The passport holder
Hi, I'm Kayla —
I make things with a camera.
Filmmaker and photographer. This is the running record of where I go, what I make there, and what I carried to make it — one boarding pass per trip.
The athletic and studio work lives at athletes.imkaylaharris.com. This is the other bag.
Carry-On Kit ID
Kayla Harris
Filmmaker · Photographer
- 4
- Cities
- 73
- Frames
- 4
- Boarded
- 1
- Booked
What's in the bag
The kit that travels with me
- Panasonic Lumix S9
body
Full frame in something close to a compact body. It goes in the bag without a decision being made about it, which is most of why these frames exist at all.
- Lumix S 50mm f/1.8
lens
The walk-around. Wide enough open to separate a subject from an Atlanta street at golden hour, and light enough that carrying it is never the reason to leave it behind.
- Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8
lens
The widest thing in the bag. It shot more of the Atlanta walks than anything else, which was not the plan — 16mm turns a street you know into a street you have to stand inside of.
- Samyang 35-150mm f/2-2.8
lens
One lens instead of three, at the price of carrying all three at once. It comes out when the day might go anywhere and there is no time to change glass in the street.
- iPhone XR
body
RetiredThe earliest volume here was shot entirely on a phone, which is the honest answer to what camera you should use: the one in your pocket on the day you happen to be in Chicago. Long replaced, but it made Vol. 01.
- iPhone XR wide, 4.25mm f/1.8
lens
RetiredOne focal length, no choice about it. Pointing a fixed wide straight up at the Loop is not a limitation so much as the only move available — so you make it the point.
- iPhone 16 Pro
body
What is in my pocket now. Nothing in the archive was made on it yet — the next volume will be the first.
Not mine
Borrowed along the way
Two volumes were shot on friends' cameras. They are here because they made the photographs, not because I own them.
- Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
body
Not mine — a friend's body, borrowed for an afternoon on the Daly City hills. A DSLR is heavier than it needs to be until the light drops, and then it is exactly as heavy as it needs to be.
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
lens
Borrowed with the body it was mounted on. The cheapest lens in this archive and it made an entire afternoon of Daly City rooftops — a 50 makes you walk to the frame instead of zooming to it.
- Canon EOS R5
body
A friend's camera, borrowed for one morning on the New York Marathon course, where the only thing that matters is whether it holds focus on a runner coming straight at you.
- Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
lens
Borrowed with the R5. A range that covers the whole width of an avenue and a face at the barrier without moving your feet — which, on a closed marathon course, you cannot do anyway.
Let's talk
Got a trip — or a brand — worth documenting?
Open to editorial assignments, brand travel campaigns, and the occasional wild idea.