Recently, a great photographer I know wrote a blog article that hit home for me about his struggles to find a balance between his two great loves, his family and his photography. As a person with the same two loves, I could relate to much of the article's content. 

Normally when I travel for photography I go by myself, because my family has other obligations (work and school) and also because for people who are not as obsessed with photography as I am, it is neither fun nor relaxing to wake up pre-sunrise, carry tons of gear for miles in any possible number of weather or climactic conditions, sit around for hours on end waiting for an animal to wake up or move, and then spend time at the computer waiting to upload and review everything. 

So this year, I made an effort to do travel in a way that was more inclusive and fun for my family; instead of venturing alone to Botswana and Namibia to create new environmental portraits of the wildlife, I took a cruise with my husband and 5-year-old daughter in the Mediterranean.  Our timing was dictated by the ship's schedule and NOT by the quality and quantity of the light. Our pace and level of activity was set by our daughter.

It was the ultimate compromise for a landscape and travel photographer, and although the photography situation was challenging, there was an unanticipated benefit:

For the first time in a long time, I focused on the essence of the place.  When you travel with photographers, all of the conversation is about the photography; people discuss the advantages and pitfalls of their gear and software programs, they spend their non-shooting time downloading their images, working on them in editing software.  So much so, that it's really impossible to "get to know" a place.  Being in the company of my family meant we got to have little adventures, get lost on narrow side streets, converse with the locals, taste new foods; do all of the things that you never have time to do when you are visiting a place for the sole purpose of photographing it.

I found the experience to be both liberating and enriching.  It feels seemingly hollow to document a beautiful place without understanding its cultural or natural significance.  Truly immersing ourselves in the places we travel helps give purpose and context to why we should be documenting them in the first place.