THE ART OF A SOLO PHOTO TRIP
Some cities just ask to be wandered. Not explored, not visited, just to be the subject of aimless pottering. I recently took a trip to Paris and made this my aim: to start at a point and saunter through the arrondissements with no set plan and no rigid route. So much of the charm of Paris comes from the unexpected: those narrow streets you happen upon in which the sun dances across Haussmann architecture, the boulevard that opens up onto a square that holds a market and the slow way of life that exists between the two and these opportunities are only discovered through the art of simply moving through the city without structure.
I've been lucky to visit the French capital a couple of times before, before I began photography, so while I have seen the main sights by eye, I've not photographed them properly, so I was conflicted. Do I make a hit list of the landmarks or do I try and avoid them. In the end, I did a bit of both: I'd start my day at the landmark in question and then wander through Paris in the way I feel it's meant to be explored: without intention or plan. And what allowed me to be this flexible was that I did this alone.
This is my third solo photography trip, and it's something I cannot recommend highly enough: that's whether your aim is to photograph or simply for a break, being alone in a place unfamiliar feels like reading a book. Every turn of a page uncovers something new and the journey you take throughout the story allows you to experience moments and emotions without distraction, without comparison and without compromise: we all read at our own pace and in our own way and that allows us to consume the story in the way our mind needs us to.
This is my third solo photography trip, and it's something I cannot recommend highly enough: that's whether your aim is to photograph or simply for a break, being alone in a place unfamiliar feels like reading a book. Every turn of a page uncovers something new and the journey you take throughout the story allows you to experience moments and emotions without distraction, without comparison and without compromise: we all read at our own pace and in our own way and that allows us to consume the story in the way our mind needs us to.
My first solo trip was to New York, back in 2023. It was somewhere i had visited multiple times before: even just a few months prior. When I was younger, New York had been a place I had dreamt of living and a give day trip alone felt like that was a nice way to experience the feeling of simply existing in the city as a local. It was exhilarating and exciting and sometimes a little anxiety-inducing and at the end of the trip I came away with
On reflection, Hanoi felt both an easy and hard place to photograph. Easy due to its beauty, vibrancy, colours and uniqueness. But difficult because every scene feels like it could be a photograph. There is almost too much to witness, too much to photograph. It's not a place that gives you photographs, even though it seems like it would. There is an element of working for it. Cutting through the chaos to unpack the stories. The end result, though, is truly gratifying and rewarding. The images feel earned.
In many ways, Hanoi reawakened how I think about photography. It reminded me that it’s not always about chasing the most striking subject or the most dramatic scene, but about patience and quietness and letting the world around you breathe. It's about allowing the story to reveal itself in its own time instead of hunting it down. There of course is an element of reactivity and alertness. But there doesn't necessarily need to be. There is a validity to being present enough to notice the small things, even when everything around you is demanding your attention.
I left Hanoi with a camera full of images, but more importantly, with a new perspective. The last two years of my six year photography journey have been awkward and confusing. It's lacked clarity and inspiration and as a result has quite often felt demotivating. My visit to Vietnam, and specifically Hanoi, helped unlock a renewed perspective on the process of the photography, and appreciating the balance between chaos and calm.
And perhaps that’s why it lingers. Not just as a place I visited, but as a place that changed the way I look at the most rewarding way to view the world.
