Every now and then you need a change of scenery. Something different. Shooting local is great, but often there’s that longing to go further afield and get some epic shots. The past couple of years that’s seemed somewhat of a fantasy. Travelling anywhere beyond the local area had seemed, for a time, like something we wouldn’t be able to experience again for quite a while. And then came…vaccinations.
Even without these considerations, travelling further afield isn’t always an easy proposition, particularly when you have children. Childcare arrangements and inflexible jobs can often mean that travelling somewhere for a whole day (or more), let alone half-a-day, is impractical at best, selfish at worst. So a family holiday seems like a perfect opportunity to go somewhere new, have some great days out and get great photos, right? Well…maybe not.
Way back in 2019 I took a trip up to meet new relatives in Scotland (“new” because my mother was adopted and she’d only latterly discovered who her birth mother was, a handful of years before she passed away). The plan in 2020 was to go up as a family and meet them all proper. Of course, that didn’t happen…
Skip forward to 2022 and we finally made the trip up. At last, a trip to Scotland. Some new scenery…new photo opportunities. Think of all the fantastic landscapes I can photograph, the lochs, the mountains, the drama…except, it doesn’t really work out like that does it. (No, it does not.)
With a car packed full of cases, gifts, snacks and…well…two camera bags, we headed north. A twelve hour journey that, psychologically at least, I had broken down into smaller chunks, like stages on the Tour de France. Only with bleak and depressing service stations breaking up the stages rather than podiums and bouquets of flowers. Breaking it into stages and imagining the amazing scenery we’d experience and, hopefully, capture on camera, was what got me through the drive. Oh, and chocolate Oreo bites obvs…
The weather driving up took a turn for the worst as we headed towards the border. To the extent that you could barely see the road due to the amount of rain falling. And yet…I had a feeling epic conditions were around the corner. And my word was it epic. The clouds broke, the light began to poke through, the rain stopped…and then the magic…mist rolling across mountains, back lit by the setting sun. These were epic conditions. Once in a lifetime conditions. “Dammit I can’t get out and stop to take pictures because I’m transporting our family to the bed and breakfast” conditions. I knew I couldn’t capture it. I had little idea of the roads and potential spots to stop, and it was getting on for 8pm and the kids wanted dinner and bed. I had to miss it. FOMO + FML=OHWELL
But, of course, this is the reality of trying to do photography on a family holiday. Chances are fleeting. You have to make do with what you can do that fits in with the schedule. If you’re going out for the day, you can’t rush everyone back to the B&B/hotel just so you can grab your stuff and head out for some sunset photography. Equally, you can’t get up at 3am just to head to some amazing sunrise location, when you know you’ll be doing a lot of driving later and you need to be in a good headspace for the kids. You have to get what you can, when you can, whenever you go out. Make it part of the trip, rather than something you do on your own.
Of course, there will likely be no “portfolio” shots, but you might still get something. One of the things that I have enjoyed about doing street photography is that it’s added some flexibility to my photography. Can’t get an epic sunset landscape shot? Ok, how about a shot in the middle of the day with that couple standing on the shore with the landscape in the distance? Is it “portfolio”? No. Is it better than just taking a photo of the landscape with harsh light? Absolutely it is. And you’re always likely to end up in public places so there’s ample opportunity there too.
Finding ways to ensure everyone enjoys a family break and you get to indulge in some photography isn’t easy, but with flexibility and a bit of suppression of your FOMO instincts, it is possible to achieve both. If nothing else, it’s a good scouting opportunity for those trips when you can get away on your own. And, of course, it’s a nice change of scenery.