My travel photography has always been shot on trips with my partner and friends. I've always carved time out where I could go out do 'serious' photography, generally very early in the morning with plans to meet back at certain times. Outside those times I would shoot more responsively to what I came across on the street. There's always that time pressure, and the need to consider others' plans. I'm sure I've caused annoyance when I've wanted to stop here or there for something that caught my eye.
Last year I travelled solo for the first time to the US for a photography workshop, and had a week following where I travelled through Utah making images. That was a such a great experience, where I could structure entire days around photography, and travelling from place to place in search of images that interested me. If I wanted to drive an extra 2 hours and stay overnight in a small town to photograph an interesting truck stop in the morning, I could do it!
In March 2024 I travelled to Japan solo to spend 2 and a half weeks purely for photography. It's the first time I've been away by myself for so long, and to have that pure visual focus. I was quite apprehensive - would I get lonely, could I sustain my interest for that long, would I be ok doing two hikes by myself?
One of the best parts of the trip was feeling so free to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. That meant that I could stay in the same spot for 1-2 hours waiting for the light to be just right, or for the perfect person to walk into the shot I'd framed. I had a pretty extensive shot list that I'd researched before I left, so I always had 2 or 3 main places to go each day, but it was a great experience being able to do whatever I needed for the images I wanted to make.
I went on two large walks/hikes from town to town, the first for four nights on the Nakasendo Way, the second for three nights on the Kumano Kodo, as well as spending time in Tokyo, Mt Fuji, Osaka and Kyoto. It was a physically demanding trip, the first hike through snow and the second through pouring rain There were times when I was exhausted and didn't have the motivation to go out at night the shoot, or where I was too focussed on big sights and forgot about the smaller scenes. Towards the end there were a few days where the combined physical and mental toll of the trip got to me and my emotional levels got quite low too. But I found ways to get over that, both by being kind to myself and 'allowing myself' to have nights to relax (especially after hikes in onsens!) and by working out what I wasn't responding to, and changing the situation.
I'm naturally quite introverted, so I'm quite happy to spend a lot of time 'alone', but there were always enough people around to have small conversations with. Especially when setting up for an evening shot, there were usually one or two other photographers there too, and it was nice to be able to chat with them. On my hikes there were always other hikes around to chat with as much or as little as I needed. I didn't find myself getting really lonely over the trip. I guess when your travelling company is great as you can experience things together. When you're travelling through the lens, you're capturing these moments to share with people later - so, for me that worry about sharing things with someone else sort of fell away.
My favourite parts on the trip were when I could spend quality time in a place, to inhabit it for hours, watch how the light falls and to try to capture its essence. That moment when after watching and waiting, the elements come together, and you know you got the shot you knew was there.
Now I'm back home, I'm really missing that experience and focus that you can have by yourself away from all the pressures of home.
I'm already dreaming of my return.
