Review: My Best Travel Bag - Vanguard Havana 48BL

---

---

After a few years of road trips and wandering adventures, my trusty travel companion - the Vanguard Havana 41, finally met it's end when a rough zipping ripped the zipper clean off the back compartment. As a replacement, the kind folks at Vanguard sent me a new backpack to take on my travels and so far I've been more than impressed. Meet the Vanguard Havana 48BL! 

With it's stylish deep navy canvas exterior complimented with brown leather trim (also comes in khaki), the highly photographable backpack looks great in any situation, if Instagram is your thing. Though created with photographers in mind, the backpack blends in well with standard bags giving that extra sense of security roaming city streets since your backpack is not screaming, "I'm a photographer with expensive equipment!"

On the larger size at 48 liters, this bag has been able to fit everything I've needed and more. The bottom pocket comes equipped with a padded interior compartment that is easily removable with velcro and top handle for ease of access while offering protection for my DSLR and lenses. Though, I prefer to keep my camera in the top pocket so I can grab and go ready to shoot in under 30 seconds.

The Havana has a crazy amount of space with more than 6 pockets for storage. The top compartment has small pockets for quick access to memory cards, batteries, pens, wallet, and passport. There are two side pockets with drawstring for water bottles or tripods. The two front pockets I use for things like business cards and camera remotes. Stitched into the sides are hearty fabric loops for carabiners I use to hang my keys and reflector. And the best part, finally a backpack that fits my 15.4 inch Macbook Pro - something the 41L never could manage with the corners of my laptop always sticking out.

Though feeling a bit bulky at times, I would recommend this bag for those like me who have become accustomed to carrying their whole worlds strapped to their back. With photography equipment and padded insert removed, I've used this bag for everything from international travel to overnight trips to beach days to long hours editing at a coffee shop. This is the bag I've been waiting for - stylish, great storage, and versatile.

In front of Romanian Parliament in Bucharest

---

Havana 41

---

DID YOU ENJOY THIS ARTICLE? CLICK BELOW TO SEE MORE!

---

---

Disclaimer: Although I am a Vanguard Pro Photographer, all opinions are my own and this post was not sponsored or moneitized in any way.

---

Snow Day With Tess & Cameron

---

SNOW DAY

---

You can tell it's February in the Northeast, the month often marked by the heaviest snowfall. Here in Maine with accumulations of 2 - 5 inches a week, we've been spending a lot of time warm indoors taking a reprieve from the dropping temperatures and slippery streets. So, when my roommate Cameron, had his lovely girlfriend Tess fly in the for the weekend, I was thankful for the opportunity to throw on layers of warm clothing and adventure outdoors to experience the beauty of the local hemlock grove.

---

---

---

Behind The Scenes - A Video Peek Into My Creative Portraiture

---

Join me on a conceptual photoshoot with Macphun inspired by a fabled viking funeral!

---

In the beginning of October when the weather was still warm and the trees full of color, I was given the opportunity by Macphun to film a video of my process during a conceptual photoshoot to celebrate the release of their new photo editing software Luminar. Never one to turn down a new experience, I jumped at the chance to challenge my ability and perspective. To brainstorm concepts, I consulted the mountain of notebooks stacked high in my closet where I have crudely drawn sketches of inspiration scribbled down whenever the spark of creativity stuck me - a helpful way to never be without an idea when you need one! I knew I wanted to leave the audience with a powerful scene so I choose to recreate a fabled viking funeral - a strong woman laid to rest at sea in a burning memorial.

For months I anxiously prepared for the shoot with a desire to pull together every small detail. It's not often I work with large teams, preferring to create a bit more minimally with just a camera, model, and epic location, but I was grateful for the ability to work fluidly with like minded creatives to compose a meaningful final piece. For a location my friends were kind enough to lend me their family camp - a beautifully built wood cabin settled quietly on the shores of a private pond in rural Maine, equipped with an aged row boat that would work well for the shoot. With location set and schedule in place, I felt confident in what my team was about to capture. 

---

---

On the day of the shoot I woke up early to start gathering props and gear. I had spent most of the night clearing cards and charing batteries for the long day ahead. After testing my batteries and formatting my cards I packed up my car to bring the props to the location and to get to work building a simple sail I could use to light on fire. With limited budget I was going for effect more than historical accuracy opting to construct something that was small but could be easily buried in the sand so the boat could slip in and out of place so as not to damage the boat or hurt my wonderfully trusting model while the sail was lit on fire.  

Because the shoot was symbolizing a memorial, I had purchased a dozen pots of mums, luckily they were in season and with their beautifully vibrant colors and pleasant scent my model didn't mind laying among them too much propped up on a comfy bed of eight pillows. I wanted the scene to look as though the faithful family of the beloved had gathered handfuls of wild flowers to place with the resting soul. However since the mums only came in plants of solid color, doing so took about two hours of carefully cutting individual flowers and placing them in separate pots. The end result was definitely worth the hassle. For a lot of my conceptual work, I'd much rather get the details in camera as much as I can since a lot of my time on each image is already spent compositing various details.

When the video team of Matt Bourgeois, Sophia Aldinio, and Kallie Daggett arrived, we decided to start with interviews and wait for the sun to set enough to start shooting. The talented videographers choose to use the upper balcony of the cabin for all it's vintage softly lit glory and over a few hours I recounted my photographic process. 

After interviews were finished and the sun was beginning to set, everything started to fall into place. My helpful assistant had positioned the  sail into the pond and my model was dressed and ready for arrangement in the boat. With waders on I trekked into the water and up a ladder to find the right angle to start shooting. I had brought some assorted color smoke bombs with me to create atmosphere in the close ups and we had a great time lighting them off in colorful clouds. We were able to get a few different angles before the sun set enough to light the sail on fire. My trusty assistant set to work with lighter fluid quick to engulf the fabric in flames. In about an hour of shooting I felt I had captured enough diversity of shots to composite into the final image and was ready to wrap up for the night.

This concept would not have been made possible without Macphun. I would also like to say a huge thank you to a wonderful team that made this day go by so smoothly. And thank you to the wonderful Eastern Front Designs for kindly letting me borrow some armor and props.

You can find full 17 minute video released for free after signing up for their mailing list here:

https://macphun.com/blog/luminar-photo-editor-for-mac-intro

Full credits go to:

Model: Corey Black
Assistants: John Black, Kalli Daggett
Videographers: Matt Bourgeois, Sophia Aldinio
Props and Wardrobe: Eastern Front Designs

Animation created with Plotagraph Pro Software

---

---

11 Tips To Help You Interview As An Artist!

---

How To Interview As An Artist - Presenting Your Best Self to the World

---

As a painfully shy child not inclined to make a fuss about much, I never really thought I would have a career where I would be answering interview questions about myself. I have a personality that is far more comfortable rambling on about the happy vegetables growing in my garden or quiet solo hikes in the forest instead of my photography career. But as an artist, features can provide a wide open door of opportunity accessible only through introduction to a new audience. Be it a blog, magazine, gallery show, student exam, or podcast - as the ambassador to your own brand, it's great to be prepared for all possibilities with a detailed understanding about your own creative process. In my experience, you never really know what opportunities an interview might bring. As such, I've found it crucial to treat each feature as you would your resume - sent out into the world with the hope that luck will be in your favor enough to put your work in front the eyes that will move your career forward.

Running my own professional photography business and working as a contributing writer interviewing dozens of photographers for the popular arts and culture blog, My Modern Met, has helped me gain a first hand understanding of the interview process on both sides of the spectrum. With a collective seven years experience under my belt, I have acquired a few tips on how to present your best self to the world when your work is featured. 

---

Here are 11 ways to help you interview as an artist! 

---

1. Don't be afraid to say yes to opportunities that fit with your style - however small they may seem.

It's never fun to work solely for exposure, but with blogs and online magazines, I tend to give a little more leeway due to small budgets and mutual benefit. The internet is a funny place - you just never know what resource will put your work in front of the channels looking to hire photographers. All it takes is one person with the right connections to change the course of your career. Carefully examine each opportunity - with a bit luck, a small interview can lead you to a whole new world of possibility. I've had licensing requests from interviews with a reach of 100 people. It's a matter the right people at the right time so I try never to dismiss features solely based upon audience size.

2. Have your contact information readily available.

I can't tell you how many times I've had to go hunting for contact information. If you are not easy to reach, opportunities might pass you by due to the simple inability to connect. It might be a good practice to have multiple avenues of communication available on each channel you manage so as to appease each person's contact preferences. I know I prefer to do all of my questions and requests via email rather than contact forms because I have attachments I like send.

3. Have a website, headshot, and artist bio ready!

If you were blessed with traits like mine rich in the sweet instant satisfaction of procrastination, presuming a task as daunting makes it easier to put off. That's why having proper information prior to needing them can break the feelings of overwhelm while helping to make the process streamlined and less time consuming. Building a website is tedious, but one place to keep your portfolio for potential clients to easily access is invaluable. For hosting, I use Squarespace for their many amazing features and functionality. I also keep a folder available on my desktop with head shots, frequently updated CVs, an artist bio, previously answered interview questions, social media kits, as well as high resolution files of my favorite pieces ready at a moment's notice to meet any deadline. 

4. Be prompt in your response. 

These days, we all have modern busy lives, it's hard to stay organized with jobs, families, inboxes, and social media channels to manage. I know I've sat down to answer interviews only to get distracted and leave the email forgotten in my inbox for weeks. But not being timely in your response could lead to missed opportunities. If you are at a point in your career where you get frequent requests, it might be beneficial to keep a list of responses on hand as some questions may be similar. To give an example, approximately the same time every year as students are starting up their photography classes again, I usually receive around twenty requests for interviews to help with projects. As most of the questions are the same, I keep a small FAQ available and customize each response as needed, that way I can quickly respond to each request and allow the student to move forward with their project.

5. A good interviewer will dig deep, so make sure to carefully curate your content - past, present, and future.

When I was young and just starting out in the photography world, I tended to use Flickr as a bit of a diary, especially during my 365 project moaning about various daily happenings in my stressful operating room job and how much my photos sucked. This lead to my first interviews being centered on the darkness and insecurity I used to drive my creativity. A perk of our humanity is the ability to be ever evolving, what once was true when I started photography may no longer match my style and process. What photos you once wanted featured may no longer match your shooting style. 

Take a day to go back into the dark depths of your first photo sharing channels and clean up what no longer suits your image as an artist. The internet is forever and a good interviewer will dig deep looking for an angle to present your work to their audience with the mutually beneficial goal of driving traffic to both their site and yours. If you curate your social media, you can easily control your own image.

6. Try not to be self deprecating or too self critical.

As an artist, it's hard to be in love with every piece you create but overall, at least outwardly, it's important to exude confidence enough to sell your work. If you don't believe in your own ability, how can you expect potential clients to? It's easy to fall into the trap of never feeling good enough, believe me I've been there too, but art is subjective and if you are being contacted for a feature someone saw talent enough to reach out. If you were applying for a job would you talk about how you had no clue what you were doing and how insecure you are about your abilities? You are your own worst enemy, try to steer away from self criticism in your answers.

7. Don't be afraid to show your personality and get down deep into your process.

With that being said, don't be afraid to share your struggles and adversities, but do so in a way that is positive and uplifting as a way to share what you've learned in your journey. These days with our ever diminishing attention spans and TL;DR mentalities forever in the search of that magic recipe for viral content, if you don't catch the eye of your audience immediately they'll continue on their way down the endless scroll of social media. In a world filled with advertisements and corporate realities screaming at you from gas pumps and listening to your conversations via your phone's microphone to "best serve you", readers are looking for authenticity they can connect with. Don't be afraid to be open and honest about your own story. Sharing my journey helped me connect with others who were going through similar experiences to create lasting relationships while also giving the writer a hook to present my work to their audience. 

8. Grammar and spell check. 

I've made this mistake myself in a rush to get things checked off my to-do list assuming the person writing the interview would catch any mistakes. Things get missed, the world is an imperfect place. It's best to avoid this by being certain to carefully proofread each answer.

9. Leave the emojis to texting.

I will always edit them out anyway. If you wouldn't put an emoji in a resume I wouldn't put it in an interview.

10. Zip your files. 

Just a courtesy thing, no one wants to download 25 photos individually. 

11. If you are easy to work with, chances are good for future interviews.

I know I'm always on the look out for content to feature and prefer to build a rapport with photographers I interview in the hopes to keep up on their latest work for future interviews. It probably goes without saying that if you are pleasant, punctual, and easy to work with, chances are you'll leave that door open for subsequent collaborations.

I'm always looking to discover new photographers to interview for My Modern Met! Are you a photographer? Would you like to be interviewed? Leave links to your website in the comments below!

---

If you would like to read some of the interviews I have given over the years, you can find the links below.

Sarah Ann Loreth, A Wild One - Resource Magazine.

Sarah Loreth On Photographing and Backpacking Across North America - The Phoblographer.

Photographer Sarah Loreth's Fine Art Portraits - The Phoblographer.

Inspired by Nature and Emotion - Interview With Award Winning Sarah Ann Loreth - Youpic.

Sarah Ann Loreth: Fine Art Photography - The Gallery Mag.

Phlearn Interview Sarah Ann Loreth - Phlearn.

The Life of a Fine Art Photographer: Interview With Sarah Ann Loreth  - FStoppers.

---

---