Travel Adventures

We shall not cease from exploration,

and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started

and know the place for the first time. 

T. S. Eliot

Part of seeing the world from different perspectives is to expose oneself to other cultures and bring curiosity to new destinations. Photography is a great medium to capture first impressions, sights and people. As we immerse ourselves deeper into a culture other than our own, we start to bring a greater understanding to how alike differences can be. 

The true challenge for a photographer lies in capturing a place or culture in all its entirety, from beauty to shambles, familiarity to oddity.  The longer one immerses oneself, the more images we take of the daily life in that location, the deeper we zoom into our surroundings. Photography no longer seems like an assignment, but rather a natural evolution of embracing a new locale as a home.

Travel adventures can happen wherever we find ourselves, one does not have to be a global nomad.  As a matter of fact, taking a new look at something  familiar is more challenging than taking a look at something new. When it is a novelty, we are more inclined to experience it with our camera, trying to capture that perfect shot. Exploring the familiar requires us to focus on what deeply matters and poses the question why we are intrigued by it.

When Elke first moved to United States, she and her husband took many road trips throughout the Western United States. The final destination was usually predetermined, but the road towards it was the true adventure. The road off the beaten path became a goal, to go behind the familiar, to take that tiny country road, to pick the campground randomly on the map, to vacation in secluded cabins, finding the "mom and pop hole in the wall restaurant", being off the grid and trying to be one with nature, place and people. That is what a travel adventure is all about, whether your destination is close or far.  And it is in those experiences that we grow, adapt and open our horizon for intercultural understanding.