My Story: From Then to Now

A Bit About Me and My Site:

I’m trying to think of a way to introduce myself without starting with “Hi, my name is Ben Campbell…” So I’ll just skip that part and get straight to telling you a bit about myself and my site.

I grew up in a small town in western Canada. Most of my time has been spent playing in the mountains either kayaking, caving, mountain biking, hiking, or skiing. It seems to be the things that involve either high speeds or a little bit of danger that draw me in, and I’m sure my Mom would agree with me on that.

More recently, however, it’s photography that has taken over the top spot in my list of interests. I think a major reason for this is because photography compliments everything else that I find myself doing. When I head out mountain biking, hiking, or to some far away place, it’s easy to throw my camera into my pack and take some pictures along the way.

And it’s this love of photography that eventually led me to create this site. My hope is to create a place where I can share everything that I have learned and continue to learn about photography and hopefully motivate and inspire others to take their own photography to a new level.

My own passion for photography has pushed me to get out and explore more and  go on new adventures and it has literally changed the way I see the world around me. I hope that through my adventure stories, photography tutorials, and trip reports, I can help you do the same.

My Story So Far:

In April of 2014, I graduated from the University of Calgary as Mechanical Engineer ready to take on the world. Around the time that I graduated, I bought myself a camera as a graduation present to myself. You know, if no one else is going to buy a camera for you, sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.

I had always wanted to have a good camera of my own as I planned to do some travelling. I also really liked being outdoors and always seemed to find myself in cool places with no way to capture them and take them with me to share with friends and family.

I did my research and was really intrigued by the size and quality of the mirrorless cameras. So I eventually settled on a Sony NEX-6. Over the next few months I accumulated a few different lenses, editing programs, a tripod, and a few other must-have gadgets.

At the same time, however, I was sending out job applications to every posting and company I could find. I was having no luck though, and things definitely weren’t going as planned. After spending about 17 years of my life in school building up to graduating with my degree and embarking on my dream career, I was a little frustrated and disappointed to say the least.

I decided to change my perspective on the situation, however, and began to realize that I really had no time restrictions or commitments and began to see my time-off as an opportunity to do some of the travelling that I had always wanted to do.

Once I took on a full-time job, I really couldn’t be sure when I would have an opportunity like this again. So, I filed the resume away for a while and started to plan.

Travel and Photography:

Now, do you remember that camera that I said I bought once I graduated? Well, I took that with me of course and, while I was out learning new things about the places and people where I was visiting, I was also learning how to use my new camera.

More than that though, I was also learning how to use that right side of my brain that I feel had been somewhat suppressed and neglected through all of the mathematics and logic of my engineering education.

When I returned home, I brought with me all of my experiences, stories and pictures, but I also brought something bigger, which was this new passion for both travel and photography.

Why the Website?

So, why did I decide to create this website you might be asking? Well it turns out that I’ve been waiting for you to ask that.

Once I started accumulating some pictures that I was proud of, I realized that it wasn’t very fun to take pictures, edit them into something that you thought was awesome, and then file them away onto a hard drive, never to be seen again.

In fact, I believe that the magic of photography comes from sharing this moment in time that you’ve captured with the world, and luckily, the internet makes this very easy to do.

I’m sure that anyone who has ever created anything that they were proud of can relate to this need to share it with others. Therefore, I found myself sharing my work by printing it and sharing it with family and friends, but also by posting it on different photo sharing sites.

Eventually, I found myself looking for that next step so I started researching how to create my own website as I saw this as the ultimate way to share and maximize creativity. This would also allow me to share more than just my pictures and I would be able to push others to either discover their own passion for photography or possibly help them learn a few things from my own experiences that might encourage them to take that next step, whatever it might be.

Therefore, whether you’re here to look at a picture or two or maybe you hope to learn something from my experience and stories, then welcome!

What is this site about?

This site is my place to share everything that I know about photography and travel. I'm not an expert, I'm just a guy who loves this stuff and I want to share everything that I learn, as I learn it, with complete honesty and transparency. So, whether you're looking to improve your photography or you want to learn more about travelling to a new place, I want to help you on your journey. Check out my about page to find out more and get in contact with me. I'd love to hear from you!