I just came back from a 2.5 week summer break in my home country Portugal.

It was the most pleasant holidays I’d had in the past few years. To say it was *near perfect * would be an understatement.

So good a time it was, that it almost feels every trip abroad before this one was not as meaningful.

And this year I had a few good trips indeed. I’d been to Thailand twice. I’d been to Beijing as well. Then I had several short weekend trips to China and Hong Kong, which were most enjoyable.

But nothing compares to this super trip to Portugal.

Why so special?

Firstly, the trip was almost 3 week long due to a cancelled return flight that was a pain in the ass when it happened, but looking back it kinda added flavor to the whole experience… Resulting in an extra night in Lisbon, which was actually quite pleasant.

Then we had all sorts of experiences. From my bike rides in Lisbon and Coimbra (my road bike came all the way with me from Macau, yes I’m this crazy about cycling). Nice walks in beautiful Lisbon historic downtown including a stop for a lunch in our favorite Café Brasileira.

Nature and sightseeing in the paradisiacal Azores islands.

The pleasure of driving different exquisite rental cars in each stop, namely the super practical and comfortable Mercedes E-Class wagon where my bike fit in perfectly.

Or the smallish semi-cabrio Fiat 500 fun car with an open-top that let us feel closer to nature and breathe the scented and unpolluted fresh air of São Miguel island.

We also had the privilege to stay in beautiful holiday houses like this one above in Pico island. Surrounded by no one, not a single soul day or night. So quiet, indeed, that at night I felt nervous about our own safety and would repeat my routine of locking all doors, windows, wooden covers…

And the cherry on top

Our night hike to Piquinho, Portugal’s highest mountain peak at 2531m in Pico island (Azores).

It was a hell of an effort, we started at 3:00am in the morning in order to reach the summit at 6:30am, in time to witness the amazing sunrise! Huah!

That’s me above with the Sony RXIRii, literally above the clouds!

Photography

For a trip like this obviously my cameras were not omitted! So what did I bring with me?

Well, quite a strong combination: the Insta360 X2 for casual / fun videos; the recently acquired mid-format Hasselblad 907x 100c with XCD 4/28P lens, for the beautiful landscape scenery; and, last but not least, the full-frame Sony RX1Rii, which is small, light and portable, thus perfect for my climb to Pico mountain!

But guess what

The Hasselblad failed me. Yes, it stopped working for no reason. “Lens undetected” came out in the black screen.

I mean, I have 1 lens only, it was always attached to the camera body. All of a sudden it just stopped working. Fortunately it happened when we were say 65% of our trip, so I still managed to take many photos before it malfunctioned.

Stay tuned

I am preparing / editing my keepers which I will share soon, together with a more detailed description of my trip. Measuring Light is about photography, but more and more I feel I want to stay away from camera reviews because nowadays they make not much sense to me.

Every camera is technically good and solid now, every camera out there shall surpass your own capabilities. This is how mature digital photography turned out to be. So no point reviewing cameras, just buy the camera that looks good to you, suits you, and enjoy it.

My trips are a very good way to enjoy my cameras, thus this is what I will be writing about in the coming days.

Stay tuned!