I’m going with a backpack only. Why? Because we’re moving all the time, we change city constantly, at the beginning it’s every two or three days, then we stay a bit longer, four days when we’re in Vienna. But there you go, I don’t want to be dragging a suitcase every single time I go and catch a train. I take a backpack, it’s plenty.

And we’re going in summer, so the clothes I’m bringing are very thin, and my cameras are small anyway, so everything fits in a backpack.

The bag

I’m using a 20 litre backpack. My photo gear takes up half of it, let’s not lie to each other.

Read more

When it is worth it

That being said, I’m not completely against gifting, in the sense that in certain niches like mine, which is photo and video, the products offered are expensive enough that it’s worth it for me, giving my time and my energy in videos for example. After that, you shouldn’t, just because the thing is expensive, end up accepting to make five videos behind it, no. There’s a balance between what the product is worth and what the work is worth, and where that line sits changes with every project. I don’t have one number, I have a calculation and I redo it every time. And no, a cheap product against loads of content, no no no.

Paid work is a different conversation.

Read more

That’s how I got the idea for a series called My Bag Match Your Door.

Unfortunately, life and working full-time got in the way, and five years later, I still only have that first photo, taken on my iPhone in October 2021.

I didn’t know it yet, but looking back, I think that was the moment photography unconsciously started making its way back into my life.

In 2024, I finally started taking photography seriously again thanks to my boyfriend, who gave me a Ricoh GR III, the camera I still carry with me every day today.

Now that my bag collection has reached slightly ridiculous proportions, and especially now that I’ve become a photographer, I’ve been thinking about bringing this series back.

I left it behind because I didn’t have enough time or energy, even though it was actually my first “real” photography project.

Turns out my handbags aren’t just accessories. They brought me back where I belong.

Sandrine - The Girl with a Camera

Most people buy their first bag new, in a store, for the experience. Me, I bought it from a reseller on Instagram, we arranged to meet somewhere in Brussels and that was it. Why? The budget, obviously, first of all. But mostly my love of vintage. Having a bag (older than me) that had already been through a woman’s life, her hard times, a woman I will never know but whose story I carry a little of.

In March I bought the matching wallet, and to celebrate, croissant and cappuccino and OBVIOUSLY a little photo.

I had no idea that two weeks later everything would close and that they would end up on a shelf..

When things opened again I didn’t think twice, I took that bag, it was obvious. And I think that is how you know it was love, before I had even picked an outfit or a pair of shoes, I had decided on the bag. It was the first, but certainly not the last, time that happened to me, and that is how I understood that bags were going to be my collection.

Six years later, more than thirty bags, it is still here

Sandrine - The Girl with a Camera

But for my boyfriend, it’s always a struggle. I see him hesitating for hours before we leave. "Should I take this lens or not?"

In the end, he even sacrifices a few t-shirts just to fit an extra object. That is not comfortable traveling to me.

On my side, I can pack every outfit I want and all the cameras I need in one single backpack.

The real mess starts on the street. His camera is huge. In street photography, my main advantage is that my camera is tiny and discreet. People don't see me. Or if they do, they don't take me seriously. But when you walk next to a guy with a Sony A7 IV and a telephoto lens, you can't pass unnoticed. He completely blows my cover.

Every morning at the hotel, it's a huge dilemma for him. He needs the gear, but he hates carrying those heavy kilos on his back all day.

Honestly, my Ricoh is my life. You really shouldn't judge a camera by its size. It means nothing. The Ricoh GR III, or the new GR IV, gives an incredible image quality for its size. Nobody takes me seriously with it. Everyone thinks I'm using a cheap, old digicam from the 2000s. But it's actually a serious €1400 machine. That's why people bug. They see a toy, but it's a masterpiece.

🔒 Inside My Ultralight Studio Bag For this 16-day rail trip, I packed four pocket-sized cameras. Combined, they weigh less than his single Sony setup. Upgrade to Paid to unlock:

• The 4 tiny cameras I’m taking on the train.

• My custom recipe settings for an instant film look.

• My stealth accessories to survive 16 days on the rails.

Read more

Because I’ve never felt legitimate asking to have models. So the only fashion shoots I’ve ever done are self-portraits. And that takes even more calculation, let’s not kid ourselves.

But when she DM’d me, I thought wow, amazing, and I took the opportunity. I was still absolutely terrified.

When we met in person, she’s lovely. When I told her she was my first model, she was shocked, she thought I’d been doing this for a long time. When actually, not at all.

I got there fifteen minutes before we were due to meet, I spotted two or three places, and from there it just started.

And yeah, we shot. I have a behind the scenes video and the photos. Really a great shoot.

And I think the biggest advantage of this shoot is that Silke is a dancer. She’s also a singer, she’s an accomplished artist, but being a dancer puts every model out there to shame. A dancer is aware of her body and knows how to move it. It’s insane how beautiful it is, actually.

I barely had to direct her. Just when an idea popped into my head, I’d suggest a new posture. But she nailed it, completely.

Honestly, nothing was hard, thanks to her. And for a first shoot, it gave me confidence.

Read more

OK, how I prepare a trip using Google Maps.

So after several completely disastrous city trips, because I’d planned my routes by tourist spot and not by geographic area, I often lost a lot of time, and a lot of energy too.

And so there you go, now I use Google Maps to build my maps before a trip. I find places through blogs, through TikTok, through Instagram. I also get AI to do the research and pull up all the addresses that interest me: thrift shops, anything vintage, flea markets, camera shops obviously, the tourist spots, because when you’re visiting, you’re still a tourist, and all the restaurants, cafés, and so on.

I have one list per category and per city. For Paris: Shops, Vintage, Bar, Food, Culture, Coffee.

And basically, I take the best addresses. Out of all the ones I find, I look at them, I check the reviews, I look at the photos, the aesthetic of the thing, and from there I decide whether to add it to my list or not.

Once I’m there, in the morning, when I’m at my hotel, I open my map and I look at which area I feel like heading to. Am I going north, am I going south, am I going east, west. Depends. Sometimes it’s just the centre, around my hotel.

And so I pick a geographic area, I go there, and I do all the spots I’d planned to do there. And that way, the next day, or sometimes I do morning, afternoon, I can move on to another part of the city. And I don’t end up going back and forth in every direction, running around or having to take transport just because I didn’t think about where I was going.

Honestly, my Google Maps changed my life. It’s just so good.

One last note. As a photographer, I just go to an area. I work by geographic area, and there you go, I look at the points of interest around me. But really, I spend more time wandering through all the little streets than running from one attraction to the next. I’m not trying to tick off the pins on my map. It’s much more about knowing what’s around me, so I don’t miss something and have to come back two days later.

Right now, my Google Maps for my upcoming 16-day rail trip (starting August 23rd) is full of bookmarked locations. But I don’t share untested pins. I’m going to test every single spot, find the best 5 AM viewpoints, and filter out the traps myself during the journey.

Upgrade to Paid to unlock:

• The Rail Trip Maps: Verified, cleaned-up interactive maps for each city on my route, delivered right after I leave them.

• My Ultimate Paris & Tokyo Vault: Instant access to my highly specialized personal maps, including my categorical Paris lists (Shops, Vintage, Food, Culture, Coffee) and my complete Tokyo guide.

The Real Logs: My raw logistical notes on what actually worked, where I stayed, and what went wrong (How I Travel).

Read more

Two years ago, if someone had told me I’d become a full-time street photographer, I probably would never have believed it.

Me? Taking photos of strangers? Just like that, in the moment? Impossible.

And yet, two years later: hundreds of photos, a book project, and even photos exhibited at Les Rencontres d’Arles.

To manage to make my shy personality live together with my photography, I created three rules for myself. They’re all very simple, but they change absolutely everything.

Rule 1 — My camera is sooooo small.

I shoot with the Ricoh GR III. It’s tiny, so I can photograph while being super discreet.

And above all… if someone does notice me, something quite funny happens: nobody takes me seriously.

Since I don’t have a huge Canon with a 70-200, most people see my little camera, probably think I’m a tourist, and go back to their lives two seconds later.

And honestly? That’s exactly what I want.

Rule 2 — Snap Focus.

Snap Focus is probably my best ally.

Depending on the situation, I set my distance to 2.5 metres, sometimes closer, and I can shoot instantly.

No need to stop. No need to wait for the autofocus to hunt for my subject. I shoot on the move.

Because those few seconds where you stop, you raise your camera and you wait for the focus to land… that’s exactly the moment the person sees you.

And right then, the scene changes.

🔒 Unlock Rule 3 & My Technical Street Setup

My third rule is the hardest to master, but it is the one that completely transformed my photography from basic travel snaps to exhibited art.

Upgrade to Paid to unlock:

• Rule 3: My philosophy on why (and how) I never ask for permission.

• The Ricoh GR III Setup: My exact technical settings for stealth shooting (how I choose my aperture and ISO to ensure my 2.5m Snap Focus shots are always razor-sharp).

Read more

Sixteen days, five countries, fourteen cities. Two people, a few cameras and random stories.
There's a mountain in Austria where the oldest alpine railway still runs. I'll be there on day nine, eating a sandwich, waiting for a train to cross a viaduct built in 1854.

This journal will be the heart of this trip.
Where I share why I chose to wake up at 5am in this city. What a street sounds like before crowds.

That’s what I’m gonna share in my letters.
One city, one letter.

My experiences and feelings, a few photographs and the addresses, the good ones.

So that’s what’s coming here. Letters from cities I discover, starting 25 August.

If you love trains, photography, or slow travel, follow. It’s free, and it means the first letter won’t be ignored.

Sandrine - The Girl with a Camera