A Creator’s Workspace
Hi, my name is Lloyd Carig. A 35-year-old dad and husband, born and raised in Manila, moved to Canada in 2014. I work as a livechat support for a telecom company in Vancouver, Canada.
I started my Fujifilm journey back in 2016 with a graphite X-T1 and the XF35mm F2. I picked up that kit mainly to take photos of my sneaker collection at that time. I kept seeing amazing on-feet photos of sneakers on Instagram and figured I wanted to do the same. Safe to say that that kit is no longer with me, same as my sneaker collection.
Through the years, my interests changed but not my love for the Fuji system. I became curious about other forms of photography, mainly landscapes and long exposures. With the sneaker community slowly becoming a toxic business, it became not as fun as how it was back in 2009. I started selling my collection piece by piece to fund my new hobby of choice, photography.
My current kit is an X-T4 that is paired mostly with the XF10-24mm F4 V1 and the awesome XF50-140mm F2.8. The 10-24 is an excellent ultrawide option for the Fuji system, and with the OIS it can be the perfect vlogging lens too. As for the 50-140, many have been complaining about the weight and the size of the lens, saying it defeats the purpose of going to the X system for a compact kit.
Still, the images and the performance of that lens justifies the weight and the size in my honest opinion. Those 2 lenses are my go-to for landscape/cityscape shots. As a backup body and a daily walkaround camera, I have my trusty X-Pro2 with the good old XF35mm F1.4 and the very underrated XF18mm F2. The 35 F1.4 might be my favorite Fuji lens of all time, yes it is old, slow, focuses loud, but the image it produces is second to none.
Okay, that is very subjective but at least for me it is. Pair it with the 18 F2 and you have some really good combo in such a small footprint. With the recent announcement of the XF18mm F1.4, the F2 version might slowly be forgotten completely. But not for me.
RIGHT: Fuji X-Pro2 . Fuji XF18mmF2 @18mm . f/5.6 . 1/50″ . ISO 3200
As with all forms of photography, we need to do some post-production work one way or another. I was using a 27-inch iMac as my workhorse for all this stuff. When the pandemic hit all of us last year, one of the biggest changes or adaptation we had to do was to work from home, if our jobs allowed it. I was fortunate enough that my work wasn’t affected at all, and the transition to working from home was quite seamless.
The company I work for sent over the peripherals I needed for the job. 2 24-inch monitors, keyboard, mouse, webcam etc. With the iMac that I had, it means I needed to have an L-desk that could hold both systems.
At first, I was able to make it work having 2 desks in my office, one for work and one for my personal use. After a year of having the exact same setup, I figured it’s time for a change. I found that the workspace I was in was a bit crowded or congested because of the 2 desks. I needed space.
In comes the recently announced M1 Mac mini from Apple. I traded in my old iMac for this tiny beast. With that, I had to get an external monitor and decided to go ultrawide this time, the Dell U3818DW. I was spoiled with the 5K display on the old iMac but I didn’t notice that much of a difference with the sub 4K Dell monitor.
What this new combo gives me that the old iMac wasn’t able to do so was to get that much-needed space in my workspace. With the new external monitor, it allowed me to get rid of the dual monitor setup that I got from work and just have everything connected on the Dell display. One monitor, one desk, ample space.
As for the Mac mini itself, all the great reviews you’ve heard or seen regarding the M1 processor is a fact. It handles my photo editing needs with Lightroom and Photoshop, and since I recently started dipping my toes into YouTube, I have had no issues rendering 4K footage using DaVinci Resolve.
For anyone to be inspired to work and get something done, the whole workspace has to look nice and productive, right?
To finish up the look and aesthetic that I was going for, I wanted to get some accessories that have that warm, cozy, vintage vibe. I have everything sitting on this 63×31 inch walnut desk from IKEA. Got a matching deskshelf and tray from a company called Grovemade. Added a big wool desk mat that is also from the same company.
I installed a pegboard on my wall that I got from IKEA, added some greens to give the space some life. For the mouse, it has been the Logitech MX Master 3, and I also have the matching Logitech MX keys for my keyboard. Though sometimes I switch the keyboard depending on my mood and use the retro-looking keyboard from Aziocorp.
For some added organization, I have this small thing called Orbitkey Nest. It can hold your tiny stuff as a tray, but you can also open it and have storage inside that you can configure using the tiny velcro dividers. The tray can also be plugged in and be used as a wireless charger for my wireless devices.
Orbitkey Nest
Sitting in front of this desk for an average of 10 hours a day, I had to invest in a good ergonomic chair. For that, I went with the ErgoChair2 from Autonomous.
And that pretty much sums up everything that I mainly use in this workspace for my 9-5 job as well as for my photography work. Hope you can find some sort of inspiration and in getting your workspace the best it could be for yourself.
For more details on this workspace, watch the video: Desk setup 2021
RIGHT: Fuji X-T4 . Fuji XF10-24mmF4 @17.40mm . f/4.0 . 30″ . ISO 1250
“Hi, I’m Lloyd, born and raised in Manila, currently in Vancouver, BC. A dad, a husband, and a photographer on the side. I love taking photos around the city as well as some tech-related stuff.”
Johannes Rapprich
May 17, 2021 @ 12:05 pm
Dear Lloyd,
I’m a big fan of your workspace. This is incredibly clean and eye pleasing. Hopefully, it will help you create amazing content.
Best Johannes
Lloyd
May 17, 2021 @ 7:15 pm
I appreciate the kind words, Johannes. Thank you!