A Love Letter to Travel Photography

We've all pondered the idea of "if money was no object". We've all considered what we might do if we were financially free; if we could make decisions without ever considering the "bottom line".

For me, I have two real passions in life. Past-times, if you will. Things that I wouldn't cease doing if I had all of the money in the world, and things that I would arguably do more of, if I had all of the money in the world.

Travel, and photography.

I'm a photographer by profession, so people naturally assume that when I have any downtime, or time away from work, I'd want to leave the camera at home.

But, that's a strange sentiment to me.

I genuinely love my job - I know I'm one of the lucky ones in that sense - and the idea of leaving my camera at home when I step out into the world, or take a break from my usual surroundings, is something of an alien thought.

It's on my travels that I yearn even more to have a camera in hand. In that moment, it's a natural extension of my eye and, to an extent, of my being. Taking photos around the world, of the people and places that I'm lucky enough to meet, experience and observe is one of the things in life that sparks genuine joy.

The majority of the time, my weapon of choice is the Fujifilm GA645.

It's a medium-format film camera that was designed in the mid-90s. Medium format film and travel are also two things that people rarely put together in the age of mirrorless digital cameras, but the Fujifilm GA645 is special as it has the option to take advantage of fully automated controls (including autofocus!), making it a much "easier" camera to shoot with on the go, for as long as you can hack the hefty weight.

In my life so far I've been blessed enough to see many corners of the world. From travelling with work to travelling for leisure, my camera and I have escaped onto Greek islands and bustling, busy cities. Some cities not far from home, other cities the other side of the world.

One of my favourite trips was to New York City, back in 2021. How could it not be? It's a city full of life and inspiration, perfect for any photographer to get lost in.

It was my first time in the Big Apple. I spent 10 days exploring the city and within that short period I was able to experience both the icy, snow-covered streets of New York, and also a few days of an unseasonally warm spell.

I went with my Mum, which was quite the full circle trip for us as a Mother-Daughter pair, as she went with her Mum when I was a young child and we'd always dreamed and talked of the day that we could go together.

Documenting this trip was even more special to me for that reason. When I look through the photos, I can see us there, stood with our hands red-raw from the cold, all hands on deck to load another roll of film as the snow fell.

Memories last a lifetime, but photos are such a natural way to jog those memories. As I look through these shots, I can almost smell the air again. I can remember the conversations that we had, the matcha lattes that we drank and all of the countless times that they played Taylor Swift in a coffee shop or retail store.

We headed out to Brooklyn where I was able to stop by Photodom NYC, the place that I would subsequently trust with all of the film that I shot on this holiday, keen to have a local lab develop my photos.

The experience of entrusting a local lab with my photos is something that I try my best to do in most cities that I travel to. Not only does it help me feel more connected to the creative community in the said city, but it also means that I don't have to stress about getting my undeveloped film past the airport scanners on my outward journey.

Paris is another city where I left my film to be developed in a local lab, Reportage Image. I wasn't in Paris for nearly as long as my time in New York, but I took some of my favourite travel photos in this city during the summer of 2022.

There's something about life in summer that just needs to be documented, and Paris was full of those moments. From people playing basketball in the parks, to tourists sunbathing by the River Seine, this summer in Paris will forever be imprinted within my memory because of the photos that I was able to capture.

They say that the British can only talk about the weather and that much must be true because another defining memory of this trip was the adverse weather conditions: from beautifully sunny skies to a summer storm that I most definitely wasn't prepared for (and thankfully have no photo to include of me, drenched in a t-shirt and shorts because I had too high expectations of a French summer).

But there's a charm about documenting a city, and your short-lived experience of it, on film. In a world overwhelmed by instant technology, there's something therapeutic about capturing a moment and not seeing that photo until days, or sometimes weeks, after it's passed.

The feeling of receiving your film scans and reliving your holiday that might have become a distant memory after getting stuck back into your daily routine is something that I think is a much more unique experience than those photos that you capture and keep on your phone. That being said, I'm a huge advocate for phone photography. They do say that the best camera you can use is whichever one you have on you.