Destination Portraits~ A mini travel Blog.
Where in the world do you dream of being photographed?
When I landed in Australia on the last Qantas flight on the 31st April, 2020 I sighed a breath of relief.
As I did my dominating thought was; "I'm so glad I got to finish all my travel work. I didn't know why I had to do it all then but I now know why".
Since 2016 I had been torn between my newly built studio work and the innate need I had to take my work overseas. I therefore combined both. I took my work overseas in a couple of different capacities.
In the last few years I found myself more drawn to Scotland and my work became focused on my Outlander and Scotland travel Blogging work which you can view here; www.outlanderthroughthestones.com.
Vilnius, Lithuania
I had one goal in my travel work and that was to spread the importance of family portraits.
I am in the unique situation where I have lost my immediate family. I woke up one day and all I had left of my family were family portraits. The portraits that I had been taking of my family since I was 16 when my dad put my first camera in my hands.
I didn't want people to wait until that moment in their own lives to discover the importance of family portraits. My own family only had one professional portrait session.
The Charles Bridge, Prague
When you experience a tremendous loss such as your entire family the only way to continue is by working to fill that void. The goal is to do so as soon as possible.
I grew up in the 80's where print and film were everything to us. It meant when they passed I at least had 5,000 printed memories of them.
Seeing people rely too much on digital to me is sad. I know just how convenient digital is but it's also to easy to lose. Hard drives can crash and phones can be lost. How often do you back up these important memories of your family as they have grown through the years?
My loss was my family so it became a simple task: I give families what I could no longer have: I could help other families expand the longevity of their memories through prints.
As someone who has travelled as old as we were able to, I also wanted to give back to those who were unable to travel and show them the world through my imagery.
I learnt the opposite of loss was giving, and my way of moving through my grief was focusing on how I could through my work.
Louvre Pyramids, Paris
As I photographed women and families around the world, I discovered quickly we all have one thing in common and that is the need to look our best.
I have found in some countries mum's were less shy about being in front of the camera than Australian women.
For some reason there is this widespread belief that Selfie's/ being in photographs is a symptom of vanity.
For me I take a lot of Selfie's and photos for different reasons to most and it's not related to the fact I am a photographer.
I've been involved in preparing 3 photo eulogies now for my mum, my dad and sister.
Nothing is going to tell more about the life you have led more than photos, unless of course if you are a journal writer.
Life is here to be lived and photos help to celebrate the memories of that very life you have enjoyed.
As long as I have a camera and a mobile phone I will continue to capture the life I lead including Selfies. I hope you do too!
