Robert And Isabella from Austria

One fine day I received an email with an alarming disturbing title "help after being robbed". It was from an Austrian who was travelling to Mongolia, and he lost his gear in a robbery. Since he was coming to Kuala Lumpur next, Robert (the Austrian) was asking me via email if I could recommend some local dealers to get his camera replacement. We exchanged emails back and forth and he was here yesterday, we had lunch and coffee, and I believe Robert and Isabella were the first Austrians I have met in my life! I could be wrong, but I cannot remember any other Austrians I personally know before this.

Meet Robert and Isabella from Austria. Image shot with Olympus PEN E-P5 and M.Zuiko 25mm F1.2 PRO lens

You may follow their travel adventure here on their blog: https://www.happinessontour.com/blog/

Robert and Isabella are currently travelling around the world for a year, taking a break from everything. I wonder if this is something that Europeans like to do, as my other friend Matti from Finland also did the same thing. Maybe I should just drop everything off and started exploring the world for a year, that would give me a lot of interesting opportunities when it comes to photography! And I get to meet many of you beautiful readers everywhere! Oh well, for now that has to be a dream, unless I can successfully finance the travel funds. We shall see, anything can happen and I sure hope it happens sooner rather than later. 

Unfortunately Robert caught me during my super, super busy time. I have multiple shoots, workshops for Olympus as well as events happening out of town throughout the duration of his stay in Kuala Lumpur! I wish I could be more helpful to show around and maybe introduce some Malaysian food. Nonetheless, I did leave them with some recommendations and suggestions of food and locations of interest to explore! I cannot wait to see his photographs after their Malaysia travel. 

Robert told me that he was originally a Pentax user (I do not know that many Pentax fans!), before exploring other options, including Sony A7 series full frame mirrorless. He finally settled with Micro Four Thirds mainly for the smaller size and light-weight setup as well as better straight out of camera JPEGs. He was showing me the shots he took at Mongolia and I must say I was blown away, and almost did not believe they were all shot in JPEG. Sometimes I forgot how amazing Olympus JPEG colors can be, since I have been shooting RAW all the time now. 

To Robert and Isabella I hope you guys have a wonderful time in Kuala Lumpur! And please do eat all the food you can. I do wish you both will come back again some time with a longer stay so I can show you around properly next time. And I must plan to trip to Europe, if I ever get there, I will stop by Austria for sure.