So far this year we’ve spent nearly 3 months outside of Australia. On top of that, almost every weekend we drive about 500km to photograph a wedding. Our new car is a few months old and yesterday we cracked the 10,000km mark. There are lots of photos of us around our house. Just so our cats remember who we are.
When we travel or go on holidays, it’s rare for a camera to leave my side. I’ll always carry either our new little Fuji X100, or a bare bones version of our Nikon D700 work camera paired with a versatile lens like the 24-70mm f2.8.
In a different country and culture, I feel like an outsider looking in. And the type of photos I take when we’re traveling are reflective of that feeling. That’s why I don’t take any portraits or posed photos.
Just like on a wedding day, I’m always on the look out for interesting moments, shapes and stories to capture. 99% of the time, the people in the photos aren’t aware of me, or my camera. Capturing something real and honest is what excites me about photography.
There’s a fantastic book by Sir Ken Robinson called “The Element”. In it he proposes that everyone has a sweet spot in their life. A point at which they are ‘in their element’.
Here’s how he describes it:
“The element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels.”
I like to describe it as finding your sweet spot in life.
I’m an observer and this style of documentary photography is my sweet spot.
And I am in my element when I’m able to do just that. To observe. Camera in hand. On holidays, or at a wedding.
So, these images are the chronological story of our most recent 2 month overseas trip, told through a collection of street/documentary photography. Down the track we’ll also share a collection of beautiful ‘non-people’ photos, stuff like landscapes, vistas and the various beautiful places we visited on our trip.
At the end of this post I’ve pasted the list of all the places we visited. See how many you can pick from the photos without peeking at the list. And keep an eye out for the Mano Lisa. Yep, that’s not a typo. You’ll know it when you see it.
Enjoy!
~Matt.
p.s. I don’t usually put music to our blog posts but this song by our good friend, Stu Larsen, fits perfectly with our trip and our strange traveling lifestyle. Take your time, listen to the music and words. And think about the stories of the people in the photos.
Brisbane > Sydney > Abu Dhabi > London > Leeds > London > Fleet > London > Paris > London > Bath > Wales > London > Venice > Corfu > Mykonos > Santorini > Ephesus > Venice > Rome > Athens > Santorini > Athens > London > Southhampton > London > Abu Dhabi > Sydney > Brisbane
