The Beginner Solo Travelers' Guide to taking your own Travel photos

In this post, I decided to share with you how I usually take travel photos. A lot of time, I have to take my own photos because I travel solo for many reasons ranging from it is hard to fit everyone's schedule or they didn't want to go to the places I want or vice versa. Other times, I think my friends can't take nice photos of me so I do it myself. A lot of them when asked to snap photos, it is as though they snap photos with both eyes shut the photos end up blurry or I end up looking like a midget HAHAHA! But yeah, seriously.

If you faced with similar circumstances, this super basic guide is for you! By the way, I typically snap with a camera. I know many people who are satisfied with using your smartphones for photos, they're crazy convenient for sure and very advanced these days, but I think camera are still my favorite way to shoot. It's just a matter of preference.

In my 2017 trip, I had to rely on my own skills for photos because the people who travel with me weren't helpful and for the second half of the trip, I went SOLO. I don't know why I did that but I found out the people in the Nusa Islands are the friendliest and the place safe for SOLO female travelers. The islands are now one of my favorite place on earth hahahaha

Looking at all these photos, can you tell which ones my friends took for me and which I took by myself? Answer is I took them all myself!

Sharing with y'all how I take my own photos in just 3 simple steps!

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Step #1 Get the proper Gadgets

Tripod, a camera, batteries & plenty of SD cards are a must for me! As a solo female traveler, I'm also quite satisfied with my trusty Exilim ZR-1200's flip screen, wide angle (I can't do without wide angle lens now!) and weightlessness. While you definitely cannot compare this old Exilim model to the current, much updated mirrorless cameras or its predecessors, it has served me well over my years experimenting with photography.

For myself, this had always been sufficient, until recently when I am super eager to try my hands on DSLR which I am loving! That doesn't mean I'll abandon my Exilim ZR-1200, it is still the best selfie camera I own. In fact, there were several occasions where I wanted to get the latest Exilim model for its wider lens _ means you can snap wider scenery by just selfie-ing. Pretty cool, I thought. After some consideration though, just an upgrade for the lens and wifi ability are definitely not the best of investment, which was why I got the DSLR.


Reason why wide angle camera is great for people with short arms.

Anyways, you don't need super expensive gadget to take your own photos. Or carry 3-5 lenses for that purpose, they'll simply bogged you down!

Tip #1: Get a lightweight camera, preferably with flip screen.

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#2 Setting up Your Camera 

Okays,to level up you will need a tripod to make your photos look 1) more pro and 2) as though you have a photographer to snap your photos like the ones I shared above. Definitely way-y more effort than just doing selfie or wefie but better looking photos!

For that, the next thing to do is to understand what your camera is capable to do. How long do you need to set the timer so you can have enough time to ready your pose? Typically, all cameras and smartphones have options for 2 seconds and10 seconds timer. These days you can download apps onto your smartphone to remotely control your camera, so handy!

With my toy camera, I can opt for a 10 seconds timer followed by 3 consecutive shots with 1 second interval. During the 1 second break, I have the chance to turn my head or change the position of my arms. This comes in real handy for me and save me time and energy to have to go back and forth to push the button. Unfortunately, my DSLR does not have such option, only giving me the timer but I can use a remote control. With  newer cameras you get to download the control app on your smartphone. So choose your camera wisely!

Tip #2: Always have the camera adjusted eye-level or head level with angle down slightly for near shot and lower for full body or far shot. I don't find it very flattering to take photos from below chest level, makes me look fat!

Tip #3: Only set the camera from mid body facing upwards when you want to include other subjects and you know how to pose in a flattering angle.

Tip #4: Get equally lightweight tripod.

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#3 Pose & shoot. Retake.

This is either the funnest part or the most awkward part LOL. It will definitely take a lot of trials to get use to the stares, find your most comfortable poses and angles but keep trying! These days it is so easy to find ways to pose for photos to look candid and great in photos.

Tip #5: Best to post cross legs and be mindful of where your hands are! You can put your hands in the pocket, in front on your thigh or on your waist. Else grab a prop like a handbag or a drink.

Tip #6: If you conscious of your facial/eyes expressions, simply put on sunglasses. I do that because I don't usually put on makeup especially more if I am going to spend the day walking and sweating. Just don't wanna care LOL

Tip #7: Don't forget to take your time when taking photos.

Tip #8: In locations where it is tough to utilize your tripod or get a grip on your camera, get help from strangers! I usually am the one to offer my help to tourists in return for one-two photos of myself. Other times, female tourists approach me themselves because they're comfy for the fact I look harmless HAHAHAHA


Good luck with trying! Tell me if you find my post useful. Cheers!

Why I still Blog Today

 This question popped up in my head recently from one conversation I had with a friend which is why I decided to blog about this. Before I get started, I gotta warn y'all, this is one wordy blog post.

Here are the 6 reasons why I still blog today:-

#1 Finding my 'Voice' & Sense of Identity

In my early days of blogging, writing a blog post was intimidating. I couldn't string a proper sentences together never mind writing a paragraph! Therefore, I had kept my sentences short and looking back, it was an awkward phase. Thankfully, I grew up over the years _ I found how to arrange my sentences, how to tell stories in my own, comfortable 'voice'. It took lots of trials and errors but I can tell you for sure today that my persistence paid off!

It was the least of my intention when I started blogging. It's just that when I write, I want to be able to relate my experience in proper sentences. For that, I will looked up the web to check my grammar, sentence and to date, I still rely heavily on thesaurus! The Internet can be a great tool to learn and information is just a click away so it boggles me when people ask me questions they can find from the net! Of course, blogging doesn't automatically improves your English, it takes a lot of homework too. Back in university, a friend once proclaimed that he blogs to improve his English and I went to his site and couldn't understand a thing... It looks as though he just translated sentences directly from Chinese and everything was jumbled up. You get it.

Besides that, blogging teaches me to be just be ok with what I have and discovered what I like not just when it writing. I know myself.

When I started reviewing on beauty products, I made a point to buy stuff so that I have 'materials' to write about. That was when beauty blogging start kicking up. Over the years, I find it exhausting to keep up and makeup, while fun isn't my thing. I can go makeup-less and couldn't care less LOL. Whatever you see I review these days are things I bought for a purpose. Other than beauty, you see more photos of food, places I've been because I love photography and I love going places.

#2 Builds my Sense of Responsibility

Maintaining a blog can take a lot of effort and time! I usually need to edit my photos, then plan how I want to articulate my post, draft, recheck for grammatical errors (if I can spot them), revise, rephrase before publishing. It doesn't ends after a post has been published! You will need to plan for your next posts and find time to post consistently even though few people read your blog.

Myself, I try to post on the weekend because that's when I'm free to sit down and write. I try not to go window shopping or hangout around KL often but at the same time keep myself occupied! While consistency is a must, I don't write for the sake of posting. I write because I wanna preserve important events in my life, or if I share something, I hope it helps my readers or whoever who dropped my blog like my beauty reviews or travelogues. There are also things I won't share it here on my blog.

I can tell you blogging isn't for everyone for reasons mentioned earlier because I have encouraged friends to blog and they did try blogging. Unfortunately, the blogs didn't last. Heck, these people are better writers than I am and who dreamed of making big with their blogs but they hated the process. It must have looked oh-so-easy-peasy when Vivien does it. Well, nope. I truly believe they could've gained way-y more readers than I do if only they have persisted!

Blogging also makes me quite a planner. I am always planning my next posts, creating lists, scheduling myself so I can sit down and finish what I plan. 

People often ask me stuff like how are you so comfortable being by yourself? Because I keep myself occupied. I just didn't mention it's blogging LOL.

#3 Continuous self-learning and improvement

Whenever I log into my blog, questions like these pop up: What can I write to make my blog interesting? How do I use HTML / JavaScript to make my blog nicer or add a table or tweak my sidebar? How can I improve my photography skills so I can take good photos for myself and my blog? How do you articulate this sentence better in writings? How to improve my blog's SEO? What do I want to write next? How can I keep producing fun contents without breaking my piggy bank? And a whole bunch of other questions just came running into my mind.

Even in my recent post on my 2D1N Trip to Cameron Highlands, I had to look up the internet to figure out how to include tables into the post. That involves learning how to turn your Microsoft Word table into HTML format, pretty cool!

#4 Enhance & Preserved My Memories

Blogging forced me to make an effort to remember the things that happened so I can pen them down when I'm ready to blog! For example, sometimes I post a travelogue (like my recent Bali & the Nusa Islands and Singapore travelogues) moons after I have been to the place. In order to write about these experiences, I would need to recall stuff. Because of that, I tend to remember what I've experienced better.

Once my BFF remarked along the line, "I forgot we were chased by a dog!" I on the other hand, had been getting flashbacks of the incident whenever I see a dog and that made me chuckle. That's because I penned typed them down. You know, we may all be super confident of our memories but we do forget. There was once I was so busy at work, I totally forgot about an outing I had weeks before! My friend was like, "do you remember that time when ..." and I went, did that happened? OMG, it did. Was that just few weeks ago?!

This is just one of the many reasons I write. When I had the opportunity to look back at my writings especially travelogues, I reminisce about things like my impression of the place and how happy and grateful I felt which made me feel happy and grateful now.

#5 Keeps my mind occupied & optimistic

"An idle mind is the devil's workshop" I think this is one of my favorite idiom and something I strongly agree on. I look around me and usually the pessimist or gossip mongers acquaintances have just too much free time on their hands! Or mostly they're preoccupied with negativity.

Myself, I used to begin my blog post saying "Sorry I haven't been writing, been caught up with work yadayadayada". I'm more mindful about that these days. Work still gets hectic, chaotic and stressful, but I don't need to repeat that in 10 different blog posts! I don't encourage false positivity-kinda mindset, but I don't want to be Negative Nancy.

#6 Blogging gives me a sense of satisfaction

Yes, blogging satisfies me when people tell me they like what they're reading and when they told me that my reviews are helpful whether in helping them decide what products to buy or how to get someplace I have been. Besides, I feel a sense of achievement whenever I finish a blog post or the list of posts I had been planning to write!

Not so long ago, I had a conversation with another gal pal who has her own blog but haven't been blogging because she doesn't have a proper camera. It goes something along the line,

Me: "Why don't you blog anymore?"
Her: "I don't have a nice camera to take pics!"
Me: "But you have an iPhone, for goodness sake!"
Her: "The photos are not as nice (as a camera)"
Me: "Heh"
Her: "Hey, you bought your own domain?"
Me: "Yup!"
Her: "Why spend on your blog?! Who reads blog anymore?"
Me: "Maybe less people read blogs with Vlogs these days, but I still do."
Her: "I don't get why you'd go the distance for blogging!"
Me: *silence*
Her: "One of my relative loves video-making and purposely paid for a song royalty so he can include it into a video he made for my cousin's wedding and upload it on YouTube. I don't get why you people bother going the distance just for blogging/producing video!"
Me: *silence*


And I was there thinking, Exactly! We would go the distance because we LOVE what we are doing. It gives us a sense of satisfaction not everybody can relate to! Doesn't matter if nobody or just a handful who reads what I write! I FREAKING LOVE WHAT I'M DOING! Maybe in the near future, if I feel the need to have more readers/need more blog space, I'll go the distance and pay for hosting! Maybe I will run ads! Meanwhile, I'll definitely keep writing!

As for whether blogging is still in now, I know I rely on reviews before purchasing something, I read travelogues when preparing my travel itinerary or simply to daydream HAHAHA! I looked up local bloggers for recipes, hipster cafes, best food stalls, personal finance, beauty reviews and the list goes on! I've been reading blogs for so long some of the bloggers I follow are now mummy bloggers,aI cannot relate to, yet. Of late, I read summaries of K-Dramas simply because it's faster than watching the 20-hour long episodes. It may be a different experience but I love to read what others wrote! Yeah, two of my homies gave me the look when I told them the former.

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In Conclusion

Most importantly, my blog is my life journal! When I started publicly writing, I wanted to gain plenty readers, which I managed to do! This days, blogging means documenting the important moments of my life. This is my writing identity. Hopefully in decades to come when my memories fail me, looking back at what I've written and photos I post today will make the old lady happy and grateful. Maybe on bad days, it'll make me smile.

Now I have a question for y'all _ Why do you still blog?