I'm sharing an excerpt from my Photography Guide [Print Edition] about Storytelling through creating series or collections. In a way each of my blog posts are a photo series, usually of a place or an adventure. I make these series as a way of telling a story of our time somewhere; what it looked like, how it felt, the mood etc.  And if you like taking photos of your travels, learning to approach storytelling in this intentional way may be useful.

Have you ever gone on holiday, taken hundreds of photos, and then later - scrolling back through your camera roll - you find they feel flat? The excitement you felt at the time isn't there anymore? Often that's because snapshots alone don't tell a complete story. They might show what was there, but they don't convey the experience. And then other times you see photographs and you can see the light dancing, it's like you can hear the wind whipping through the scene and feel a sense of emotion overflowing out of the image!

To truly tell a story, it helps to think like a film maker and have intention with the story you are telling as the photographer. A strong narrative often includes three types of shots:

​When you combine these three types of shots, you create rhythm and variety that keeps the viewer engaged and allows them to experience the place as you did - first seeing it as a whole, then stepping into the scene, and finally noticing the little things you might otherwise overlook. And this curated series will transport you as the photographer, back to that time and place, and the memories.

​So when would you use this technique? Curating travel photos together. A portrait session. A carousel of images promoting a business product. Printing photo books. A collage for the wall. Photo series are everywhere! But are they created with intention?

Here's some examples of series or collections, that when viewed together tell a story that each image alone cannot.

If this is something you’ve been wanting to learn, I’ve put everything I know into my guide. You can grab your own copy of The Photography Guide [Print Edition] here.

While exploring the Maniototo region this Summer we fell in love with the St Bathans area. From the peaceful free DOC camping domain, to the quaint historic mining village - we found ourselves a new favourite to add to our many travel map pins.

​Absolutely taken with the landscape, I vowed to spend some time with my camera capturing the Blue Lake one sunset or sunrise. However as soon as I declared my creative intentions the weather gods played a cruel game of cloudy, rainy weather for the next 3 days. So we'd have to wait it out, find some other nearby places to explore and tiki tour about the Maniototo until the sun reappeared on the horizon. 

And as soon as it did, I was back at St Bathans with my camera for a sunset walk! It's about a 15 minute walk from the camping domain over to the Blue Lake and the trails that wrap around it offering different views of the lake and it's eroding cliff faces. The clouds were moody but unfortunately it was pretty windy so I didn't get the reflections on the lake - still it was nice to take my camera for a walk, finding some cool angles and watching the saturated colours change as the sun went down.

Watch our St Bathan's episode on YouTube - we take you on the Around Blue Lake track that provides stunning viewing points of the lake and cliffs!

This free DOC camp at Gabriel's Gully, just out of Lawrence, was a beautiful spot to park up for a couple of nights. It's dog-friendly, has three awesome walks close-by which are also dog-friendly and filled with the rich gold mining history of this area. 

We camped down by Gray's Dam along with a few other caravan setups - a quiet spot we thought, considering this was during the school holidays. There is a lovely open area with plenty of space for a few campers and is free & available to those self-contained, as there are no facilities out at Gabriel's Gully - it is a pack in, pack out.

We were treated to a couple of warm sunny days before the weather turned to rain on our last day. Unfortunately we didn't get a sunset worth photographing however the misty clouds that came down in to the gully on our last morning was giving Twilight Forks vibes! This spot would be magical in Autumn with all the larch trees turning in colour I reckon!

We really enjoyed spending some time roaming the character streets of Lawrence too. Also worth a drive by if you're out this way is what's left of the historic Blue Spur township up on the hill.

We will no doubt be back to this area (hopefully for the Autumn colours!) but also there's one walk we missed out on doing as the weather turned and you guys know we love finding dog-friendly walks we can do with Teddy!

​You can check out more from our adventures in this area in this YouTube episode...

Alongside creating videos of our adventures, this new travel life has also re-invigorated my joy for picking up my camera just for myself.

Recently we ventured in to Lake Opuha in the Mackenzie District with the van. This small lake is dammed for irrigation and incredibly low at present, just far enough off the beaten track to be a fairly quiet spot to park up and camp for the night.

There are 3 freedom camping spots around this lake and we chose the farthest area around the lake which proved to be much nicer and quieter than the first one we visited - we ended up getting the whole place to ourselves for the night (if you don't count the hundreds of Canadian Geese across the other side of the lake from us)!

I loved photographing the landscape around us as the sun set over a snowcapped Mount Dobson. This mountain range is probably more commonly photographed from the Lake Tekapo side, as Lake Opuha sits east of Tekapo and north of Fairlie. It has it's own ski field too.

The next day on our way back out east we stopped in at Opuha Dam and did the walking track which follows the lake around to the boat ramp and first freedom camping spot (the one we by-passed as it was mainly all sloping and had a lot of muddy donuts & skids from 4wd'ers marking up the grassy areas). You'll have to watch our YouTube episode to see the walk and the dam though, but here's a few of my favourite photos from our night at Lake Opuha.

​The lake itself and the dam lookout is well worth checking out if you're travelling in the Mackenzie District and want to get off the highway!

Have you been to Lake Opuha? I imagine it's a great lake for boating in Summer, although perhaps it gets too low??

We’ve been in our van over a month now. Long enough for the romantic notions of #vanlife to have been replaced by all the realities of this unconventional way of living. Sharing 15 square metres of space with another adult and a dog is a constant juggle. Nothing can be left sitting out otherwise the space gets cluttered super fast. Storage space is very, very finite. The grey water tank or the toilet always needs emptied, or both! The floor needs cleaned multiple times a day. And our whole home is constantly under attack of an earthquake every time we drive.

This lifestyle is not for everyone. I'll be honest - the first couple of weeks I wasn't entirely convinced it was actually going to be for me either!

But for all the realities and teething problems that inevitably arise when you try something new for the very first time, there are simplicities that I already love and new appreciations for what this lifestyle provides - which is less about the van or any material possession, and rather about life itself - getting outdoors everyday, seeing new places, having lunch with a view, spending time with people, and a new kind of freedom.

Is it stressful living in a confined space without so many conveniences? Yes, absolutely yes. It’s also been stressful just getting moved in and attempting to get it set up for living in.
I miss everything about our old home. It's only really in the last couple of weeks that I've stopped thinking about our old home with sadness on a daily basis. It didn't help that we spent almost two months in limbo with not much routine, in a shared space and during the colder months of the year too. I missed my cozy small home. I missed our fireplace. I missed my garden. I missed the call of the chickens when I stepped outside. I missed our bath. I missed how spacious 65 square metres of home felt. And I really missed our shower and all the hot water that just flowed when you turned the tap on.

Long, hot showers is a topic no van lifer online really seems to talk about. In fact many van dwellers don’t even have showers in their vans! While the shower is nice in our van, it runs beautifully hot with great pressure - there is nothing long about a van shower when you have such limited water! And a long, hot shower has become my new most luxurious treat.

Recently we visited a hot pools complex - while of course the steamy relaxing hot pools were an absolute treat in themselves, I was so excited to take a long, hot 'everything' shower afterwards without worrying about running out of water while I shaved my legs and shampooed my hair. ​

We have taken delivery of our van from Jayco Auckland and completed our first road trip doing over 1,500 kilometres back to Southland in it. Join us for the journey of getting to know our new home on wheels in our 2 part series on YouTube.

And on the second leg of our road trip we answered all the questions we have received about our plans for van life. Next stop; moving in & living full time van life!

There is a heaviness I have experienced about closing one chapter in life in order to start another when I am very much aware that the chapter I’m leaving behind includes some of the best days of my life.

Last week we shifted out of Devon Cottage. After weeks of sorting, preparing and organising - it was finally time to shift the last boxes into storage, pack up the few things coming with us in the van and clean all the surfaces as we closed the door behind us one last time and said goodbye to Devon Cottage. We thanked the property for all it had taught us and given us over the last five years. Grateful for our time being it's custodians.

Change in life is inevitable and constant. We made the decision to build a new lifestyle here at Devon Cottage and now we’ve made the decision to create a new lifestyle on the road. They aren’t polar opposites; both give us simplicity and freedom of our time. But we also knew it wouldn’t work for us to keep a foot in each life, we had to make the decision to leave one behind for the other.

Our lives are a series of the choices we make, taking us down different roads and even indecision takes away other alternatives from us. 

Leaving Devon Cottage means closing the door on some of the best times of my life, on a lifestyle I still adore. I guess the heavy emotion that I've never felt before about closing this chapter is because I’m leaving one good thing for another very unknown thing. In the past change has often looked like leaving behind something that no longer served me for some new possibility. This doesn’t feel like that. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just a new kind of change for me. ​

And in serendipitous timing, the day we handed over our keys to the real estate agent we also received news that our van was embarking on a ship headed to the port of Auckland and hopefully we will be seeing it in just a few weeks time!!!

We've spent the last month preparing for van life as we pack up our house, put things in to storage, purge A LOT and consider what we need to take with us to live on the road. In this YouTube episode I bring you along for the journey of downsizing from a 65 square metre tiny home to a mere 15 square metres of van!