Travel Photography: What I’ve Learned From Travels With My Beloved by Rebecca Daniels

In 2006, my new husband and I took an extensive cross-country drive, a sort of delayed honeymoon. It was our first serious road trip together a year after our late-in-life wedding in our own backyard. During that trip, I took dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of photos and started insisting my husband pose in many of them. Thankfully, he agreed without significant complaint. Thus, his tongue in cheek identity as the “geezer model” was born.

Happily, we discovered we really enjoyed traveling together, and in subsequent years the geezer model and his geezer girl (me) took many more trips to various parts of the U.S. and Europe. Throughout the next several years, I continued to photograph the amazing sights we encountered, always with my handsome husband in a few key images.

After his sudden death in 2010 to a previously unknown cardiac issue, both travel and photography were the last things on my mind for many months Eventually, I did find great solace in revisiting the photographs of our travels together, which spurred many memories of happier times. I’ve never been so glad that I insisted he pose regularly in those scenic photos, regardless of his surroundings. Each of the images included here evoke very specific remembrances for me, much more detailed than my memory alone could possibly provide.

Travel photography is a significant endeavor, especially because of the remarkable images, locations and memories they can bring back to us years later. Regardless of your camera brand or skill level, I recommend that you take lots of photos of the various sights you experience on your travels, but be sure to always include your beloved people in those photos as often as possible, even if they complain at the time. You may need those memories sooner than you think.

Take 30 seconds and join the 30Seconds community. Inspire and be inspired.