Fly Sleepy, a travel blog by Michael Flarup

A morning walk on Long Beach, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:44:17 -0400

A morning walk on Long Beach, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

A Lush view looking out on Jost Van Dyke from Tortola, British...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:43:09 -0400

A Lush view looking out on Jost Van Dyke from Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Sunset on Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:41:23 -0400

Sunset on Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Sugar Mill Ruins on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:40:21 -0400

Sugar Mill Ruins on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:38:57 -0400

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.

A look inside my backpack from my Virgin Island trip. Wrote a...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:10:00 -0400

A look inside my backpack from my Virgin Island trip. Wrote a bit about putting together a kit here

The Traveling Photographer

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:03:00 -0400

Like most hobby photographers i love gear. I love my collection of gear, i love acquiring new gear and, when it comes to traveling, i love putting together the perfect travel kit for whatever situations i think i’ll encounter.

Before going on an adventure, doesn’t matter if it’s just a weekend trip or a 4 week trail through Borneo, there’s some questions you need to ask yourself.

1. Mobility

Are you going to be moving around a lot? Will you have a safe base where you can store and swap your equipment or will it be on your back all the time? What sort of activities will you be doing and how will they be affected by a heavy or light payload?

2. Focus

Are you going to shoot video or stills? What sort of coverage do you want to end up with? Are you into the photojournalistic approach or do you want to shoot landscapes? Do you want to shoot portraits or wildlife?

All of this preparation can be a bit counterintuitive to the idea of embracing the unexpected, but if you have a particular result in mind *before* you venture out you’ll at least have something to judge the actual end-result by. I think it takes a certain level of predetermination to get the most out of your gear on a given adventure, so making up your mind on these two areas are key to bringing and getting the most out of your gear.

A few of my favorite items

I try to shift my gear around and try out new stuff on each trip, but depending on the sort of result i’m going for there’ll be some stable things you’ll find in my backpack. This picture shows a quick look at my gear from my current trip to the Virgin Islands. It’s very video-centric but it includes some of my favorite items. Here’s a quick list.

14mm + a Rode VideoMic makes for a great documentary style get-the-whole-picture setup. Any wide-angle will do the job, the 14mm f/2.8 L just produces a look that i really like.

Manfrotto Monopod for a more stable source of raw video. This is the first time i’m using a monopod and i’m really enjoying it. The age old problem of vacation videography is shaky video - anything you can do to combat that will help you a lot when you edit it later. Also, i use this for when i want to shoot HDR pictures.

24-70mm is my all-round lens, i never go anywhere without it. It’s a workhorse in photojournalistic situations where i want to capture people and scenes.

Ricoh GR Digital III is my goto pocket camera. With a 28mm f/1.9 (!) lens and a good deal of manual settings it packs a punch and (in good lighting conditions) produces pictures that rivals entry-level DSLRs. It’s also a great “going-out” camera, just don’t throw it in the hot tub as i did with my first one.

I could probably write an entire blogpost just about storing and transporting your gear, i personally have 4 Lowe Pro bags for different kit sizes - for the gear in the picture above i used the new DSLR Video FastPack 350AW which has worked out great for me.

A last shout out for the iPhone 4S, which i find myself shooting with a lot. The camera is average (although poor in low light conditions) but the multitude of editing and sharing apps just makes the activity of taking a shot so much more instantly gratifying. I can shoot, do some crude edits and share the picture in minutes and there’s something very appealing about that shortcut between idea and product. A lot of the pictures on flysleepy is shot on my iPhone *gasp*.

Traveling with photography gear is a balancing act: you don’t want to bring too much so it becomes cumbersome and you don’t want to leave something behind thats vital to capturing a specific situation. So plan ahead and make sure that your camera gets out of the bag and around your neck, and find a way to use your gear in new and interesting ways.

Have fun out there.

Exploring Tortola. Early morning on the Beach.

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:37:43 -0500

Exploring Tortola. Early morning on the Beach.

The Beach Kit.

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:36:05 -0500

The Beach Kit.

The Virgin Islands

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:34:23 -0500

We’ve spend the past two weeks island hopping this breezy archipelago in the lesser Antilles. Starting out at commercial St. Thomas we hiked our way through St. John and ended up on the british side of the trade winds over on mountainous Tortola.

We’ve packed our days with lots of activities and it already feels like we’ve been on the go for much longer than mere two weeks. We’ve hiked, explored beaches, swum with dolphins and seen a slew of colonial sugar mill ruins. Here’s my impressions so far.

The Good

It’s gorgeous here. I’ve seen a lot of beaches on my travels and have visited several beaches claiming to be among the worlds best, but the abundance of good beaches here are astonishing. There’s so many scenic beaches here that in other countries would have merited an entire tourism industry by themselves. In the Virgin Islands they’re a dime a dozen and if you get tired of one place you can just make it over the point or to the next island for another slender white slice of sand.

The former Danish West Indies (St. Thomas, St. John & St. Croix) has a very interesting history. Denmark isn’t usually counted among the major colonial powers of Europa’s 16th-18th century ‘claim-what-you-can’ period, but on these islands this small country had a part to play. The triangle trade, sugar cane production, slave rebellion and emancipation, these islands have a 250 year danish heritage with a colorful and bloody history that really triggers the history buff in me. If you’re planning a trip here and you’re the least bit interested in history i suggest you read ‘Slavernes Øer’ (only in danish) or ‘Night of the Silent Drums’. Especially the slave rebellion on St. John in 1733 makes for immersive reading and there’s a lot of great ruins to explore.

The Not so Good

It’s unjustifiably expensive here. I knew that this destination would be among the more costly of our travels but the prices are just ridiculous. It’s not just that it’s a pricy place to vacation, i don’t mind paying a premium, it’s that what you’re getting for your money simply doesn’t justify the price tag. The food and accommodations aren’t blowing me away. I can get almost everything i’ve had here and better for a tenth of the price on the other side of the globe. Don’t get me wrong, i’m enjoying the region, i understand that it’s a different economic climate and we’re having fun but somewhere there’s a sting to the fact that we could have gotten a 3 month long vacation staying in high-end resorts in Asia for the same price. I fear that it’s because of places like these that many Americans deem traveling an expensive activity reserved for the wealthy.

It’s almost impossible to get around if you don’t have a car. Now this might be more of European complaint, and obviously small mountainous islands can be troublesome to traverse on foot, but even in the cities there’s very little emphasis on pedestrians. Being a photographer, i love to explore places on foot but the sheer challenge of getting anywhere kinda ruins that a bit.

Despite of the above complaints we’re having a great time. The views are astonishing and especially the history of the place and the fact that i’m reading about it as we’re exploring makes for a really compelling adventure. Lots of fantastic hiking trails and the abundance of nice beaches drives home the experience and has made for a really memorable trip. We’ve got some sailing left to do before we return to St. Thomas and make the long flight home.

Arrived on Tortola today.

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:54:48 -0500

Arrived on Tortola today.

Arrived late at St. Thomas and woke up to this.

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:35:07 -0500

Arrived late at St. Thomas and woke up to this.

Our very brief stopover in Miami.

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:33:45 -0500

Our very brief stopover in Miami.

18 hours and 2 connecting flights.

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:30:53 -0500

18 hours and 2 connecting flights.

A new adventure & a new flysleepy.com

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:36:00 -0500

A new adventure & a new flysleepy.com

Travel & Work

Thu, 12 May 2011 17:40:00 -0400

I’ve always been very privileged when it comes to traveling, but in the past two years i’ve spend an increasing amount of time adventuring around the Globe. From the December chills of northern China to the sweltering heat of Tanzania, I’ve made it a point to go out and see more of the world with the people around me that I love.

I’ve gotten lost on the great wall of China, climbed the highest mountain on Borneo, Island hopped the Philippines, mountain biked Andorra and photographed wildlife from the roof of a moving Land Rover in Tanzania. I’m reminiscing all of these things while I’m watching the sun sizzle into the Andaman sea on idyllic Phi Phi island, Thailand.

It would be easy to think that I must have been on a 2 year sabbatical to make time for all of these wonderful journeys. But on the contrary, the past two years, other than being a treasure trove of traveling memories, have been the most productive and rewarding years of my young career. I’ve started 2 companies and learned more about the challenges in my industry that I could ever learn from an educational institution.

I’m not trying to flaunt any success I might have had or in some way try to show off. The important point that I want to make is this: A big part of my productiveness happens because of all the traveling and not despite of it. Traveling fuels my inspiration, it serves as anchor points in a somewhat unroutinely schedule and enables the sort of compartmentalized focus you need when trying to do your very best.

Traveling is like a shimmering oasis of off-time that can feed your productiveness in the weeks leading up to a journey. But rather than ‘switching off’ when you’re away, I often find that my mind is racing in new lanes brought on by a foreign environment and the lurking sense of adventure. While it may not be work in the practical sense it can give you a fresh perspective on current projects or bring about entirely new ideas that you’d never have thought up in the comfort of the known. When I get back home, I’m usually energized and itching to launch into new projects or wrap up old ones. Almost as if holding back work is like impounding water in a dam. Upon my return the floodgates of ideas and executions are opened and comes crushing through todo lists with renewed momentum.

I see my travels impacting my work in 3 stages.

1. Leading up to an adventure I race to complete ongoing projects and tie up loose ends. Energized by the closing deadline i’m sometimes able to squeeze in several weeks of work in a short timespan.

2. While i’m traveling I often find that my thoughts move unencumbered in new directions. Clarity is brought on by new experiences. Distance and unfamiliarity somehow opens new doors and presents direction for current projects or spawns entirely new ideas.

3. When I get back home i’m starved for work and I usually experience a boost of productivity in the following weeks.

At least for me, i’ve felt that each vacation has been an investment, not just in the usual good-for-your-soul sense, but also as a healthy business decision. I’m aware that some of these concepts are reserved for entrepreneurs and people with the luxury of a flexible job/life, but I still think the duality of vacation and work can be viewed as coexisting and enforcing rather than being each others opposites.

Snorkeling around Phi Phi Ley from a longtail boat.

Wed, 04 May 2011 06:53:05 -0400

Snorkeling around Phi Phi Ley from a longtail boat.

Had to swim to shore while trying to hold 10kg camera equipment...

Wed, 04 May 2011 06:50:51 -0400

Had to swim to shore while trying to hold 10kg camera equipment above water. Wearing sandals.

Just hanging out on the Remote beaches of Phangan, Thailand.

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:21:09 -0400

Just hanging out on the Remote beaches of Phangan, Thailand.

The lush trail up the mountain.

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:41:00 -0500

The lush trail up the mountain.