How portable rubber mini flexible portable tripod is?

I rarely take selfies, and by selfie, I mean holding the phone or the camera and pointing it to my face. I find the act lazy and uncreative. But I love taking travel portraits of myself, of making myself the subject of many beautiful sceneries. Perhaps it is my way to really convince myself that yes, you are here, Jona, you have traveled here, you have seen the pagodas and the temples in Old Bagan, Myanmar, yes, you have walked through the tea plantations in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, yes, you have trekked Chiang Mai, Thailand. Perhaps it is a kind of egoism, this selfish act of becoming part of the scenery, of relentlessly convincing yourself or your invisible audience that indeed you have been to these places.

I would say, too much gadget!

So I bought and brought a rubber mini flexible portable tripod in my five-week trip around Asia, which I found for a cheaper price somewhere Ayala Cebu. The price online can go as high as P8, 000! Shocking! That’s my one-week budget in Malaysia!

Here are the things I learned from bringing a portable tripod with me:

1. I like its portability. I hand-carried my backpack, so the tripod’s portability is a big plus for light travelers.

2. Despite its portability, it still eats up a space in the backpack.

3. This gear is best suited for solo travelers who hate taking selfies and are too shy to ask a stranger to take his/her photo.

4. If you have a travel buddy, then there is no need to bring one with you.

5. Despite its smallness, it can handle heavy DSLR with ease.

6. With its flexible legs, you can wrap it up on a branch so you can have a different angle for your photos.

7. But because of its flexibility, setting it up can be tricky. It was sometimes annoyingly hard to achieve the perfect landscape, the perfect horizontality of the framing.

   FINAL VERDICT: I did not need it for my trip.

   I had a travel buddy for three weeks who took great portraits. And during my two-week solo trip around Malaysia and Myanmar, it was easier to find an impromptu tripod, i.e., a rock, a table, a chair.

8. 

   I placed Nikkita, a Nikon P310, by the temple’s door and ran to this misplaced door facing the river. Old Bagan, Myanmar

Jona of Backpacking with a Book

Hi there, I’m Jona, originally from Cebu, Philippines, had live in Hanoi, Vietnam, and now currently based in Munich, Germany. This blog used to house thoughts on life and books, but eventually it morphed into a travel blog. For collaborations, projects, and other things, please email me at backpackingwithabook@gmail.com. For essays, creative nonfiction, and others, find me elsewhere.

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