The forum was held in the kitchen of the Adelaide Central Market, and after being greeted at the airport and catching a much needed night of sleep, I joined the group early on the Monday morning, ready to be inspired. There were some impressive speakers on the agenda, and within the gathering.
Follow Your Heart
Robyn Eckhardt of Eating Asia fame also talked about blogging for herself. She spoke about how the discovery of a place when travelling can be very personal, and discussed that discovering a new place is really about finding how that place along your travels speaks to you.
YTravelBlog’s Caz spoke about setting outlandish goals, and to never let anyone tell you that cannot do something. To find the thing that you love – travel for her and her family – and do that. It feeds her soul.
The amazing Katie Quinn Davies from What Katie Ate told us she was an ‘all or nothing’ kind of person, and that she too advised to put everything into what you do – which is what she does. Focus too on the incidentals, the details.
Get Amongst the Locals
Robyn and her partner David Hagerman, photographer for Eating Asia, spoke about visiting a market in a new place as a starting point. They both spoke about standing back and observing, to watch a place, and to wait for things to happen. Robyn spoke about lingering over a meal or a coffee to watch – watch what the locals are eating, how they are eating, who pays, who makes the decisions, are they sharing or having individual dishes. Sit and watch what goes on, to really learn about a place.
David spoke about how food is a window into different cultures. The people behind the food, and how they interact with their environment, how they tell the story of a new place.
Robyn also told us all to say yes to unexpected encounters when travelling, and that a traveller and photographer needs to leave themselves open to things. Like being invited to a local’s home for a meal, for example, which we would never do at home.
Robyn introduced the idea of following a particular thing around a destination – focus on an ingredient, for example, from the market, and then follow how it is used, sold, eaten, grown. This gives a new places an added life, and an added very real story. She also talked about giving into your obsessions, about taking photos of a particular thing. Go with it!
Tips
I hope Lauren gets a cut of the download volume on SnapSeed, because she shared this phone app with us as her number one way of editing and improving her raw photos, and I am pretty sure the majority of the forum downloaded it there and then. It’s really great!
David spoke of getting an overview photo of where you are at, and then to capture specific moment shots, before getting down to elegant detail shots. He talked about using people in the photos, to bring the scene to life. Start with people, he quipped, and the rest becomes more interesting. Being mindful of the background of your target, composing back to front. David also talked about how he interacts with people to be part of the shot, with such amazing results.
We were treated to an array of photo examples throughout these talks, which inspired us all even more. Our later walk through the market displayed many of the tips that were shared!
Along with the tips and invaluable blogging, travelling and photography advise, I met some awesome fellow bloggers, such as Maureen from Orgasmic Chef, and Tania from My Kitchen Stories. I got to catch up with Nicole from Bitten By The Travel Bug, and share recent travel stories with Jenny from A Taste Of Travel. I also met Sam from Travelling King, Heike from But It Tasted Good and Aga of A Matter Of Taste. Plus I have a new list of other blogs to read and discover!
What a great recap of the key messages. Thanks for the shoutout. It was lovely to meet you too :)
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