The camera was always in my hand, even as a kid travelling on our family holidays. I don’t remember a time in the past 30 years where I haven’t owned a camera. I photograph everything, because I want to capture the world around me without missing any moment. I see beautiful flowers and I want to capture them from every angle. The colour of the petals, the pollen, the sparkles and shadows… I know the flower won’t look like that tomorrow, and I feel an urgency to capture its beauty before it fades. I know there will never be another sunset just like this one, so I must zoom and pan and frame until the collection of images is true and the moment is frozen in time.
Sometimes it’s an obsession.
Our generation are often criticized for having a phone in our hand all the time, and it can be difficult to find the balance between connection and technology, but why wouldn’t we take advantage of every opportunity available to us to explore the world around us and share it?
This blog started more than 15 years ago and has lived on at least 5 different domains and operated using every evolution of custom written CMS, to this WordPress version with an ElegantThemes.com template that allows me to create listings on a map with an amazing gallery attached. I can do all of this from a computer or my iPhone. The original version of my travel blog was hand built using HTML (pre css) and images were resized using Photoshop actions with watermarks over the top before being uploaded (overnight) by FTP. This content has seen the evolution of online software and will continue to evolve with technology while I use it as a testing ground to understand more about WordPress and online communication.
This blog also has real photos.
There’s so many travel blogs and websites with amazing photos and tourist listings, so I’m not going to try to compete because that’s just not how I like to review travel destinations. I like to take realistic photos and publish content which doesn’t leave the visitor disappointed due to unrealistic expectations. Have you ever been to the beach and the water isn’t quite as blue and the sand not quite as white as the website? Or the hotel that is so small that you would never have stayed for a week if you knew the truth? We’ve all been there and had that terrible holiday. Hopefully the galleries on this blog can show you the real life places I’ve visited so you can make up your own mind, without filters.
Obviously this site is in no way comprehensive of all destinations, but provides a place for me to collect my adventures and for you to take a peek if you’d like…
Love, CJ