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From cobblestoned Portuguese alleys navigated one-handed with a stroller to reef dives in Fiji, this is where the trips live. Told through words and whatever camera happened to be with me.

I shoot film and digital and travel with family in tow. These posts are part travel journal, part photography log, and part love letter to the places that made an impression. I hope they make you want to go see them for yourself.

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The Road to Hana — Beyond the Turn (Part II)
The Road to Hana — Beyond the Turn (Part II)

The Road to Hana and beyond — narrow roads, raw coastline, and the question every traveler faces: turn back, or keep going?

West Maui in Monochrome — Kaanapali, Napili & Kapalua (Part 1)
West Maui in Monochrome — Kaanapali, Napili & Kapalua (Part 1)

When I booked a week away to the Island of Maui, a project dawned on me to abandon the temptation to capture the vivid colours of the island and seek instead to document it as I first saw it through the monochrome images shared by explorers and tourists generations before me.

Portugal - Sintra
Portugal - Sintra

The last leg of our trip was here in Lisbon. We had several days to explore the city and the idea was to do so on foot, rambling the narrow and hilly cobbled streets with one hand on the stroller and the other with the camera. No plan of action here, so let’s see what the city decides to show us!

Portugal - Lisbon
Portugal - Lisbon

The last leg of our trip was here in Lisbon. We had several days to explore the city and the idea was to do so on foot, rambling the narrow and hilly cobbled streets with one hand on the stroller and the other with the camera. No plan of action here, so let’s see what the city decides to show us!

Portugal - Nazare
Portugal - Nazare

Nazare sits on a steeply sloping hillside terminating at a broad crescent beach adjacent the ocean. The beach you see in front of the bulk of the town is not in fact where the world-famous big-wave surfing takes place. That area rather, is on the opposite side of a steep rocky outcrop that extends 500m or so into the sea on the north end of town. But for starters we thought we’d tour the city and see what it has to offer.

Portugal - Comporta
Portugal - Comporta

It's a bit of a tricky beach. And what I mean by that is, on the first day one could wade out through the surf quite some distance before it got above thigh height. The waves were of a decent size and surf-board rentals and lessons are available here which certainly suits the character and conditions of the waters. On the second day, I tried the same wade into the ocean and got a bit of a surprise…

Portugal - Cabanas do Lago
Portugal - Cabanas do Lago

As we approach the area the dam becomes visible towering over a small valley. The road soon changes from paved to dirt, but nothing most cars can’t handle. We snake along it’s winding path and turn off onto a steep sided valley that surrounds one of the hundreds of coves around the perimeter of the lake. At the end of the road we see the large main house appear through the trees and are immediately greeted by one of the smiling hosts, Filipa, as we arrive.

Portugal - Lagos
Portugal - Lagos

The Algarve seemed the logical choice for starting our trip to Portugal. It was well recommended by friends, and since we were arriving in early September, the timing gave us the best chance of experiencing some beach-worthy weather to kick off the relaxation.

Mallorca - Palma
Mallorca - Palma

The sun came out for us in Palma and we got a taste of the heat that makes Mallorca such a popular destination for travellers. It’s here we’d get a bit of real beach-time, plenty of walking, cold drinks and al fresco dining.

Mallorca - Cala St. Vincenc
Mallorca - Cala St. Vincenc

It didn’t seem right to do a trip to Mallorca without staying at a beachside resort of some kind, so we decided to take advantage of shoulder-season rates to stay at the Grupotel Molins, located along one of the crystal blue bays of the resort town of Cala St. Vincenc.

Mallorca - Fornalutx
Mallorca - Fornalutx

The views from town are magnificent, especially looking back across the valley at the various and ancient terraced orchards and olive groves. There are a number of hikes up and down available to explore, but with the stroller in tow we decided to stick to the cobble stones streets which were a steep enough challenge on their own.

Mallorca - Soller
Mallorca - Soller

Soller was buzzing with activity when we were there. While there were plenty of tourists, it’s clear that there is a large local community here and the buzz of them going about their day creates a great vibe in the town center. While bigger than Deia, Soller is by no means large, and exploring it on foot is the best way to go for the most part, especially with the aforementioned narrow lanes.

Mallorca - First Taste of Spain
Mallorca - First Taste of Spain

It was a last minute idea. From intention, to booking, to flight in less than two weeks. It’s not often one makes a significant career change, and this one warranted a few weeks abroad to rest and reset. Mallorca was not an obvious destination for us, coming from Vancouver where Hawaii or Mexico might be the more frequented, and frankly closer, destinations.

Japan - Epilogue - Travelling with Film Photography
Japan - Epilogue - Travelling with Film Photography

One Camera, one lens, and one film stock. That’s where we started this first photographic sojourn to Japan. A fitting assignment, I think, considering the countries’ own reputation for blending the new with the old. What follows is a few of my learnings for would-be film photography travelers.

Hiroshima - Japan
Hiroshima - Japan

I was at times perhaps too stingy with my shooting, and other times I felt compelled to snap a photo of some okonomiyaki. In time I’d develop a rhythm (and tendency to overpack) to my shooting that freed me to shoot unencumbered by worry of running out out of film.

Koyasan - Japan
Koyasan - Japan

After a long day of travel getting here, we lay on our comfortable mattresses preparing to sleep when the deep hum of a gong reverberated from the forest and filled the room. It was a low tone that you feel more so than hear and one that had the hairs standing on the backs of our necks.

Kanazawa - Japan
Kanazawa - Japan

A guide to Kanazawa, Japan—Kenroku-en gardens, historic districts, incredible seafood, and a slower, more local side of Japan.

First Frames, Tokyo - Japan
First Frames, Tokyo - Japan

Admittedly the first few days of this trip were spent shooting sparingly, driven by the neophyte’s underlying fear of depleting a limited film stockpile.

Japan - Prologue
Japan - Prologue

“Does it work"?” I asked, pulling the metal brick out of a dusty cupboard. “Find a battery for it and find out!” My Dad replied. And like that, sometime in early 2017, my curiosity for film/photography was reborn.

Undersea Fiji - Viwa
Undersea Fiji - Viwa

The first adventure of every Viwa dive excursion is crossing its barrier reef. There’s a small gap forming a channel about a hundred meters off-shore that the boat has to blast through in order to get to the deeper waters beyond.

Little Viwa
Little Viwa

The sandy beach here is amazing and really the star of the show on Viwa. Soft-white and stretching the length of the resort, I could walk end to end all day long…

Undersea Fiji - Rainbow Reef
Undersea Fiji - Rainbow Reef

The first time I dive a new area I find my focus starts out on the big picture - landscapes, colours, and the contours of the seafloor/reef. At the Rainbow Reef, that big picture immediately sends you into sensory overload.

A Glimpse of Village Life
A Glimpse of Village Life

While the villages’ appearance was spartan by Western standards, it’s integration with its environment and the sheer abundance therein is nothing sort of astounding. Everything the Vunikurans need grows all over the village grounds, on the mountain slope behind, or in the sea.

Let's Get Remote
Let's Get Remote

They don’t call it remote for nothing. Located on the far Eastern shore of Vanua Levu, in a bay that was once home to a palm tree plantation, The Remote Resort forms a wonderfully secluded oasis.

Local Yarko Petriw Local Yarko Petriw

Happy Accidents

Five hours into a backcountry hike north of Vancouver, standing in a crystal-clear glacial stream with camera in hand, I watched my beloved Olympus XA sink straight to the bottom. As it turned out, the water had its own ideas about how these photos should look and some of them are better for it.

The Moraine, British Columbia, Olympus XA, Agfa Vista Plus 200

“Oh Shit.” I exclaimed, for all the birds and squirrels to hear. There I was, standing over a stream of waist-deep, crystal-clear glacier water, watching my Olympus XA camera sink to the sandy bottom. It had taken around 5 hours for us to hike to this spot, a lesser known wilderness hut located a few hours north from Vancouver. I had taken about a half roll of photos along the way up with my favorite compact film powerhouse, the Olympus XA. The weather was warm, and felt doubly so with my backpack on, so stepping into the cool glacial stream right in front of the hut seemed like a great idea to help cool off. Better still that its backdrop seemed particularly photogenic, so why not keep the camera in hand and snap off one or two shots?

Splash, that’s why. I’ve no idea how I lost my grip, but I felt my stomach sink well before the camera hit the surface of the water. A steady stream of bubbles emitting from the body on the way down confirming that it was by no means waterproof. I lunged after it, fumbled a bit, and finally lifted it out of the stream. Now what? Was one of my favorite classic cameras now a desk ornament?

The Fateful Shot, Olympus XA, Agfa Vista Plus 200

Hoping to avert film camera water damage, I hustled back to the cabin, opened the battery hatch and immediately removed the cell within. I gently shook out the water, and used some of our packed toilet paper to soak up what I could. It was a sunny day, and I thought perhaps placing it by the window of the cabin in the sun might warm things up and allow the water to slowly evaporate. I pondered my error, and began to wonder; a. if it would ever work properly again, and b. what of the photos already within?

The Hut, Olympus XA, Agfa Vista Plus 200

The rest of the trip was incident free, but I didn’t take any photos on the way down for fear of doing more damage. When I got home, I rewound the film, left the camera with open back sitting in a bag of rice for a few days and decided to take the roll to my local lab to see what would develop. I warned the tech of my misadventure when I dropped it off and he said he’d try his best. So fingers crossed for a day or two and I’d see the result (or not).

Mountain ridges and glacial pools, Olympus XA, Agfa Vista Plus 200

To my delight a couple of days later I received my customary email notification that my roll had been developed and scanned with a .zip file of the images attached. I opened it and started peering through the images, curious with what I would find. As you can see in the images here it was a mixed bag with, I think, some delightful surprises. First of all, none of the images were utterly destroyed, a relief as I really had no idea what to expect so was leaning towards the worst. Second, the impact of the water varied a fair bit, from spots most easily noticed in the lighter parts of the images to ghostly silhouettes and ripples of lighter color. In the image immediately bellow, I quite like the “phantom mountain” the effect produces.

Phantom Mountain effect, Olympus XA, Agfa Vista Plus 200

Somewhere in the woods, Olympus XA, Agfa Vista Plus 200

If I wanted to do something more with these images, certainly some of them could be retouched to remove imperfections and artifacts. Bellow is a rather crude example to illustrate the point. (Re-touching is not really a skill in my toolbelt!) But in the case of this set, I think the blemishes and strange silhouettes simply help to tell the tale, and certainly instantly bring back fond memories of that weekend in the mountains.

Looking towards the hidden hut, Olympus XA, Agfa Vista Plus 200

Nearly there, Olympus XA, Agfa Vista Plus 200

Ultimately the Olympus survived without issue. An almost imperceptible bit of particulate made it’s way into the viewfinder, but I’ve shot loads of rolls since this and it functions exactly as it should. A happy accident indeed then, and a lesson too -there’s a wrist strap on the camera now. I hope you enjoy these quirky images as much as I enjoyed capturing/saving them!

For more wilderness adventures continue to - Murtle Lake →

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