the first time on this trip, weight the full burden of gear that will sit on our backs for the next 36 hours. To me the three packs weight the same, but naturally we compete on who's got the heaviest load. I brought the smallest pack by volume that traces its roots to our backpacking adventures in Vietnam a lifetime ago. It's possible that I've packed too few things were I to compare my pack to the bottomless satchels my colleagues will be hauling through the park, but I also know my friends tend to err on the side of worry and overpacking. Time will tell. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00437-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00439-SONY-24mm.jpg) A large portion of weight comes from water. The park is dry this season – we will not have an opportunity to top off our reserves and need to bring with us all the water that we'll need. Three liters of primary storage is tucked by the spine of the backpack in a hydration bladder with a straw, another three liters divided between neoprene bottles resting like cowboy pistols on hips of the backpack. The general rule is around one liter per five miles of hiking, but it does vary by weather and hike intensity. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00443-SONY-24mm.jpg) We break fast and drink coffee at a small Mexican restaurant while watching the sun rise. Shielding his eyes from the intense southern sun, Eimis knowingly states that weather conditions are ideal and we're going to have a pleasant hike in low 60's. We jump into our aging Chevy SUV. It somehow manages to feel sluggish and underpowered with a V8 engine that has a larger carbon footprint than most European nations. The hiking trails start at the park's mountain lodge which is nested at 5,400 feet within the Chisos Basin. The green LED temperature gauge in our truck slowly ticks in an unfavorable direction as our elevation increases. Morning mist obscures visibility and soon Dominic is flicking our windshield wipers to clear off rain drops. Fog thick as soup swirls around the Chevy's tires and visibility is so poor we slow down unless we want to risk running into a vehicle ahead. Headlight beams fruitlessly hunt for signs of the road markers ahead as we arrive at the lodge. We chat up a ranger at the visitor's center to find out the conditions on the trail – "rain is on the menu, and the park needs it", she tells us. We give Eimis a sideways look and Dominic convinces me to pack one of his sweaters in my backpack, just in case. It's a heavy sweater. I will end up not using it. Thanks Dominic. Our last order of business is to buy a deck of playing cards in case we need to entertain ourselves at camp upon early arrival. The store is all out of regular cards, so we're forced to buy a little ornamental native American purse that has two decks in it. The team then forces me to carry two blocks of dead tree in my "light" pack. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00446-SONY-24mm.jpg) We pass a sign warning visitors of large wildlife in the park that includes black bears and mountain lions. Eimis and I riff that Dominic is the heaviest of us and is the slowest runner, so countermeasures such as bear spray are unnecessary. All of two hundred feet into the hike Dominic stops the procession due to a drip. We blame his small and faulty bladder and we're not entirely wrong, although it's the one in the pack that's sprung a leak this time. You can tell how far we've made it by the paved trail in the picture. Dominic's little accident entertains us for a good hour on the trail, our step is light, our packs – comfortable. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00453-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00447-SONY-24mm.jpg) Dominic is the definition of overpacked. Also, he frequently has to leak. Eimis is the navigator on the trip, briefs us on the mileage and waypoints. We have a reserved primitive site as this is a National park and dispersed camping is now allowed (our preferred method, as I’ve shared in the overlanding stories). We should be able to make it to the site with plenty of daylight left. The weather is cold, wet, miserable, and visibility is south of 100 feet. We’re supposed to be hiking with incredible views on all sides but all we can see is scraggy trees poking their vile looking bare limbs through the soupy fog. On the upside, we have a good laugh as Dominic starts peeling off his layers as soon as we start hiking uphill. The temperature now is in mid-forties – with packs on our backs we’re generating enough heat to strip down to the base layer. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00458-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00463-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00466-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00470-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00509-SONY-85mm.jpg) A couple of hours later we find ourselves on a rim of one of the canyons, a vista opening in front of us from beneath layers of fog. We decide this is as good a time as any to stop for lunch and drink a cup of coffee. Since we have a few minutes and the packs are not weighing us down, why don't we review the gear we're lugging into this hike and opportunities for improvement for the next trip. While Eimis’ delicate fingers are operating the Jetboil, here are the main categories and items within them: - **Water**: essential, not much room for improvement. Light carrying containers are a must – e.g., collapsible bladders, “Vytautas” mineral water bottles (I’m serious), Neoprene bottles for sipping. 6 liters for two days of hiking, this includes drinking and cooking water. A few packs of hydrating salts to maximize uptake. - **Camping**: lightweight tent, sleeping bag, insulated sleeping pad/mattress, inflatable pillow, lightweight chair. The chair is a bit of a luxury, but it’s worth it after a day of hiking. - **Clothing**: Waterproof compression bag with secondary set of base layers for backup – Smartwool underwear, Smartwool socks, long sleeve base layer shirt. Wearing a pair of G1000 hiking pants, thin long sleeve base layer, fleece, and a waterproof shell for those moments when it rains. A pair of hiking boots - amateur move to wear them for the first time on the hike but did not have any issues and the wide toe box is a must. A pair of thin running gloves, beanie, sunglasses. - **Utility**: a single jetboil for the group, flashlight, fork, lightweight cup, small knife, a single med kit. Each of us is carrying walking sticks. I’m hauling the Sony Alpha 7R v with two prime lenses – a 24mm F2.8 and 85mm F1.8, compact and lightweight. - **Consumables**: two dried food packs (dinner/breakfast), a couple of energy gels, a couple of nutritionally dense snack bars, a couple of dried sausages, candy, a flask with booze to dull the pain at the end of the day. Coffee. A bag of creamer in Dominic’s pack that looks like an amateur smuggle operation. We’re hoping it will get flagged by a local ranger and bump this trip to the next level. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00512-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00521-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00539-SONY-85mm.jpg) An iridescent blue bird, the Mexican Jay, watches us from a branch as crumbs tumble from our greasy, well-nourished lips. To reduce the likelihood of a bear encounter, Eimis has broken out his secret haul of Lithuanian smoked bacon and black bread. We chase it down with coffee and attempt to woo the Jay with small pieces of a cookie, but the Mexican does not trust white man so close to the border. Waves of creamy fog break in the distance allowing the rusty cliffs to peek through, soon to be washed again by another wave. This weather is giving the park a mystical vibe, showing us only what’s a few hundred feet around. Several times throughout the hike Eimis stops, looks at his GPS map, points into the fog, looks at us with a serious expression, and tells us that this “is the best view from the whole trail”. We take his word for it. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00475-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00479-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00530-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00497-SONY-85mm.jpg) We reach camp around four o’clock. We assemble the tents and plant them too close together, forgetting that the rain shields need extra room to tension properly. Innovators at heart, we discuss that this is for the best – we can open the sides and play cards from within the tents. We also can’t be bothered to re-stake them. Eimis consults the map and tell us that we can complete a full loop on the trail before it gets dark, so we ditch the packs at camp and, light of foot, frolic onto the trail to collect a few extra steps for our Garmins. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00531-SONY-85mm.jpg) Eleven miles is logged for the day, but a critical disparity has surfaced within the group. Dominic’s watch is showing a significantly higher number of steps, to the tune of \~7,000 more than Eimis’ or mine. Eimis and I decide that extra bathroom stops could not have amounted to this large of a deviation. We analyze the length of Dominic’s stride, suspicious of some Lisan al Gaib wizardry, and finally discover that his Garmin is using a custom stride length setting. Vindicated of our inferiority, we call Dominic a cheater and drop the subject in its entirety, to much frustration and sputtering from Dominic. Pro tip: if you want to energize Dominic, bring up the topic of warfare (any current global conflict will do) or challenge his physical capabilities. He’s chirping like the Mexican Jay all the way back to camp. We’re losing light fast now, so without further delay the jetboil is spitting concentrated plasma onto our canister of water in preparation for a dinner feast. The watch has clocked in \~2,500 calories burned, and Eimis’ bacon is a distant memory. For the multicourse dining experience tonight I have a selection of Pad Thai with chicken and a delicious, fatty almond butter cup paired with fifteen year old Macallan, courtesy of Dominic. A tobacco product may have also found its way into the kisser, sealing the freezing night with a romantic whisp of smoke, quickly to be dispersed into the inky blues of our canyon. Smacking our lips after the most delicious meal in our lives we recognize that even with all the layering deployed we are starting to freeze. Temperatures have dropped into mid 30’s, wind is up, and even Dominic’s tactical mittens fail to hold back the cold of this desolate night. The playing cards I carried all this way hang, unopened, on a dry tree branch as we crawl into our tents and out of the elements. It’s only 8pm. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00579-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00575.jpg) I’ve angered Dominic many a time in the past, sharing a tent during overlanding and proceeding to fall asleep within all of two minutes. You see, Dominic has an odd fear of the unnatural, which I assume includes witches, goblins, ghosts, long dead people, and so forth. Spending a night alone in the forest would kill him, Dominic has said, more than once. He’s in a tent with Eimis on this trip, presumably because I’ve let him down in the past with my reckless abandon. Unfortunately my streak of good sleep ends this trip and I roll around on my squeaky inflatable mattress, unable to find comfort, plugging holes that allow cold outside air to seep in. I hear a satisfied snicker from the other tent and mocking commentary as I drift between wakefulness and sleep. Our ill secured tents flap as the wind picks up. I can hear the familiar splattering of rain drops. The ranger must be happy, “the park needs it”. I try not to think about breaking down camp in this weather. Groggy from lack of sleep I peek at my watch and realize it’s 6am, still dark out, heavy rain washing out all other sounds. I hear muffled moans from the other tent – Dominic has survived another night in the forest as his deteriorating body releases pent up gasses and creaks. It's too early and too wet to get up. Dominic and Eimis discuss what movie to watch while we wait for sunrise, soon realize the only choice is Aladdin – it’s downloaded locally on Dominic’s phone. They watch, I listen. Robin Williams is incredible as the genie; I don’t have to watch the animation to see the characters in my mind. Ah yes, good times when Disney was in the business of entertainment and not political ideology. Sun comes up and the rain stops as we travel back memory lane. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00585-SONY-24mm.jpg) Breakfast time. It's stupid cold. I should probably reflect on what hiking is like, seeing as this is my first time with an overnight pack. It’s easier than I thought, but I give credit to Eimis for selecting a reasonable trail and a strategic way to approach it. We’ve slowly worked ourselves up to the current elevation, but our return trail is a constant climb (downward, luckily) to get back to the lodge. Had we attempted the hike in reverse order I may now be using profane language to decorate my colleague’s choices. Garmin recorded total hike time per day at around six hours, with a steady 100 to 120 bpm heartrate. Estimated sweat loss showed around 3.5L, so our two-day total sounds reasonable. As we eat breakfast and break down our tents we are greeted with blue skies and sunshine. Fog is still swirling around the peaks, but we have a chance of seeing these views Eimis promised us. Today the hike will take us by Emery peak – the highest elevation point in the park, and then back out to the lodge where our vehicle is parked. For the first few hours low clouds and fog obscure the edges of the canyon but as the fusion reaction from the sun burns away the humidity the park starts opening up. We perch ourselves on a scenic cliff to have a midday snack. We’re down to our t-shirts now and Dominic may have taken off his mittens. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00589-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00596-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00597-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00607-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00609-SONY-85mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00611-SONY-85mm.jpg) The trail that leads to Emery peak is a one-way trail with promises of steeper climbs and a technical finish. We dump our packs into designated bear-proof boxes at the fork in the trail and pick up the pace on the ascent. It’s a picturesque climb, the red and dusty Texan desert opening as far as the eye can see. Soon the dirt trail turns into solid rock, occasionally carved out by rangers to accommodate an easier climb. Now the trail ends and we see other hikers scrambling up large boulders that are held together with gnarly pines that grow at odd angles. The way up is unmarked and drops on all sides are ... uncomfortable. Dominic scouts ahead, trying to find the ledges for footing, while Eimis and I calculate the probability of mortal failure, sharing uneasy glances and sweaty palms. I’m the first in line to give my friend Dominic a hard time, but here I am, frozen in place with my back to the cool rock, camera dangling around my neck, hands and knees shaking slightly. Say what you will about his irrational fear of the forest, but the manbear scampers up the face of the rock and we can hear his gleeful cheers as he informs us that we’re “missing the best views of the whole hike”. Eimis and I admit defeat and text Dominic’s wife that he’s being reckless, and we’re just reasonable friends, trying to look out for him. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00621-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00624-SONY-24mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00625-SONY-24mm.jpg) Middle picture: fearless Dominic on the peak. I should wrap up the story on this high note as the remaining of the hike is uneventful. Climbing downwards with a heavy weight loads up a different set of muscles and our shins are screaming. We’re properly loathing our packs by the time we’re close to the parking lot. As we shake off our burdens in the back of the ever-unattractive white Chevy, we decide the first order of business is to buy three cold Mexican Cokes and a sixpack of cold beer. The cokes taste sublime. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/A7R00615-SONY-24mm.jpg) So, about that high note. As we are about to fly out of the cute little Terligua airport the next day, we manage to clog up one of their toilets. With no plunger in sight, we ask for help from the staff. A stocky young man rolls up his sleeves and, tools in hand, disappears behind the bathroom doors. He survives, but we see him outside a few minutes later, eyes cast down, cigarette in his mouth. We creep back into our plane, avoid eye contact, and take off for a six-hour flight back home. As we’re landing, a flock of geese scatters to all sides of the runway. One of them kamikazes right into the nose of our plane, causing a prop strike and cracking the plastic engine cover below. Dominic’s wife films the landing and the vaporization of the goose. A cloud of feathers scatters in slow motion like unexpected snow on a sunny spring evening. That bit was more dangerous than the hike or the climb to Emory peak. *Taken with Sony A7R V, 85mm and 24mm* ### Overlanding '23: Crossing the Cinnamon Pass URL: https://www.needoptic.com/overlanding-23-crossing-the-cinnamon-pass/ Last updated: 2026-04-19T12:40:00.000Z A good overlanding adventure introduces a manageable amount of risk. Err on the side of safety and you might as well be feeding mosquitoes in Baraboo, Wisconsin, an overzealous camp ranger checking your coolers for contraband and threatening arrest. True story. Ignore the trail warnings and, best case, you'll end up on an episode of Matt's Off Road Recovery, worst case - crushed below a few tons of gravel at the bottom of a thousand foot drop. As it happens, this year's adventure toyed with the comfort level of even seasoned overlanding veterans. To make matters infinitely worse, I win the job lottery as the route navigator: better than digging latrine holes, but also incredibly stressful when you realize the vacation of eighteen individuals relies on your mapping skills. During planning we collectively decide to explore new trails, seek out uncharted and dispersed camping sites, and, upon ridicule of our manhood from Martin, to increase the difficulty rating for selected passages. I quote Martin, "we're not using even 30% of capabilities of these trucks". In the months leading up to the trip I spend hours plotting routes in GaiaGps, trying to walk the fine line between "fun adventure" and "call emergency services on that satellite phone". Virginija monitors the situation across my shoulder and applies her female intuition to refine and improve the journey. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9880.jpg) You see, this year we are turning the dial to eleven. Instead of three vehicles, a preferred caravan size for overlanding, we are humming along in a convoy of five. If that's not enough to induce a logistical seizure for Dominic, consider that one of the vehicles will also be towing a full-size, 3,000-pound trailer loaded with a dedicated shower, kitchen, multiple freezers, sleeping quarters, and close to fifty gallons of water. We're a sophisticated group of mud gypsies. Leading up to the trip we heatedly debate the possible failures in our logistics. How many people may need to poop concurrently? Will they be able to hear each other from adjacent tents? How long will it take us to stop for a fuel refill with eight kids? How much candy can they buy at a gas station, and could they theoretically overdose from sugar? How long will it take us to feed eighteen people on a single camp stove? Unable to come up with answers we default to the one known solution in overlanding: pack more gear and roll the dice. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9864.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9868.jpg) Our journey this year traverses the Rockies in Colorado, snakes through canyons in Utah, and finally loops back through Arizona and New Mexico. Due to unfortunate geography of our residence in Illinois, we face four days of trucking the Midwest plains (two days each way) and endless hours of ham radio chatter. As we leave through dense logistics centers in Joliet, Illinois the road opens to never-ending farmlands that stretch for close to a thousand miles. Automated highway barriers in Nebraska remind us we're crossing hurricane lands where wind speeds reach 90+ miles per hour. To put things in perspective, driving from Chicago to Denver is the same as crossing five countries in Europe on a trip from Vilnius, Lithuania to Vienna, Italy. The coffee is not as good during gas stops, but our kids find this to be the best part of the trip and descend like cheerful locust on Love's stations for sugary treats. Note: we have found that Love's and Kum&Go are the two cleanest and most versatile station chains on the route. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9889.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9899.jpg) Denver, also known as the "Mile High City", sits at an elevation of 5,200 feet and marks the junction where great plains meet the Rocky Mountains. Thousands of miles of flatness end abruptly with jagged and snow-covered peaks of the Continental Divide. We quip about the absurdity of having to cross this obstacle with horse and cart. Unsurprisingly, the Oregon Trail, part of which we've traversed in a previous adventure, avoids the Rockies and wiggles through Wyoming to its end destination with significantly less drama. Our caravan cuts South through picturesque foothills and cattle ranches on the way to Poncha Springs, Colorado. We're trying to avoid the busy and world renown ski resorts north of us and break into sparsely populated backcountry. We regroup with the party at a small hotel, annihilate a stack of pizzas, fill our water canisters, and sleep lightly. Tomorrow marks the end of paved roads and the start of Marshal Pass. It has been a dry and late spring this year. I don't remember the Rockies wearing this much white from our previous crossings and the melting of excess snow may come to punish us up in the trails. At 8,000 feet elevation the morning temperature is a crisp 55 Fahrenheit. The ladies exchange radio chatter about packing inadequate warm clothing while our resident pilot advises that we'll continue to lose 3.5 degrees for every thousand feet of ascent. We air down our tires on the entrance to Marshall pass – unnecessary, since the trail is a well-maintained dirt road, but it is part of the ritual. We lurch through mountain meadows adorned with graceful birch trees, sparkling and ice-cold lakes, and take the time for frequent photo opportunities. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9945.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9928.jpg) Cresting a hill we come face to face with mentioned picturesque snow, except this time it's six foot deep and leisurely spread out over our trail. I recall checking the trail status online on the national forest website and finding it open, so this is unexpected. With air suspension raised and snow mode selected, I find the Defender struggling – the snow is melting, and it collapses under the weight of the truck as soon as I set my wheels on it. Vaidas pops out of the Ram and scrambles up a hill to scout our surroundings. A moment later, he's routing us through a steep grade which should allow us to circle the snowed in section of the trail. While the vehicles are capable, seeing the horizon tilt at such an unnatural angle is not a feeling I get used to, no matter how many times we do it. We have multiple cameras rolling as we film Martin's Defender spin all four wheels and haul the massive trailer up the dirt slope, rocks flying ten feet in the air. I have planned five to six hours of trails each day. Without knowing the conditions precise planning is impossible, but we are making good time. We roll through open meadows and settle at a picturesque spot to break for lunch. Yellow shading in GaiaGps tells me these are Bureau of Land Management lands - we can see a tidy firepit left by previous occupants and a primitive teepee that gets quickly swarmed by kids. Chewing on a piece of salami and a crispy pickle, I take a mental note that this may be a good backup campsite if we struggle to find an alternative up ahead. Always have a backup. We learned this lesson the hard way a few years back when we had to bail from a technical trail because we were losing daylight and stayed at an overpriced, sketchy motel with moldy red carpets. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9939.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9946.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9908.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9918.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9914.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9947.jpg) The journey takes us to Table Top road and then to Los Pinos – continuing Westbound across the Rocky Mountains on our way to Utah. Los Pinos is a popular overlanding trail as it avoids towns, stretches over the course of forty miles, and offers a myriad of aspen and pine covered camping spots next to a churning mountain stream. Water is important. We've calculated and are hauling one to two gallons per individual per day – the tank sitting in the footwell of my Defender holds around ten gallons which should be sufficient for my crew of three for a couple of days. Lakes and streams, however, extend water reserves and eliminate the need of a field shower. Lastly, water becomes very sparse as soon as you cross into Utah, so we happily settle into a pine covered spot to camp on the edge of the gurgling stream with plenty of daylight left. Setting up camp the first night is a clumsy affair. Some are erecting shared amenities, others are unfolding rooftop tents, everyone is bumping into each other, we're all realizing we've overpacked. The longer we spend on the trail, the more proficient the process gets. The last night of the trip Vaidas and I have the kitchen running with hot food on the table within the hour of shutting off ignition... Armed with Rocky Talkies, kids scramble up the surrounding hills while we fire up the charcoal grill and prepare condiments for burgers. Camp lights are strung from truck to track, a wood fire crackles in the firepit, laughter of kids echoing from somewhere up the mountain, I hold a cold beer in my hand and am reminded why we plan these trips each year and suffer through weeks of prep. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9957.jpg) The night is cold. Sleeping bags perform as expected, but I've made a rookie mistake – my bald dome is a source of major heat leakage, and I haven't brought a hat to sleep in. The camp unwillingly rustles awake to the sound of opening tent zippers. Vaidas has somehow already managed to log 6,000 steps and discovered a female moose a quarter mile downstream. We're skeptical, but happy he didn't try to tame it or something. Martin pokes his head out of the tent and asks me when we're going to jump in the mountain stream, and I have to gather up all of my willpower to agree with the proposal. There's no grace in stream bathing. To begin with, it's a foot and a half deep and I have to flop around like a beached orca to wash. The water is cold enough to make my feet cramp. But it is unlimited and better than the inevitable alternative of sanitizing body wipes, so we suppress our boyish squeals and scrub away. We tempt the ladies with a prospect of becoming mystical forest nymphs, but we've all been married long enough for them to roll their eyes and leave this nonsense to men. Half an hour later we're the cleanest we'll be for the next three days and packing camp. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9961.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9959.jpg) Our plan for the day is to drive through Lake City, Colorado and take on Engineer Pass – a famous trail that is part of the Alpine Loop, a 25+ mile adventure of higher complexity that takes up to five hours to traverse. We refuel our caravan in Lake City and discover from the friendly station attendant that it has been a cold spring, big surprise, and the pass is… impassable due to snow. I call the ranger station, but it's a holiday and no one picks up. Day two and the plan is already falling apart. Scrambling in Gaia I figure that we can cross the mountain range through the Southern side of the Alpina Loop, called the Cinnamon Pass. Engineer sounds more technical and exciting, but it'll have to do. We flag a local in a lifted pickup truck and are happy to find that Cinnamon Pass is indeed open. I've shared with you that we wanted to increase the difficulty of the trip. When I had the route planned, Dominic, the ever careful and planning, researched my trails and watched a few videos from fellow overlanders. With a grave face of concern, Dominic lectured me that this was a family trip and that perhaps I've given my reckless nature too much freedom. Listening to my friend, I watch the same video and notice a bunch of kids playing on the peak of the summit. Rolling my eyes I think - how bad can it really be? ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9975.jpg) Entering from the East the pass starts with a moderate elevation increase on a rocky but even path. Grinning like children, we splash around in our trucks crossing shallow mountain streams, chatter on the radio, and stop for a bathroom break in front of a sobering sign that announces we're "Entering a Remote Area with Limited Emergency Services". Less than ten minutes later we have to stop – there has been an accident. In a mud filled gully we discover three bikers. Two trail bikes are upright, the third - resting in the middle of the puddle, plastic body panels broken and scattered around the scene. The owner struggles to stay upright as his buddies work to clear the trail and let traffic through. This must have just happened. Giedre and Dominic are dispatched with their portable med kit to investigate and help, if possible. We're informed that the front wheel was caught by the mud and the gentleman hit the handlebars and flew over the bike after impact. Giedre sprays anti-inflammatory and painkilling substance on his collarbone, feeds the guy a few pills, but it doesn't look too bad – potentially a cracked rib or two, but the rider is stable. We're told they'll call for a tow, as their friend is unlikely to continue riding today. Unable to help further we settle back into our vehicles and continue the climb. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0020.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0024.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9982.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9993.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A9998.jpg) Popping bottles on that peak! It is a slow and steep climb. Things get very real as the path narrows and the incline increases, the mirror of my Defender brushing the wall of accumulated snow on my right as I try to stay away from the long one-way drop to the left of us. The path is a series of narrow switchbacks carved into the rock of the mountain, often hugged on both sides by melting snow. The vehicles teeter on three wheels as we navigate the 180 degree turns up the pass and I catch Dominic running on the trail, guiding Martin's trailer turns in my rearview – barely scraping by through the limited turn radius. Martin has become very silent on the radio. Further up the mountain the path narrows with little to no room for safe passing of inbound traffic. Cresting another hill, I see six Jeep Wranglers descending towards us. I don't want to imagine the necessary acrobatics were the two groups to meet on one of the switchbacks, so I speed up and ask the descending group to hold and wait. By the looks of it they are a group of rentals, middle aged couples on an adventure led by a tour guide. The open-carry, cowboy-hat-wearing guide pops out of his vehicle and comes to talk to me, frustrated with the traffic. I ask for patience and inform we're hauling a trailer up the path, which would make passing dangerous. The guides' raised eyebrows and expletives express his opinion of overlanders that bring hitched trailers up Cinnamon pass, and I have the uncomfortable feeling of underestimating the trail. Relief is palpable as we crest the next hill and park our rides at the point of highest elevation on the pass. The narrow trails branch and expand into dull peaks of the Rockies where groups of cars are taking a breather and snapping pictures of the surrounding landscape. As kids scramble up the nearest peak, we dig up a bottle of champagne from our overengineered electric coolers and gulp down the bubbly. Gusts of icy wind remind us this is a temporary respite. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0035.jpg) Just as we think the most arduous part is over our plan crumbles in front of our eyes. We're now four hours into the trail and after scrambling to find the right branch leading us out of Cinnamon pass we're approached by a lonesome figure on the trail. The gentleman in a bright orange cap, running shorts, and iridescent googles tells us that an avalanche blocks our descent. A brief and fruitless exploration of options such as "digging through the avalanche" is quickly discarded due to prohibitive time constraints. It's a fourteen-foot mountain of snow. To add insult to the injury, Martin's Defender experiences a side cut to one of the tires. The lesson - some obstacles are easier to scale in shorts compared to two-ton trucks. Tired, hungry, and frustrated we backtrack to an alternative exit route from the pass and floor it to the nearest town of Ouray. The radio is silent, the sun is setting behind the mountains, and we're nowhere near our next camp site. In town, a few Jack and Coke's later the mood improves. We fight against the clock to get on the Rimrocker trail and find our next camp spot. The sky shifts in hues from the orange of sunset to light blues, to inky satin and we're still grinding the gravel trail, covered in dust and illuminated in eerie light coming from our headlights. The trucks need to keep their distance as the dust annihilates our visibility. As the last rays of daylight melt on the horizon, we arrive at a forest camp site that is still covered by winter snow. Even the fierce fire struggles to warm our weary bones on this chilly night and we quickly pack into our tents and call it a day. I don't typically associate cinnamon with taking a bruising – misleading name for a trail to say the least. We're down a tire and Martin's Defender is incompatible with any of the other trucks in the convoy (early Defenders did not have break clearance for smaller wheels). If his multi-ton monstrosity cuts another rubber, we're going to be properly stuck. Originally, we intended to make the transfer West using Rimrocker, a 160-mile easy trail, and arrive at Moab, but I read online that there was a chance of flooding. All variables in mind, we decide to take a half day for recovery operations – drive to Moab as fast as we can on civilized roads, repair or replace Martin's tire, refill water and supplies, and then jump back on a familiar trail that leads to our favorite dispersed camping locations in Utah, known as the "airport". The day is largely uneventful, which is a welcome change. A shop in town cobbles up the right tire for Martin, bellies are full of subs that Saras picked up for the group, and the only significant obstacles on the trail to the airport are grazing cows that ogle us with eyes filled of surprise and bovine ignorance. Virginija has a stare down contest with a young bull blocking the path (he was winning), but our two-ton Defender has a weight advantage, and the youngster vanishes into the shrub with a shake of its massive head. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0056.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0045.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0049.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0076.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0115.jpg) What once used to be a puddle now stands in our way as a brown muddy lake. Lower temperatures across Utah and spring rains have changed the landscape from the last few times we traveled here. Dominic dispatches one truck at a time to test the soft bank of the lake and make sure we can traverse to the other side. We do have tow ropes, but they're useless if multiple vehicles are beached. The crossing is successful, and we rumble along for a few more hours, deeper and deeper into Dark Canyon Wilderness in search of our landing strip. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0141.jpg) Wide open dispersed sites are the best. We park the trucks in a semi-circle and string camp lights between the roof racks – the Lucie string lights are good for over 8 hours on low output and have a solar recharge panel to get them going the next day. We're situated next to a deprecated landing strip which, we're guessing, was used by rangers a long time ago to maintain the BLM lands in the area. Dark Canyon is a remote site – a minimum of three hours in any direction to get off the dirt. I haul a few dead logs into the firepit and the resulting inferno licks the sky and illuminates our camp. Chairs are timidly pulled away from the hissing and popping fire, cold libations are sloshing in our cups, and the mobile kitchen spits out fragrant puffs of smoke as dinner is prepared for a party of eighteen. This brings us to the topic of cooking. Vaidas and I are responsible for dinners on the trip, but cooking for a group of eighteen is a first for an overlanding trip. There are a few problems to contend with. The food has to be cooked at the same time because the evenings are cold – can't phase protein and starches into separate batches. We need to calculate how to scale each meal – this is a refined group of glampers that likes a balanced diet. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0183.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0154.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0179.jpg) We have a dual-burner camping stove that is fueled by small, yet surprisingly efficient propane tanks. It's great for boiling things and is our go-to for morning coffee, potatoes, pasta, etc. Vaidas packed a massive charcoal grill that takes up half his truck bed – can be used for direct fire or for setting up multiple pots. Our primary cooking vessels are large pots and Dutch ovens – they're versatile to accommodate boiling, frying, and slow cooking. Each dinner is typically a coordinated prep of a protein (sausages, stews, grilled meats), a carbohydrate (mashed potatoes, rice, pasta), and some type of green to balance it out. Add some herbs, spices, and field-made sauces and the camp falls silent, relishing in caloric surplus. Before I forget – if you're trying to boil water and it's taking forever, check if your tank is running low on propane. The stove will have a flame, but the low pressure in the tank will mean that it'll have trouble putting out the needed BTUs. Lesson learned the hard way. With the whole camp complaining about a late dinner. This evening is a misleadingly pleasant respite from the sketchy crossing of the Rockies. It's cooler in the desert, but nowhere near the freezing temperatures we suffered yesterday. Bellies full, kids have set up board games on folding tables, adults are nursing drinks, dispersed by the fire. It's close to midnight and, stifling a yawn, I check with Virginija if it's acceptable for me to bail and crash in the tent. Sensing the inevitable end of the evening, kids start chasing each other around the vehicles, their vitality trying to juice every waking minute of adventure out of the night. Even in present day I get chills trying to describe what happens next. We hear a child screaming. Instincts kicks into gear and all parents are on their feet, scrambling to diagnose who and where is hurt – that's not a band-aid type of sound. Viktoria is the first at the scene and calls out that Sebas, a seven-year-old boy, hit his head on an open car door and is bleeding profusely. We have a bleeding kid with a head wound, we're in the middle of nowhere with no mobile reception, and we're not sure any of us should be driving at this point. It's a nasty two inch cut on the head, but the bleeding stops quickly and Sebas is not showing any symptoms of a concussion. With Giedre in the lead we use clippers to give Sebas a quick haircut in the area of the cut, a field dressing to hold together the affected area, and bandage the little dude's head. Shaken, we discuss options and based on Sebas' condition decide to route Sarunas and family to Moab early in the morning for an ER visit. Even though it doesn't feel like it at the time, all is well that ends well. The family make it to the ER office and the doctor compliments the field medical team on our professionalism. They take a much-needed rest day at a hotel and courageously rejoin us a day later down on the trail. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0227.jpg) When we planned the trip with Virginija she was adamant that we make it out to Lake Powell – it's an incredibly picturesque area surrounded by decaying canyonlands on all sides, bordering with Arizona and our Westernmost destination on this trip. It would take us a couple of days to get there – follow the trail out of the "airport", resupply at Escalante, then cross a wide swath of wilderness to the Northern side of Lake Powell where we would spend the night before our final approach. Our injured crew mates leave us in the morning with screenshots of map directions taken out of the Gaia app. There's no reception out here and no easy way to route a solo vehicle out without offline maps. Everyone at the camp is shook up from last night and we don't rush the morning, eat a slow breakfast, assemble Martin's advanced outdoor shower and expend some of those fifty gallons of water we've been hauling in the trailer to peel off three days-worth of road dust. Funny how luxurious liquids feel in the desert. This is my third time overlanding in Utah and I still get awestruck at how rapidly our surroundings shift from dense green underbrush, to sandy hills, to saturated and jagged red crags that would fit better on Mars than on Earth. Our pace is slower today and we explore a few trails on our way that are surrounded by surreal, colorful, and layered hills that managed to somehow escape a Picasso painting. The hills look solid enough for our boyish stupidity to overtake and attempt a few questionable climbs in the Defenders. As soon as kids spill out of the cars we see patches of color scrambling up the surrounding hills, interrupted by concerned instructions from moms below, hands shielding their eyes. The vehicles are staged for a rapid photoshoot and then we're packed in again and on the way to Escalante. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0259-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0245.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0250.jpg) With a population of 700, Escalante sits nested between multiple National forests and wilderness areas. It serves as an island of provisions for myriads of hikers, overlanders, and wilderness lovers. Our vehicles scatter like a pack of marbles in pursuit of water, fuel, provisions, and a few cups of proper coffee before another dive into familiar and dusty trails. We head South from Escalante, taking the long way to Lake Powell. Adjustments to our route and delays we have experienced will require us to establish camp before we reach Lake Powell. I pull up the trail on Gaia and mark all potential camp locations based on topographic data, evidence of streams, and interesting landmarks. Rocking along the trail we meet head-to-head with two modified Sprinter vans – knobby tires sticking out to the sides, thick intake chimneys raised close to the roofline, mud and dust caking the sides. We slow down and chat with the adventurers. One of the gentlemen is from Switzerland – vehicle and all, and has spent the last six months traversing various trails throughout the continental US. They inform us that a storm caught them on the trail the previous day and forced to stop for camp. It sounds strange to us – rain has never slowed us down and we wonder what type of terrain awaits us further down the path. We exchange pleasantries and continue. The landscape is covered by a dense, thorny bush. As the sun sinks toward the horizon, we pass a few of the sites I have researched, but none have sufficient clearances to get all of the vehicles in. A dried-out riverbed follows our path Southbound, trucks dipping in and out of the sandy depression. I ponder what this would look like with water in the river and whether a crossing would be possible in a different season. After an hour of driving, we realize that no other car had passed us. Finally, we approach a kink in the river that is encased with a rocky formation on one bank and an easy slope on the other. A stream trickles in the middle of the riverbed and multiple other streams drip down the face of the rock – good location both from a shelter perspective and running water to wash dishes, shower, etc. Two of our trucks settle directly in the riverbed, two others are balanced out on the bank, camp and cooking station in the middle. The water, unsurprisingly, smells of iron, filtered through the bright red soil. Using advanced scientific methods (by smelling it) we decide it is safe enough for washing. This is a peaceful evening and as we cook dinner by the fire kids play with the stream, build art installations from rocks in the riverbed, use torches to stage shadow theater, and conduct "experiments" with calcium sediments they find on the wall of the cliff. A discovery of a potato bug almost makes us call in a napalm airstrike on the area, but a quick wiki lookup assures us this alien looking creature is harmless. Research at risk of losing sleep the next couple of nights. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0269.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0278.jpg) We sleep well, however. Back on the trail we finally climb out of the thorny canyons and the landscape opens in all directions, no sight of roads or towns as far as the eye can see. This is a desolate place, painted in yellows and grays, affording life only to small shrubs and wildflowers speckling the landscape in saturated droplets of color. At the bottom of rolling canyons, we see yellow etch marks crisscrossing every which way where rivers used to flow. It's June now, however, and temperatures north of 100 degrees Fahrenheit are a persistent reminder why we're hauling tens of gallons of drinking water across this parched land. Breaking down without water here is downright dangerous. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0310.jpg) While the trail is mostly even, we do see multiple areas where water runoff has carved into the path. On steeper descents we notice long skid marks left by other vehicles and start piecing together why our Swiss friends decided to camp during the rain. While trails in Moab are mostly solid rock and tightly packed gravel, the path we're on now is a mixture of sand and dried mud. Based on the skid marks we can tell the Sprinter vans were sliding all over trying to navigate the trail and avoid the falloffs during wet conditions. The sky is blue now, however, and puffy clouds float lazily above four trucks carving their way towards Lake Powell. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0324.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0287.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0330.jpg) Our destination for today is Alstrom Point, a dispersed camping site perched a thousand feet above Lake Powell and one of the southernmost locations within the state prior to crossing over to Arizona. We've covered a good chunk of trail yesterday and arrive on location with the scorching sun high in the sky and plenty of time to configure camp, hike around the area, and cook ourselves a lavish meal. Having spent just a few minutes outside the air-conditioned cabins we make a wise decision to extend as many of the shelters and tents we've brought with us. We manage to untangle the most complicated awning made by man on Martin's trailer – fixed in placed with multiple vertical posts and spider webs of bright red rope that require fancy nautical knots to tie things into place. I swear under my breath as I use overhand knots everywhere… meanwhile Vaidas unpacks his stadium sized tent that he probably bought at Menards. It features a thousand aluminum legs and could serve as shelter for multiple refugee families, but we set it over our dining table to provide shade for our salami, pickles, beers, and ham. We go for a short hike around the edge of the canyon to observe the lazy curvature of the Colorado river as it continues its journey South. A layer of thin clouds has hidden the sun, and everything gets painted in an eerie yellow cast, reflective light picking up the color of rock under our feet. We notice another truck in the distance, slowly rocking over the stone path that leads to camp and are thrilled to realize it's the missing Defender and its banged-up crew, back with a blessing from a doctor in Moab. One moment the flock of kids carefully examines Sebas' new haircut and bandages, the next they're all back to making noise and playing games as if nothing ever happened. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0355.jpg) The sky is overcast now and we're grateful for the cooling breeze – we'll miss out on the sunset, but at least the evening will be pleasant. There's a storm brewing on the horizon and I have a flashback to a prior trip with Dominic where we thought the gale would rip our tents off the trucks, but surely that's not the case for today. Summoning the advanced knowledge and tooling of a pilot, Dominic pulls up the meteorological radar on his phone and declares that the storm is indeed moving in parallel to our current location and that there's "less than 5% chance that the edge clips our camp". A bet is wagered on said prediction. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0354.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0378.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0379.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0396.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0364.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0353.jpg) A gust of wind shakes our five square miles of tenting as the dark blue clouds extinguish the last rays of the sun. Sipping a beer with one hand, I hold the aluminum tent pole with the other to reduce the agitated flapping. Martin's hat is ripped off his head and sent towards the chasm of the canyon, followed by our laughter as Martin scrambles to catch the evasive prey. There's more of us now holding on to the tent as the wind speed picks up and we jokingly try to calculate the combined mass of our crew and the force necessary to paraglide Vaidas' tent. After a few chairs are dragged away by the wind, kids decide this adventure is best left to the adults and, unsheathing their iPads, clamber into one of the trucks to resume their activities undisturbed. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0408.jpg) The wind is so strong now that the tarp cover gains independent intelligence and decides to abandon the aluminum frame. With fierce instructions Vaidas tells us to hold on to the frame while he untangles the fancy nautical knots as the rest of the chairs, pots, cans, and instruments awaken to their own purpose and plan escape. We're unsuccessful in our rescue attempt. A strong gust of wind jerks the tent violently and several of the aluminum supports bend beyond assembly, the object resembling a steampunk tumbleweed with the cover off. Vaidas hauls the injured parts away from the camp and stuffs them into a rock crevice to prevent an airborne assault. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0410.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0415.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0407.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0417.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0372.jpg) We feel humidity in the air, then feel a few drops of rain. Then it starts pouring, horizontally. We had positioned our vehicles to face the canyon for romantic views upon sunrise, but that also means that a couple of the trucks have tent openings facing directly into the rain. Martin opens the metal back of the trailer for shelter while there's a mad scramble within the camp to reorient the Defenders, collapse tents, and salvage loose items that continue their crawl towards the abyss. Rain is everywhere, the wind kicks it around corners, and I'm happy I'm wearing my Arc'teryx shell. Someone recalls Dominic's weather predictions and comments on lesser likelihood of flying together in the future. Throughout torrential rain, chaos, and wind a few bottles of libation surface from the depths of Martin's trailer and a glass of whiskey is passed around. A bottle of champagne is dispatched to the vehicle where ladies have found refuge. Bruised, battered, and wet we're less bothered by the storm now, crowding behind the safety of Martin's kiosk and observing the devastating power of nature pour its wrath onto the plateau of the canyon. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_0949-Apple-1.57mm.jpg) It's almost midnight by the time the rain stops as abruptly as it began. I nudge Vaidas to unpack the grill and we cook the remaining inventory of our hotdogs, burgers, and sausages. We finish our drinks and, tummies full of food, climb into our tents to survive yet another day on the trail. It's not unusual for kids to get sick on overlanding trips and this trip is no exception. The vestibular apparatus gets a good workout on the back seat and every now and then there's radio chatter requesting a brief stop. In the morning we find out that one of our troopers had a bad night and we decide to alter the route slightly and head south towards Page, stop for a brief resupply, and then start our loop back to Colorado using asphalt. Tonight will be our last night in the wilderness prior to the long cruise back to Illinois. We pack up camp around noon and, sun overhead, creep West and then South out of the Glan Canyon National Recreational Area. Cresting one of the rolling hills we notice traffic up ahead – a kitted out Jeep Wrangler and a Ford Bronco sit on the side of the trail, the crew scattered around a depression in the road. A young lady is kneeling next to the Bronco and using a shovel to unsuccessfully clean the mud off the wheels, while further down a guy is measuring the depth of a mud rut with his flip flops. We realize that the depression in the road is a runoff area where yesterday's storm must have found the path of least resistance, now filled with, what looks like, a foot of mud. We're slightly confused as to the reluctance of our overlanding brethren to dip into the mud bath, but it is possible they lack needed recovery gear, were things to go sideways. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0418.jpg) Dominic recommends unloading my passengers and then doing a trial run – if I get stuck, they'll rope the truck and extract me back to the shore. I fondly remember that there's a setting on the traction system for mud ruts, engage the mode, and launch the Defender. One moment I'm debating the amount of momentum to apply while entering the mud, the next there are fountains of liquid earth flying from both sides of the vehicle, the body of the truck oscillating left and right as wheels spin and the Defender swims, rather than drives, on the liquid slop underfoot. I can feel the truck losing momentum as the resistance from the mud fights what little traction exists, but the truck maintains high RPMs and slowly wiggles its way across the puddle, finally clawing onto the dry bank. Camera in hand I pop out of the truck and take pictures of the waterworks as four vehicles punch through the organic superglue. Vaidas' Ram wades across with the least drama of all – the specialized knobby tires on his truck resemble paddles. Lastly, Martin's trailer has a mind of its own as it tries to jackknife halfway through the rut only to recover a second later and make it across safely. This performance wins Vaidas the position to permanently own the rear of the column in case Martin's circus trailer gets stuck or goes off the path. The valley we're driving through is crisscrossed by mud ruts and we test various entry and exit scenarios. Sarunas plows into one of the puddles full throttle, sending chunks of mud thirty feet in the air and decreasing visibility on his windshield to zero. Close to civilization now, we approach a crossover Chevy properly beached in one of the puddles, half the fender torn off, wheels spinning and digging itself deeper. A young couple sporting a fierce number of piercings and tattoos tells us they're trying to make it across the plateau on their trip through national parks. Saddened by our own inability to get stuck and use recovery gear, Dominic and I jump to the rescue by combining two recovery ropes and attaching one end to the frame of the Chevy. We tell our ill prepared, vaping new friends that the ruts are even deeper on their intended path and propose to extract them and then turn them around in the direction of safety. They agree. On the fifth overlanding trip we finally use our recovery gear. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0425.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0449.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0453.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0466.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0474.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/4Q5A0477.jpg) The last night is calm and cool, back at higher elevation in the mountains of Colorado. We reflect that it would be difficult to replicate the undulations of this journey if we tried – avalanches, mud baths, accidents, questionable trail choices, and wild thunderstorms. Overlanding is an adventure of walking a thin line – play it too safe and it becomes dull, push it too hard and there's a risk of having to abandon the trip altogether. We came awfully close to the latter, multiple times, eking through by sheer luck, good planning, and a reliable team. We may anticipate various scenarios, but some variables are thrown in by mother nature, always with a mind of its own. At these most uncertain of times I am glad we have this group of friends. Driving home through the Rockies, a massive snowstorm turns day into night and ejects two inches of hail on the twisty mountain roads. We creep at twenty miles an hour, windshield wipers furiously battling at the elements. An unfamiliar vehicle attempts an overtake, loses control, and slides sideways across the whole road. We may be done with this trip, but nature isn't done with us. The end. *Decided to bring the Canon R5 and a bunch of glass on this trip. Not like I was gonna have to carry it...* ### Alpine adventures in St. Moritz URL: https://www.needoptic.com/alpine-adventures-in-st-moritz/ Last updated: 2026-04-19T21:36:44.000Z We took a few days out of our trip to Lithuania and popped over to Switzerland. Manicured lush farms, jagged peaks of a young mountain range, and luxurious roadside milk cows stretch in all directions in what seems like a country that has the beauty of a National park. Had a chance to flex the few German words I still remember from school, snap a few pictures with the Q2, and eat at serene and outstanding Michelin restaurants hidden in ancient villages. We're definitely coming back. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030799.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030804.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030805.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030809-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030743.jpg) How is this place real? ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030810.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030752.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030815.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030823.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030844.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030769-7-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030759.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030773.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030860.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030832.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030838.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030863.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030717.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030719.jpg) Badrutt's Palace Hotel making our stay magical. 📍St. Moritz, Switzerland. *Taken with the Leica Q2 28mm.* ### To the edge of the world and back: Chile URL: https://www.needoptic.com/to-the-edge-of-the-world-and-back-chile/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T12:06:29.000Z Chile has always occupied a prime spot on Virginija’s list, but the journey down south presents a few logistical complexities. Fourteen hours is the shortest flight you can score from Chicago (which includes a US-based transfer), but that only gets you to Santiago. Chile is shaped like a big great noodle, stretching for 2,700 miles across South America. To keep the number of internal transfers reasonable we settled on three points of interest: Santiago and surrounding area, Patagonia, and Chiloé Island. Here are a few images from the adventure in Patagonia and Chiloé. Santiago and our urban escapades require a separate post. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020889.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020879.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020895.jpg) **Hotel Tierra Patagonia is located inside the National Park, situated next to a dead mountain lake. Each room faces Torres del Paine. Not that Ashton cared after a 12 mile hike...* ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020934.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020958.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020904.jpg) **Each day is organized into a morning and afternoon adventure, configured based on level of skill and desire for punishment by 70km/h winds. Ashton did surprisingly well, including a close encounter with a hunting puma...* ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1961.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_2089.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020944.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020920.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030052-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030050.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030059.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030066.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030087.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030089.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030108.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030097.jpg) The weather and environment changes rapidly. Gale force winds are constant, sunshine is replaced with rain, then snow, then ice, rinse and repeat. Tierra Patagonia is masterfully integrated into the surrounding landscape. We woke up one of the mornings only to discover snow covering the peaks of hills around us. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030131.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030033.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020914.jpg) We arrived in Patagonia in Spring, left as snow transformed the area to a crystal, desolate landscape. On the left - pink flamingos are visible in the lagoon. Always thought of them as tropical birds. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_2075.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_2074.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1962.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030204.jpg) Ashton and an ancient tree in a National Rain Forest Park. Puts things in perspective. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030210.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030153.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030152.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030148.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030186.jpg) **Traversing a rain forest with a guide from Chiloe.* ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020821.jpg) Santiago. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020855.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020862.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020863.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020868.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020818.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020805.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020811.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020803.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1893.jpg) All photos taken with a Leica Q2. ### Overlanding 2020: traveling together to be alone in the wild URL: https://www.needoptic.com/overlanding-2020-traveling-together-to-be-alone-in-the-wild/ Last updated: 2026-05-06T15:57:18.000Z I'm certain beyond a doubt that any hobby can be traced back to acquisition of gear. The process of researching, identifying, and purchasing gadgets is such a quintessentially "guy" thing to do that I would even classify it as a fetish. Dominic, who you'll meet in a minute, claims that building the perfect kit is, in many cases, more enjoyable than the hobby itself. But you're not familiar with overlanding, so I should probably elaborate before I tell you why my tactical shovel can dig the best latrine holes you've ever seen. > If it was all bricks and concrete, pure forms of substance, clearly and openly, he might survive. It is the little, pathetic attempts at Quality that kill. The plaster false fireplace in the apartment, shaped and waiting to contain a flame that can never exist. Or the hedge in front of the apartment building with a few square feet of grass behind it. A few square feet of grass, after Montana. Now it serves only to draw attention to what has been lost.*— Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig* I, sadly, can't claim ownership to the origins of this hobby. A group of my friends, all petrol-heads of varying qualifications (another hobby, I'm afraid), stumbled into an emerging method of adventure travel called overlanding. In Dominic's words, an overlander is a "Mad Max" type, an individual that travels to remote destinations using vehicles with knobby tires, recovery winches, and big LED light banks. Self-reliance and adventure travel are central themes, buying fast food or using highways are, obviously, frowned upon. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/badlands-CanonCanon-EOS-R-.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/dead-lands-CanonCanon-EOS-R-36.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/dead-lands-CanonCanon-EOS-R-37.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/dead-lands-CanonCanon-EOS-R-42.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/dead-lands-CanonCanon-EOS-R-41.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/dead-lands-CanonCanon-EOS-R-39.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/dead-lands-CanonCanon-EOS-R-29.jpg) In credit to my group of friends, they researched and planned the first overlanding trip all on their own. Actually, I think Eimis did most of the planning while the rest of them debated bear engagement tactics while downing brews in Dominic's garage. As I've said, the idea is to go remote - off the grid. Bears, I was told, are a suffocating reality in such regions. Come to think of it, bears came up *\*way\** too often in preparations for the trip in context of how many times we've actually encountered them, but I'll come back to that topic. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/dead-lands-CanonCanon-EOS-R-47.jpg) Comet NEOWISE visible on the horizon. I am not able to join the guy group on this first trip. First, I've exhausted my "get away from the family for a week" ticket for the year. Those tickets are one in a blue moon and they bear a heavy tax from the missus. Second, I'm generally skeptical of all schemes that my friends bring to my doorstep (to a fault, I know, and I apologize). So they go off on their adventure and post pictures on Instagram while the rest of us hold on for our dear lives through this shit show of a year. I don't know what finally gets me, but I suppose it's Dominic's storytelling upon return. One does not simply throw around "The best trip of my life". Well, Dominic does, but he seemed genuine this time. You'll start piecing together a trend here with my good friend - much like buffets, supersize cups, trucks, and waistlines in America, Dominic only tells BIG stories. Not insignificant is also the reality that at this point in the year we've been locked down for months - our brilliant Chicago mayor closing parks, playgrounds, and running paths by the lake to save our lives (but not our sanity). So, as expected, I dive headfirst into the outfitting journey to become a member of the celebrated society of overlanders. Also known as "I buy a metric ton of gear from REI" phase of the hobby. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/south-dakota-CanonCanon-EOS-R-16.jpg) **Dried out riverbed in South Dakota. We sent the Ram through an alternative path - bumper clearance would have been an issue due to the approach angles of the banks.* If you want serious advice on overlanding, this article is probably not it. This is just text to frame the pictures I took, so proceed accordingly. There are plenty of resources on the web for building your first kit, but I will say that you should probably divide and conquer in terms of how you distribute responsibilities within your group. For example, I probably should have listened to Dominic when he told me that I shouldn't duplicate all the gear that he already had (strike number two for not listening to other people). The upside is that my field stove is still sparkling clean and my recovery gear is safely recovering in the box that I packed it in. Sigh. The crew identified for this second trip consists of six adults and four kids. Three families, three vehicles. My sister-in-law Viktorija, her husband Vaidas, and son Jacob are in the Dodge Ram. Due to the pesky pandemic, their rooftop tent and rack are late to arrive and so they're slummin' it in a regular tent with snakes and other earthly critters. Dominic and his family are in the most apocalyptic of the vehicles - the Ford F150 Raptor, which, unlike the Jurassic predecessor, has been feasting at the American buffet - it's the largest and widest of all three. Because I don't have a choice and because I'm a skilled negotiator and sales person, we're in Virginija's white Range Rover, which, to date, has had extensive off-road experience bringing Ashton to school and picking up groceries at the Lincoln Park Whole Foods. The luxury land yacht gets a set of all terrain tires and factory roof rails are installed to house the iKamper tent. Virginija's female intuition rightfully warns her the trip will leave a mark on her precious SUV, but the wild calls and we set out. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/south-dakota-CanonCanon-EOS-R-28.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/south-dakota-CanonCanon-EOS-R-25.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/south-dakota-CanonCanon-EOS-R-32.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/mountains-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3089.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/mountains-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3107.jpg) The journey starts in Chicago and it's going to take us a few days to reach topography worthy of all terrain vehicles. You can thank your local neighborhood glacier for making the midwest so vanilla - great for growing corn, torturous for the modern nomad. We sail through the land of cheese and cross the Mississippi at La Crosse. Pro-tip: there's a great rest stop off of 90 just as you cross the bridge and enter Minnesota with a breathtaking view of the river. With wind at our backs we traverse the tantalizing midwestern landscape and settle for the night within an hour of Sioux Falls at a nondescript roadside hotel. We are eager to go to sleep - guide and director of excitement Dominic informs us that tomorrow we leave the highway and chart our way through Badlands of South Dakota. Finally a locale name befitting the narrative! ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/overlanding-CanonCanon-EOS-R-1-2.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/overlanding-CanonCanon-EOS-R-2.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/mountains-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3183.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/mountains-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3176.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/mountains-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3185.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/mountains-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3231-Edit.jpg) Before I subject myself to ridicule and describe a rather shameful event in my automotive history, I do have to build up the necessary context. Photography is a very dear hobby of mine and I've been anticipating the documentation of this trip for months. Much like the protagonist of a 90's action movie, I've been polishing my lenses, charging my batteries, and reorganizing my camera bag so that I could draw and shoot at the decisive moment. The caravan is ready to depart, I jump into the Range Rover and pull out of the station. A loud snap and vibration through the chassis reminds me that fuel pumps don't automatically retract their nozzles upon shutting off. I jump out and watch in horror as gasoline sprays out of a severed artery, the amputated limb wriggling on the ground next to my vehicle. It's a biblical scene and I'm Michael the Archangel, having banished the evil serpent... Luckily, a fuel pump designer somewhere in Texas anticipated expert overlanders to get excited at unfortunate times and built in a pump failsafe. Shellshocked, embarrassed, and conscious of potentially causing a massive accident I pick up the now lifeless limb and head inside the gas station with evidence of my atrocities. The attendant rolls her eyes and, obviously not for the first time, says "I'll call the guy, just leave it here". I exit meekly, wishing for powers of invisibility with all of my essence. I am ridiculed over shortwave radio for the next five hundred miles. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-6.jpg) **Crossing into Wyoming. Finding an ice cold mountain lake and proceeding to test the waters. Even in direct 80F+ sunlight it takes a while for Julius to warm up after the jump.* From highways to local roads, from local roads to unpaved trails, we are finally off road. The procession creeps at twenty miles an hour through sandy grasslands towards a remote campsite scouted out by our predecessors using GaiaGPS. This may be a good time to break down how dispersed camping works as, technically, it's not a campsite at all. Most of the undeveloped land in the United States is privately owned and proprietors frown upon uninvited guests, unless you're a raccoon. There are also patches of Federal land, owned by the government, these include National Forests and National Parks, that can be accessed by travelers. National Parks are typically pristine, gated areas where the preservation of the ecosystem is of utmost importance. You can camp at designated camp sites within a National Park, but those are in astronomical demand (thank COVID for that one) and are a bit too "civilized" for our tastes. The preferred alternative is dispersed camping, usually permitted in National Forests, which roughly translate to "if you can get there, you can stay there all by your solitary self". Overnight permits, open fire allowance, and other variables are at play, so I recommend you check the National Forest website prior to erecting your primitive fortress. You should also practice leaving the site in a better condition than you found it in. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-27.jpg) I grow to appreciate the ritual of setting up and breaking down the camp as we continue to travel. Tents need to be erected, dinner planned, fire started, field toilet hole dug (thus the shovel), and many other minute operational details that are so unlike a typical day at the office. These are simple tasks and a choreography emerges the longer we travel together - Vaidas is responsible for the fire (he's suspiciously good at it), Dominic sets up the pressurized water pump, be it for dishes or showering, I'm on food prep, and so on and so forth. Time slows down, tensions ease, and three separate families start relating to the gypsy lifestyle. We're always utterly remote and self sufficient. The night sky is always bright with the Milky Way, light pollution a nuisance left behind for city dwellers. There's something incredibly rejuvenating and hard to describe about the value of simplified living. We've only been traveling for several days, but it feels like weeks - in a good way. In this short post I don't intent to describe each visited site or ransacked gas station, but there's one more story worth sharing. A story that illustrates a significant aspect of what makes overlanding trips so special. We continue to head west and should be hitting Mount Rushmore later today. There are a few sites within an hours distance that Dominic has identified suitable for camping and, since the sun is still high up in the sky, we decide to investigate one of them prior to visiting Mt. Rushmore. We set out for Cicero Peak in Black Hills of Custer County. It's a steep, rocky trail that takes you to a scenic overlook at 6,168 feet. The trail is a combination of loose rock as well as sharp large boulders. We air down our tires, Dominic sets the pace, and we slowly wobble our way up through a twisty trail covered with leaning evergreens. A good thirty minutes later we're enjoying the view from the top and notice yet another trail leading up the neighboring mountain. From where we're standing it looks like it may be an even better camping spot, so we identify the trail on the map and head back for our planned tour of Mt. Rushmore. We'll be back, as they say. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-21.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-18.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-29.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-30.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-19.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/wyoming-CanonCanon-EOS-R-25.jpg) Mt. Rushmore National Memorial has somehow gotten politicized this year, but it's a wonderful monument to the greatness of this country, irrespective of where you lean in the political spectrum. The path leading to the larger-than-life figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln has been recently renovated and we rest on the steps in front of the monument as the sun slowly sinks to the horizon, the air cools, and kids clatter around us. With limited daylight, we board our transport and rush back to the secondary site - one that the previous expedition has not vetted. As we traverse deeper and deeper into the trail, locals in highly modified buggies tell us the path has been washed out by recent rains and that traversal is going to be choppy. High on fresh air we push forward, frequently honking at extremely inconsiderate cattle that are grazing in the national forest. Judging by the round-eyed looks they give us, we clearly do not belong and they clearly know something we don't. Forty five minutes later we've made good progress, but we're starting to slow down - someone has to actively spot for large rocks, we need to stop and move boulders out of the way, and the sun is getting uncomfortable close to the horizon. Dominic and Vaidas tell me over the radio that they're going to scout the trail on foot and decide on how to best proceed. We also realize that it is too late to get down and back up to our original camp site... ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/olanding-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3490.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/olanding-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3475-Edit.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/camp-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3571.jpg) Ten minutes later Dominic clambers down with deflated spirits and tells me we should turn around. In addition to a fallen tree blocking our path (that we could chop up if we had time) there are several large boulders that we can't clear and will need to climb over with the help of other rocks. We're losing light fast, kids are giving us hungry looks through the windows, and we're starting to run out of options. No one is in the mood of getting stuck mid-mountain without a proper dinner, so tensions run high. As I was saying before, Dominic sometimes tends to, shall I say, overemphasize the severeness of a given situation (cue the bear encounter example) so I turn to Vaidas for a reality check. The guy works on rooftops without safety straps, so when he tells me we should turn around I keep my mouth shut and suck up the first failed mission of the trip. By the time we're at the base of the hill it is dark outside and we're an hour away from the closest town. All campsites and hotels are booked - this is Mt. Rushmore territory after all. We are finally able to secure rooms at the Ramada in Keystone, home of the National Presidential Wax Museum. And no, we did not have time to check it out. It's 11pm when we check in and kids are starting to crash. Luckily a local pizza joint is open and thirty minutes later we're all crammed in a merry little hotel room with pizza, wine, beer, and shots of vodka. What started as frustration is now relief - we made it, our bellies are full, and we get to take a real shower for the first time in several days. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/camp-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3544.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/camp-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3528.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/camp-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3536.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/tetons-CanonCanon-EOS-R-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/tetons-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3605.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/tetons-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3692.jpg) The remaining 3,500 miles of the trip are more of the same in that they're not the same at all. We celebrate Giedre's 40th birthday on the precipice of a magnificent canyon with stars brighter than anything I've ever seen in my life. We camp out in bear territory and Dominic patrols the campsite with his handgun. We are assaulted by a flash storm at the base of the Grand Tetons. We suffer a flat tire. We dive into ice cold mountain lakes. We meet locals that give us tips for better off road trails. I almost run out of gas. We get lost and find ourselves driving through the historic Oregon trail. We feed what feels like a thousand mosquitoes. Overlanding is not about the destination. It's about the stories, jokes, adventures, and failures that happen along the way. It's about the feeling of belonging to a pack that you only appreciate after you return to normalcy and have to head back to your daily routine. And you know what's funny? When a friend of mine asked me about the trip, I said - "It's one of the best trips we've taken in our life". Now I'm becoming like Dominic. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/overlanding-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3808.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/south-dakota-CanonCanon-EOS-R-3.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/south-dakota-CanonCanon-EOS-R-8.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/south-dakota-CanonCanon-EOS-R-20.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/south-dakota-CanonCanon-EOS-R-2.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/05/animal-CanonCanon-EOS-R-7Z1A3722-Edit.jpg) ### A review of the Leica Q2 28mm URL: https://www.needoptic.com/a-review-of-the-leica-q2-28mm/ Last updated: 2026-04-30T16:43:52.000Z I craved the Q2 unlike any other piece of kit in the history of photography, to the point that I went out of my way to find and purchase the camera while it was in short supply. At great financial disadvantage, I might add. I took it on multiple trips, used it on the street, took pictures of the family at home. To this day the Q2 photo library is one of the largest in my database. It performed admirably in all scenarios, but not without a few odd quirks that are odd at this price point and pedigree. The Q2 is a very competent piece of equipment. I've been a huge fan of fixed-lens compacts for as long as I remember and the Leica has a distinctive edge over the Fuji and Sony offerings in terms of optical performance, build quality, resolution - all while maintaining a trim figure. It's also a deligh to handle and a reminder of bygone manufacturing standards where things were built to last. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/vilnius-LEICA-Q2-28-mm-L1000356-1.jpg) Vilnius, Lithuania It's hard to completely ignore the mythos of the Leica brand when discussing this camera. An exceptionally wealthy photographic heritage stretches from 1869 with legendary artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, and Garry Winogrand. Precision engineering, artisenal manufacturing, and hand assembly are just a few of the reasons why a Leica commands prices that are a multiple of the closest competitor. Leica always makes me think of the watch industry. Similar to a desirable Rolex model, a large chunk of the premium for a Leica is driven by desire, brand status, and perceived scarcity. Unsurprisingly, a large and passionate following will often make arbitrary claims about a "Leica look", "Leica pop", or propriatary image processing. Take it with a grain of salt. Yes, Leica has bundled the Q2 with excellent optics at 28mm but the rest of the industry hasn't been sleeping either. Where Leica does push the boundaries is the quality of everything they build by hand in their elf village - the sensor, the body, the lens. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030058.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030052-2.jpg) Patagonia This unprofessional review focuses on two primary categories of "feedback" to Leica as they ponder their future product roadmap for the lucky few of us oligarchs able to afford this piece of capable photographic jewelry. First - the lens and sensor. Second - the ergonomics of the body. Neither of these will be scientific, but my overinflated ego tells me there are millions of readers shaking in anticipatory anxiety to hear my opinion. Right, on to the meat. ## Sensor & lens The 47MP beast-of-a-sensor is not something I thought I needed until I saw the files. They're ludicrous in their resolution, medium-format like. Throw your images on a 5K display and marvel away. Your friendly neighborhood point and shoot can now print medium-format images on a banner by the highway. You never will, but it can. The lens is silly sharp wide open. I pull back on the clarity and structure sliders in Capture One as the default these days for fear of a migrane induced by crisp pixels. This gets even crazier on the Q3 43mm with its 60MP sensor, but that's another article altogether. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030769-7-2.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030852.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030810-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030837-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030857-2.jpg) St. Moritz, Switzerland The argument behind the large sensor is that the camera has baked in "crop" modes to simulate additional focal lengths. With a push of a button you're able to see an outline around a, for example, 35mm or 50mm equivalent field of view. The feature works largely as promised, albeit you do lose that beefy resolution as you continue to crop down. Leica says you can take this one camera on your holiday trip and it will cover all the focal lengths you may need. While the crops are usable, you don't actually have a 50mm F1.4 lens on a full frame sensor at your disposal. Shooting wide open, the 28mm F1.4 renders a 15 megapixel 50mm @ F3 equivalent image... so not much of a portrait shooter for you bokeh fetishists, but it gets the job done. Hold that thought. The sensor, however, has a Mr. Hyde side to it. At 47MP the raw files weigh as much as a bar of depleted uranium - up to 90MB per shot! Yes, you can shoot jpegs, but personally I am underwhelmed by the color rendition of the Maestro processing engine and it does not match what I want my image to feel like. The camera has very minor adjustments available through software and made me seriously long for some Fuji colors out of the box. My six core Macbook starts levitating on the ventilation fan exhaust the moment I import fifty of the Leica Q2 DNGs into Lightroom. Not only are the files heavy storage-wise, Lightroom gets totally crippled having to process that much data during import. Working with the files is manageable one at a time, but they're no joke. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/cabo-LEICA-Q2-28-mm-L1000034-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/cabo-LEICA-Q2-28-mm-L1000030.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1010298.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1010336.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1010293.jpg) This Leica sensor is especially sensititve to blown highlights. This isn't necessarily a limitation, just something to be conscious of when exposing a scene that has a wide range. Shadows are easy to recover and have great detail and low noise in them, but a blown highlight is impossible to recover. Leica should steal more. Fuji recipes is a brilliant idea for in-camera post processing, but in addition Leica could throw in a basic curve adjustment tool.After the early stages of the digital era everyone realized that ultra-clean, ultra realistic files were... too sanitary. The industry, the photographers are all playing with film simulation on digital cameras because hyperrealism is never the end goal. A feeling is. I haven't fallen as low as to play vinyls yet, but I do like the crunched look of film on my digital files. The 28mm F1.7 Summilux lens quality is out of this world. Some people are rightfully saying that buying this type of Leica glass alone would run you close to $5K and the Q2 body is thrown in for free when you buy this package. The statement is probably a stretch, but this glass showed no aberrations wide open in a variety of shooting scenarios. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1010814.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1010871.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1010875.jpg) Botswana I find 28mm slightly too wide for subjects I shoot and I'll talk about why "cropping in" is not really the best solution in the ergonomics section of the review. I really think Leica could build a killer product with a baked in 35mm F1.4 lens - wide enough for contextual street shots, shallow when needed for portraits, small enough to be a compact. > Note: They did. And I bought it. The Q3 43mm is ideal. ## Ergonomics The two key benefits of a compact are that a) you are more likely to bring a small, light camera along, and b) people pay less attention to you, even when being photographed. Because Leica wants you to feel less guilt about sacrificing your children's private education to purchase a toy they have used metals extracted from a collapsed star to design the case of the Q2\. The sensation of holding the Q2 is both tactile heaven as well as existential dread - that's one tiny, heavy, slippery $5,000 box. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020633.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020646.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020656.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1020660.jpg) Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral. A thumb notch built into the camera does provide a lackluster assist in the ergonomics department, but I've ordered a dedicated thumb grip so I could flail my camera around carelessly. It helps and stays on all the time. The weight and size of the Q2 also makes me slightly uneasy to throw the camera to the bottom of the backpack for a daily cary... after four months of semi-active use I can already see paint chipping away on the corners of the base. The lens cap has a tendency to slip off the camera, as well, but the hood provides adequate protection. To summarize, the Leica Q2 accomplishes to be both compact as well as too large and too heavy to be treated as a typical compact. Quirky. Leica decided to hide most of the camera's setting in the LCD menu's, leaving you with fundamentals such as shutter speed, f-stop, and exposure compensation as mechanical dials on the body. I was initially irritated by this decision - who has ever complained about too many dials on the surface of a retro-styled compact anyway? Two of the buttons on the camera, however, can be used to cycle through your preferred settings (e.g. changing ISO) so it's a manageable offense. Holding either of the buttons also allows you to cycle through a list of your favorite settings prior to changing the values - a nice little trick. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1040067.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1040050.jpg) From what I've read about a variety of manufacturers, the body size of the camera is the primary constraint that influences how large of an EVF a camera can fit in its guts. Larger is obviously better. Compare a Fuji X-T3 and a Canon EOS R - both sporting similar EVF resolution, but the Canon managed to cram a much bigger screen inside the box. The shooting experience is night and day, especially for a visually challenged operator such as I. Luckily, the Q2 has a brilliant, large, bright, high refresh rate EVF in its little body. I mentioned the lens simulation crop modes in the previous section and those are by all means useful. The issue that could be easily fixed through a menu option is how the crop framing is handled in camera, on the EVF. Instead of zooming into the frame, the camera throws an outline on the screen to show you what your selected focal distance will capture. While this may be my own limitation, I see two issues with this: - I like composing in a box. It helps me eliminate noise and I see the composition better when there's a "frame" of nothing around my subject. The Leica introduces information that is outside of my frame and it confuses the crap out of me (because it's always a 28mm view). - Simulating a 50mm lens essentially forces you to use 50% of the EVF to compose your shot... why not just add an option where I could zoom in and have the 50mm point of view fill my whole frame in the EVF? - I recognize this is legacy rangefinder choice, but all I ask is an option in the settings. To conclude the ergonomics discussion I will say that the compact size and utterly silent shutter means that the Q2 can be equally effectively used at parties, street, and places of worship for your preferred deity. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1010411.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1010402.jpg) ## Outliers There's a third topic I failed to mention at the beginning of the article and these are the odd shortcommings that are likely related to Leica being a small boutique manufacturer with limited resources. The startup time of the camera is slower than a full size mirrorless and slower than the Fuji line of compacts. They have improved the software (recent release improved the UI, as well) and the responsiveness seems to be better. Fuji X100 line has an almost instant-on boot, which makes me think this is an optimization issue vs. hardware limitations (seeing as the Q2 is larger and likely has a better processor). The focusing is accurate, but clunky. Manual focus is right there at your fingertips and the focusing ring is butter smooth. I don't expect the Q2 to have the same capabilities as a Sony A7RV, but again it feels like some of this is a software issue as opposed to limitations of hardware. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030204-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030145.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030189.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030152-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1030153-1.jpg) Tropical rain forests in Chile ## Conclusion The Leica Q2 is not a perfect compact camera, but its quirks are tolerable and acceptable as character traits. It's an absolutely incredible piece of kit by many accounts and only one of two full-frame compact cameras available on the market today (2019). The other one being the Sony RX2\. This will change over time, but I'm glad Leica made this bet and paved the way for others. I also suspect that the Q was a survival tactic by a brand that could foresee the photography industry being disrupted by the mobile phone. The Q is accessible (and fashionable) to a consumer photographer, while the M platform requires a certain level of skill to enter. This helps Leica develop a defensive position against mobile phones, plays on the luxury/desire aspect of affluent buyers, as well as onboards customers to its platform with potential future purchases of the M system. Looking to the future of Leica and flexible compacts I would love to see a mirrorless, full-frame offering with a built in EVF, and interchangeable lenses. A cross-breed between the M and the Q - something not as pedestrian as the Q2, but also full of modern comforts such as exposure simulation through the EVF. Now wouldn't that be something to desire? ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/L1000438-LEICA-CAMERA-AG-28mm-1.jpg) Until then you'll find me in front of my MacBook, waiting for these DNGs to import and hopefully not start my house on fire. > Note: they did this, as well. The Leica M EV1 is an interchangable lens, EVF-enabled M camera. It's like they are listening to their customers. Crazy germans. ### Fuji X100F review URL: https://www.needoptic.com/fuji-x100f-review/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T14:29:10.000Z A review needs specifications, comparisons, and other hard data points that have nothing to do with the X100F. The X100F is about love. It’s about passion of great industrial design, an intimate tactile experience, and a manual interface that forces you to photograph with intent. It’s about a tiny little camera that fundamentally disrupted the paradigm of high image quality, compact, fixed lens cameras and flooded tiktok with its retro charms. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/street-X100F-23-mm-DSCF6129.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF8025.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/evening-X100F-23-mm-DSCF6502.jpg) I love 35mm for grabbing mid-shots of urban shapes. The Fuji X100F is the single most brilliant piece of kit for a photographer, akin to a classic weekend sports car. It doesn’t have to be extremely fast, it doesn’t have to be expensive (just soundly made), and it most certainly does not have an automatic transmission. But then why would you want one? Unlike the plastic SLRs of the 2000’s, it’s a dense all-metal camera that glistens to be touched, clicked, adjusted, equipped with auxiliary thumb grips, sexy aged Mongolian leather straps, and, hopefully, be used for taking photos. But as I’ve said before - it has nothing to do with the specs (even though they’re more than adequate for responsiveness, battery life, focusing speed, low light photography and anything else that you can throw at this little brick). Much like an air cooled 911, the X100F is about a sensation of being connected. In control. It’s worth mentioning that prior to the X100F I have been photographing on a full frame Canon 5d body (I, II, and III) with a bouquet of expensive, heavy L glass. I lugged this damnation of a kit across Sapa mountains while taking my mediocre tourist photos and celebrating years of Canon’s precision and red ring prestige (to be fair, my wife was carrying the kit - I was hauling our trekking backpack). So while you will totally get swole by carrying these large full frame lenses, you will also get noticed - and that’s not ideal for many reasons. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/x100f-Canon-EOS-R-105-mm-7Z1A3337.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/x100f-Canon-EOS-R-105-mm-7Z1A3335.jpg) I picked up my first X100 camera at some point in 2013 and was immediately fascinated by the industrial design and ergonomics. Admittedly, the purchase was made primarily based on the design aesthetic (that’s a pretty paper weight you have there next to your cappuccino) which led to a rather steep and frustrating learning curve as my mind wrestled with the transition from fast full frame zoom lenses, blade-of-grass-thin depth of field, and blazing autofocus. None of which the X100 had in its early iteration. As I’ve grown fond of the camera over the years and continued the upgrade journey with each new release, I started thinking about ways that this simplistic and highly restrictive piece of gear has made me reframe the creative process. I grouped my thoughts into the following three categories. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF4188-Edit.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/rain-X100F-23-mm-DSCF6797.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/rain-X100F-23-mm-DSCF6779.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/foggy-night-X100F-23-mm-DSCF6523.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/foggy-night-X100F-23-mm-DSCF6527.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/20180128--vilnius-X100F---23-mm---5748-1.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF1648-Edit-1.jpg) My favorite weather. ## Drive it like a manual Technically it can be fully auto, but hear me out. If there’s one thing we preach in software product design is that the interface dictates interaction model. To incentivize the right behavior - build the path of least resistance in your interface. So the most brilliant decision that Fuji made was to analogize (the reverse of digitize, eh?) the three fundamental variables of photographic exposure - aperture, shutter, and ISO. Each can be easily adjusted without navigating any electronic menus, each proudly sits as a delicious metallic knob on top and front of the camera body. Fuji even threw in an exposure compensation dial, which is an extremely handy tool when the internal metering system is fooled by a pesky light ray, bright wall, snow, etc. There are a few benefits to analog controls that sit as a permanent fixture on the surface of the camera: - I can adjust settings without turning the camera on and prepare for the scene - I start “designing” my shot by looking at all three parameters, instead of relying on a “mode” such as aperture priority or shutter priority. Yes, I get it, they mostly do the same thing, but “mode” is an additional control/menu/knob that is fundamentally unnecessary. - the more I use manual settings and the rule of Sunny f/16, the better I become at anticipating situational needs - manual settings train my mind to detect typical scenes that fool metering algorithms, as well as ways to break rules (e.g. high key, low key shots) - setting the camera to F/11, zone focusing, and enabling high speed burst mode means that I'm a gunslinger from the future that never misses a street shot Last, but not least, the camera has a built-in ND filter that can be accessed through the menus or mapped to the Fn button on the top of the camera… and a high speed flash sync of up to 1/1000s! Insane. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF8089-FUJIFILM-23mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF8178-FUJIFILM-23mm.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF8179-FUJIFILM-23mm.jpg) ## A fixed 35mm prime There’s something liberating about not having a choice. Not having a choice to fall back on a “typical” treatment of a scene - such as using a portrait lens for people photography, an ultra-wide to capture the cramped room, and so forth… Having just a 35mm focal length forces me to get creative about capturing the narrative that I’m in or end up not telling the story at all. And we can’t have that. Due to the limitations of the DOF, I may introduce foreground elements that can introduce sense of depth in a typical portrait shot. I may put in extra effort to seek out a cleaner backdrop, walk around the scene longer, because I know I can’t just throw the background out of focus. The restraint of the focal length as well as the optical limitations of a tiny 23mm crop sensor pancake lens means that I have to get creative to make the image interesting and unique, instead of relying on brute force. Speaking of brute force, have you seen that new RF 50mm from Canon? Curl that baby for a month and you’ll set off the airport metal detectors with them guns. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF8403.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/lndn-X100F-23-mm-DSCF7860.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/20180428-california--X100F23-mmDSCF5980.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/20180129--partners-meeting-X100F---23-mm---5766.jpg) 35mm is great for environmental portraits. Lastly, a fixed focal length trains my mind to see opportunities without looking through the viewfinder. It’s funny, but I can even judge what candid shot I can get on a typical Chicago street based on the width of the street - and whether I need to step into traffic to get the right perspective on the scene. Having five lenses in the bag (be it primes or zoom) always guarantees a certain cognitive load - always having to evaluate if a swap is necessary without thinking about the subject, timing, composition, light, dynamics, etc. So less is more. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF4071.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/img_10005.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/20171229--street-winter-X100S---23-mm--_.jpg) ## Weight is king While not a pocketable camera, the X100F is small and light enough to be inconsequential when loaded in a backpack or around a neck. So it spends more time going places than sitting on a shelf. In addition to being discreet, it’s also… oh what’s the word I’m looking for… unassuming? I bring it into business meetings with clients, workshops, dinners… and people are never intimidated when their picture gets taken. The retro design may even spark a conversation about film cameras. Try this with an SLR, you creep. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/city-walk-X100F-23-mm-DSCF7297.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/chicago-street-X100F-23-mm-DSCF7198.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/chicago-street-X100F-23-mm-DSCF7177.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/chicago-street-X100F-23-mm-DSCF7171-Edit.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/store-X100F-23-mm-DSCF7568.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/street-X100F-23-mm-DSCF6997-Edit.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/street-X100F-23-mm-DSCF7206.jpg) The same approach works just as well on the street. Once configured, I use the X100F with a single hand - always playing a clueless tourist that flails his tiny point and shoot at random things, steps into streams of people rushing by, and gapes at large buildings in the city. I’m not comfortable with direct confrontation - it feels counter-productive to reaching a state of flow while seeking out compositions in the wild - so this tourist persona is my current workaround. I’ve watched videos of Bruce Gilden create on the street, and have incredible respect for Bruce’s suffering and maturity of character that enables him to be so approachable and in tune with his subjects. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF8062.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/DSCF8106.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/street-X100F-23-mm-DSCF7346.jpg) Lastly, a nail clipper makes more noise than the shutter of the X100F - even in high speed burst mode which goes up to eight frames per second (leaf shutter FTW!). ## Conclusion The Fuji X100F asks to be used. It provides a tactile sensation unlike any other camera and that keeps me coming back, always looking for new ways, new perspectives to leverage the constraints to my advantage. To Fuji’s credit it is an unassuming piece of gear that is, while not cheap, also not premium priced like many other competing products in the same fixed focal length compact category. It will not replace your professional gear, but it will continue to remind you why you love photography. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/x100f-Canon-EOS-R-61-mm-7Z1A3345.jpg) ### Australia: Wolgan Valley URL: https://www.needoptic.com/australia-wolgan-valley/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T17:44:31.000Z The last leg of our introductory Australian voyage took place in Wolgan Valley - a depression within the Blue Mountains National Park. Blue Mountains are roughly three hours’ drive from Sydney, so we picked up our rental Subaru Forester and snaked through scenic mountain passes, shimmering blue forests, local apple orchards, bakeries, and roadside cafe’s en route to a resort that seemed to be to good to be true. For the record, the Blue Mountains are technically not mountains at all… they’re elevated planes. The family and I, however, live in Chicago, a city located in the midwest of the continental US. The last ice age and its pesky glaciers completely wiped all topographical evidence from our neighborhood, so we wholeheartedly agreed that Blue Mountains should retain their name, even if it is slightly inflated. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-55-mm-DSCF2376.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2401.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2361.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2382.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2437.jpg) I later discovered two theories behind the “blue” of the mountains. The first theory is that ancient people of Australia used to call all distant things “blue”… which I guess makes sense. The second one, and the one I tend to agree with, is related to local eucalyptus trees secreting eucalyptus oil. The oil, evaporated by the scorching sun, shimmers upwards and introduces a deep blue tinge to the air (not to mention the wonderful smell). I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Anyway, the Wolgan Valley was historically used as a homestead (circa 1832) and a massive cattle herd grazed in the area. It can, to this day, only be entered through a single trail and so the valley would easily contain the animals, allowing them to freely wonder and graze the seven thousand acres within. That, unfortunately, led to overgrazing and caused significant ecological damage: eroding rivers, local fauna emigrating out of the area, and so on. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-110.3-mm-DSCF2494.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-104.9-mm-DSCF2447.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-148.5-mm-DSCF2680.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-77.9-mm-DSCF2379.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-81.9-mm-DSCF2628.jpg) Fast forward to more recent times. The resort that is set up in the valley is none other but the Emirates One & Only Wolgan Valley. It’s a luxurious, serene, and magical experience, one I can barely scratch to describe in this post and the attached images. But more on that in just a moment. What really strikes one visiting the valley is just how eco friendly and integrated the experience is. Emirates not only built an exquisite retreat, but also invested in fixing the damage caused by years and years of overgrazing. Replanting, river bank restoration, and other investments have resulted in the return of local fauna that has been missing for years. The valley is now home to thousands of kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, wild eagles, and other critters that are rather surprised when a human intrudes on their finely preserved and gated five-star mountain community. Perhaps more myth of origin than reality, I was told that Emirates was looking to open a flight hub out of Sydney. To justify the mutual expense, the Australian government negotiated with Emirates and asked them to invest in a luxury property, close to the hub, that would increase tourist traffic to Australia, as well as the aforementioned resort. Some hundred and forty million dollars later we have the One & Only Wolgan Valley. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-55-mm-DSCF2640.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-57.8-mm-DSCF2671.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-63.8-mm-DSCF2620.jpg) With a total of just over thirty villa’s, the stay never feels crowded or busy. The resort takes up only a single percent of the total park area, leaving the remaining miles of trails for exploration on bike, foot, or stylish and restored Defenders (the only type of vehicle permitted on the grounds, very Jurassic-Park-like). The wildlife is everywhere - kangaroos within meters of your own deck, wombats popping out of their dig holes the moment the sun sets behind the horizon… ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2654.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2647.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2424.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/wolgan-valley-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2430.jpg) The Emirates live up to their name and provide an unforgettable experience. Each day includes two resort activities included in the villa rate, all food and drinks (each evening offers a rotating five course tasting menu from a five star chef), bicycles, a private pool, feisty kangaroos, turndown service, friendly staff, and a feeling of isolation and remoteness that is hard to explain. This place should be a bucket-list item. There’s no other way to describe it. I’m not sure if we’ll ever be back in Sydney simply due to the distance, but now I certainly want to experience other properties managed by the One & Only. All pictures taken with a Fuji X-T2 and three pieces of glass. The Fuji 18mm F2, the Speedmaster 35mm F/0.95, and the Fuji 55-200mm. ### Update The resort closed after landslides in the surrounding hills disrupted access into the valley. A re-launch of the property is scheduled for mid-2026, now a "World's First Ritz-Carlton Lodge". ### Australia: The Great Ocean Road URL: https://www.needoptic.com/australia-the-great-ocean-road/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T17:28:07.000Z After spending four days in Sydney we were ready to break out of the metropolis and hit the road. Short flight to Melbourne later we picked up our rental Audi Q5 and set off towards the Great Ocean road, a scenic ride by the Southern ocean that is often compared to the legendary Route 1 in California. We learned in one of our previous trips that packing and unpacking gear on a nightly basis is a pain, especially with the little dude. A base of operations would be necessary for us to explore the South coast of Victoria and a few evenings later we settled on a cabin rental called the Boomerangs. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-55-mm-DSCF2087.jpg) Vacation logistics is somewhat of a contended topic between Virginija and I. Food shopping and cooking in an unfamiliar geography is a means for me to get slightly closer to the way of life of the locals. Hotels, unfortunately, often lack a proper kitchen, so the “living” experience stays pretty much identical between Ho Chi Minh city and New York. Virginija, on the other hand, likes the pampering aspect of hotels and I don’t blame her (nor resist the creature comforts when exposed to such). The Boomerangs are a small property of just three cabins operated by a friendly, retired couple, located smack in the middle of the Great Ocean road. The grounds are pristine, saturated to the gills with a mind numbing variety of flowers, ferns, and bushes; the cabins - well appointed, clean, with massive windows covering the outer bend of the boomerang shape - providing the resident with a healthy 180 degree view of the surrounding hills. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2174.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2154.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2062.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2177.jpg) Johanna beach is just five kilometers south of the cottages with paved access and parking. Due to the vastness of the continent and the abundance of beaches it is highly likely that you will enjoy the experience in blissful solitude. On one of the evening runs I didn’t get passed by a single car, ran into a bunch of kangaroos, and went for a swim in complete isolation. Well, technically not a swim as the undercurrents are extremely strong and the waves looks outright murderous… but I did splash around like a beached tortoise. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-55-mm-DSCF2124.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-77.9-mm-DSCF2225.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2110.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2209.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-70.5-mm-DSCF2093.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-121.8-mm-DSCF2218.jpg) Apollo Bay is the closest town Eastbound with a full size grocery store as well as a variety of restaurants. Lavers Hill has minimal supplies, a coffee shop, and a few local bakeries that will hook you up with some local meat and fish pies (if they don’t decide to close early, because… well, why not?). On a somewhat unrelated and surprising note, even these small establishments had gluten free options on the menu. The coast can be driven or walked on the, queue up suspenseful music, Great Ocean Walk! Our metropolitan on short stubby legs has little affordance for mundane activities such as walking, so we mostly drove around with exploratory stops in interesting destinations. The Cape Otway Lightstation, however, was an exception even for our discerning traveler. We arrived on site too late (the drive is really beautiful and you’re going to stop every few kilometer to wig out as a tourist with your camera) and the lighthouse was already locking up. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2234.jpg) Fortunately the aforementioned Great Ocean Walk is available 24-7 to travelers who fail to plan and look up operating hours of light houses. A short hike allows you to observe the lighthouse from a distance while enjoying the relentless beating of furious waves far below. The path is cut through dense shrubbery - almost a tunnel through organic matter. With the sun slowly sinking into the horizon we walked the “tunnel” (Ashton’s name for our path through the shrubs) and inhaled a mixture of salty air and vaporized eucalyptus. Trek finished, we arrived at our car tired, the sky taking on the hue of a post-sunset blues. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2246.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2276.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/great-ocean-road-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2255.jpg) The other two destinations visited by the American-Lithuanian expeditionary force were the Loch Ard Gorge and the Twelve Apostles Marine National park. Both are evidence of how mean water can be to limestone. Specifically, Twelve Apostles are much fewer in numbers than the name may suggest these days, and will continue to dwindle. So, you know, book your tickets now. On our way back from the Great Ocean Road we spent a single night in Melbourne and this is something I do regret. Melbourne has an incredible density of constructs that drive up quality of life… I don’t know how else to put it. We stayed in South Yarra and each block was stuffed with coffee shops, restaurants, and eateries. There were three large playgrounds within walking distance from our hotel. The city is littered with parks. It also felt much more organic than Sydney. Where Sydney was intentionally constructed, Melbourne evolved organically. To be fair, we did spend all of a single day in Melbourne, so my expert review for citizen quality of life may be somewhat skewed by all the eucalyptus I’ve been vaping during this trip. But I’d like to go back to Melbourne. It’s a warm town. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/melbourne-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2316.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/melbourne-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2323.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/melbourne-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2331.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/melbourne-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2308.jpg) ### Australia with a three year old: Sydney URL: https://www.needoptic.com/australia-with-a-three-year-old-sydney/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T16:14:34.000Z Let's set the record straight - we weren't planning on taking a twenty five hour trip with a three year-old. And not because we don't believe in traveling with a young child - to date the little dude has visited a total of seven countries, a decent count for a subadult. But whoever arranged the good old landmasses on mother Earth really did a number on Australia, and it remained distant in our travel bucket list. Until, that is, Air New Zealand listed unreasonably and erroneously cheap business class tickets from Chicago to Auckland, from Auckland to Sydney ($1,300 a pop is less than economy fare!) I was halfway booking the tickets before the sixth sense of a husband kicked in and I decided to consult with my better half on the ingenuity of the plan. Short consult later and virtual tickets in hand we were ready to tackle the land down under. And when I say tackle, I mean scratch the surface of a country that is misleadingly tiny on the globe and just as large as the North American continent in person. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1868.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1873.jpg) The more we travel the more I realize that compact gear with as few lenses as possible is a better approach. I'm never going back to full frame cameras for travel (even the Canon EOSR offers minimal weight saving with the monstrous new lenses), but I still debated between the Fuji X-T2 and the Fuji X100F. Should I run two bodies? What lenses should I bring? I settled on the X-T2 with three pieces of glass: - FUJIFILM XF 18mm f/2 R - Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 35mm f/0.95 Mark II - FUJIFILM XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS I made it an objective to actively exercise the three focal lengths (the telephoto being a specialty lens for landscape compression) throughout the trip and only reviewed the stats once I purged and processed the loot. Images were somewhat evenly distributed across all three, with fewest images taken on the beastly 55-200mm. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1819.jpg) ## The master plan Disillusions of cross-country traversal laid to rest, we settled on the following agenda for our two weeks: - ✈️ to Sydney and stay for three nights exploring the town - Catch a ✈️ to Melbourne, rent a 🚗 - Stay for three nights on the Great Ocean Road - Drive back to Melbourne, stay for a night, explore the city - ✈️ back to Sydney, rent a 🚗 and drive out to Wolgan Valley - Stay in Wolgan Valley for four nights - Drive back to Sydney, prep for the long ✈️ back Not counting the transatlantic flights we would have a total of eleven nights in Australia. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1848.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1812.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1869.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF1728.jpg) ## Exploring Sydney and neighborhoods We arrived mid-day and settled in at the Langham Sydney. Ashton is a stubborn (mom edit: strong willed) little dude, so during the planning stage we searched for hotels that would hit the following criteria: - off-the-beaten path so that lazy walks, playground visits would be easier - close enough to central attractions - would have a pool What's great about the Langham is that it's incredibly close to both the Rocks (good spot for dining, active evenings), the Circular Quay (most ferries leave from here), as well as the Darling Harbour - yet further North on Kent street where the hustle and bustle of the central business district ebbs away to a distant hum. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF1782.jpg) Ashton as his ride. Not. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF1975.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-190.3-mm-DSCF1959.jpg) I can recommend a couple of great ways to see the town, as well as manage the battery of a three year-old: take a tour on the Sydney Big Bus and then jump on one of the ferries that hits up all local neighborhoods on a desired route. The bus allowed us to jump on/off anywhere we pleased, gave us an opportunity to see neighborhoods we would explore later in the trip, as well as lulled Ashton for a mid-day nap on Virginija's hands - win/win! There’s also an audio track you can follow that covers the fundamentals of Sydney history and architecture, but my headphones were busted and I mainly enjoyed the mid-60’s weather and clicked the shutter. Check the ferry schedule and planned stops before you jump on a particular line. We bought tickets to the zoo and ended up on a line that made 6 to 7 stops prior to Taronga Zoo ... which was fine, but left us only a few hours to explore the zoo prior to closing time. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF1844.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1937.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1938.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1944.jpg) Found time for a run or two during the Sydney stay. Helps me get a better sense of the surrounding areas as well as spot things to explore at a slower pace. The mileage I cover is much greater than what a three year old can walk, so I look at it as scouting mission for good food and tactical playgrounds. Speaking of, Sydney has invested epic dollars in building out common areas. Check out the Darling Quarter - a slick communal space with coffee shops, slides, green spaces, as well as a water duct framework that lets kids reroute water flow, etc. Ashton got a bit too excited about the former and managed to take a proper dive into one of the channels while yours truly was fiddling with the camera. We quickly identified a small convenience store just across the playground that sold spare clothes… props to the opportunist store owner, must be a regular occurrence. While Ashton bothered the locals at the playground we hung out on a bench watching people dressed in business attire head to work. Things felt… less rushed in Sydney. Come to think of it - everywhere in Australia. Running through the parks and streets of Sydney I had the sensation that the quality of life was really high - clean, beautiful streets, well designed communal areas, plentiful green spaces, and the never ending coastline with it’s beaches make the city really special. Since the cost of living is really high in Sydney, It’s hard for me to asses how accessible all of this is to the locals. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF1981.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1876.jpg) After an epic lunch at Local Mbassy, we jumped into a cab and drove out to Bondi beach to see the picturesque ocean water pools… which apparently are closed for cleaning the one day that we decide to visit. Nevertheless, we crashed on the sand and while Ashton filled my shoes with sand watched the locals surf, congregate, and be spoiled bastards that live in a metropolis with over 100 beaches (I looked that up, it just isn’t fair). ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1986.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1987.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF1991.jpg) We capped off our evening with a walk around the Rocks, took tourist pictures of the Sydney Opera, and watched the city slip into night at the Dawes Point Battery while Ash explored the canons and attempted to establish an industrial grade excavation site in a random sandbox. Or perhaps it was just a dirt patch… he was busy, we were happy lying on the grass and watching him play. ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-18-mm-DSCF2044.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-50-mm-DSCF2025.jpg) ![](https://www.needoptic.com/content/images/2026/04/sydney-X-T2-128-mm-DSCF2032.jpg) 📷 Taken on Fuji X-T2\. Sydney, Australia.