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  • Author: Lisa Morris

Flextail Tiny Repel :: Field Tested

Photography by Jason Spafford Outdoor endeavors should be about embracing nature, not battling mosquitoes. Enter the Tiny Repel. Designed by the Shenzhen-based company Flextail—increasingly known for their multifunctional outdoor gear since 2015—this compact device serves as a mosquito repellent, light, and power bank. Using DualRepel technology quickly creates a 30-foot mosquito-free zone (including horseflies), with…

Noobs Rally

The Noobs Rally 2024: Uniting at the Ultimate Adventure for Rookie Riders

Images: Finn Joseph, Jason Spafford, and Joel Paez Venturing into the heart of Death Valley’s Panamint Springs, the beginner-friendly Noobs Rally from March 20 to 24 welcomed a diverse crowd of dual-sport, dirt-riding, and adventure enthusiasts for fun-forging camaraderie and skill-building. Hosted annually by Joel Paez (NSFW), the community gathering marked its 17th year in “denoobing less…

Motohansa Tools

Motohansa Tool Kits :: Tools with a Touch of Aussie Grit

Transforming our KTM 500 EXC-Fs into globetrotting beasts was more than a matter of tightening nuts and bolts. Enter Motohansa, born in an Aussie backyard in 1990 and now a global player. From humble garage beginnings, they’ve danced through workshops, partnered with giants like BMW, and expanded across five continents. Their mission is clear: make…

faroe islands

Destinations: The Faroe Islands

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Fall 2021 Issue. Photography by Jason Spafford At the tail end of Hurricane Dorian, a fierce wind battered our ferry as we pitched and rolled through the chop, blown into a white-capped frenzy. Two days of being tossed up and down in the North Atlantic,…

Scottish Highlands in a House Truck

Photography by Jason Spafford I’ve always been fond of Scotland, our near-faraway neighbour, famed for its white-painted dollhouses nestled in the hillside, among red deer grazing in a lush green glen. There are likely more sheep than people, chewing the cud on the rush pasture amid bright bursts of yellow gorse bushes. There’s often a…

Being a Location-independent Traveller During Covid-19

Words by Lisa Morris, photography by Lisa Morris and Jason Spafford   When the World Stopped It happened almost in the blink of an eye as the news of the spreading virus slapped the taste from our mouths. From March 2020, a new precedent emerged in the desperate hope to curb an Earth-wide spread. Save…

A Distilled Guide for Travel Photography

Words by Lisa Morris, photography by Lisa Morris and Jason Spafford   You’ve got the basics of composition under your belt, and with a good skill base, you continue your love of photography as a fun and creative outlet. Who doesn’t love visiting places tucked away off the beaten track, brimming with photogenic shots? When…

How to Shoot a Minimalist Landscape

Words by Lisa Morris, photography by Jason Spafford   Arguably, location is the most crucial aspect to consider when shooting minimalist landscapes. Certain places seem to lend themselves to minimalist photography more than others. Indeed, it’s possible to create minimalism in many locations with a carefully selected composition and the right lens. However, shooting from…

Water You Doing Today?

Words By Lisa Morris, Photography by Jason Spafford I’m always drawn to photographing water, whether in the form of white-fringed waves crashing on the shoreline to a lake as still as a millpond or the sheer power raining down in a waterfall. Shooting water is a tonne of fun and easy to create results that…

Soft and Hard Light

Words by Lisa Morris, Photos by Jason Spafford Light isn’t something you can hold. You can’t touch it, or feel it – it lacks physicality yet bears a presence. So to take pleasing pictures, you need to start treating light as the subject – a shape-shifting object with the power to make or break the…

How To Shoot Into the Sun

Words by Lisa Morris, Photos by Jason Spafford The sun, a brilliant round disk of light and warmth, can be tricky to encompass in a well-balanced picture. Due to an acute intensity of brightness lies an inability to view it directly overhead. Although challenging, with some inexpensive equipment, the sun is a dramatic image-enhancing inclusion….

How to Photograph Fire

Words & photos by Lisa Morris   Whether you’re wrapped up in the warmth of a crackling fire indoors, red coals gleaming from the ash below, or sat around a cosy camp as tongues of flame flicker, it’s hard not to be spellbound by the amber light. It’s easy to lose yourself in the snap…

How to Shoot the Northern Lights

Whether you’re off to the northern reaches of Canada or Alaska, the Nordic countries, or Scotland this winter, you’ll be tingling with excitement to recreate the northern lights from photography you’ve been drooling over for goodness knows how long. Latin for the northern dawn, the aurora borealis displays a solar-powered jig of shimmering green swathes…

How to Shoot in Hard and Soft Light

Light isn’t something you can hold. You can’t touch it or feel it—it lacks physicality yet bears a presence. To take pleasing pictures, you need to start treating light as the subject, a shape-shifting object with the power to make or break the ambience. What’s stirring in one moment can leave no impact on the…

How to Shoot Snowscapes

Words by Lisa Morris, photography by Jason Spafford.   I don’t know about you, but the excitement of seeing the first snowflakes settle fills me with a purity of spirit. Especially when everything gleams white in graceful silence, leaving behind a grey and dreary world for a fresh and sleek one. Snow and frost transform…

Managing Your Money on the Road

Words by Lisa Morris, photography by Jason Spafford   A learned friend advised that if I were to raise funds for a big two-wheeled trip successfully, I’d have to adopt the mantra Don’t be too stupid to be poor. Being frugal is the easy part—surrendering the daily caffè latte, monthly subscription to premium television, and…

How To Keep Your Camera in Focus

Words By Lisa Morris, photography by Jason Spafford.   Common focus issues can be the fun sponge in sucking all the pleasure out of shooting pictures. As one of the more technical arts you can pursue, such difficulties can baffle and confuse us all. Whether you’re new to photography, just keeping it lighthearted, or have…

What Camera Do I Need?

Words By Lisa Morris, photography by Jason Spafford.   Before setting off on your next getaway, road trip, or vacation of a lifetime, you may be in a quandary as to which camera to invest in. Do you really need to spend $5,000 on a professional camera with an array of lenses, a complete set…

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