(This is now obsolete since I re-branded in spring 2021, but it’s still relevant to who I am and how/why I photograph!)
In early 2009, I had to decide on a name for my new photography venture. I knew that I didn’t want to do “Firstname Lastname Photography,” or “Firstname Middlename Photography”–that’s too common and expected for my taste. I also knew that I didn’t want to do anything like “Precious Beautiful Moments & Captures Photography.” (I’m just not that whimsical, I guess!) So I brainstormed a list of words and terms that I liked, that meant something to me, that could encompass a business too.
I settled on with “Traveling Julie Photography” because it encompassed three ideas, two literal and one more ethereal.
First, because I myself love to travel. It’s a big part of who I am, so I like honoring that with my business name. I got the bug early on with some family road trips, and then after my first visit to Europe at 13, I was hooked! Altogether, I’ve been to three continents, 14 countries, and 29 of the 50 United States. I’ve had some incredible adventures at home and abroad and there is just nothing like it. I’ve ziplined through Central American rainforests, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef, and walked inside a Swiss glacier, as well as wandered through some of the great European cities.
Second, because I will travel to wherever you’d like to go for our session. A local park? Sure! The Oregon coast? Yes please. A castle in the Scottish Highlands? Ooh, let’s do it!
The third reason is a little harder to describe. Have you ever noticed that when you’re doing something fun, time and space no longer matter? That you’re so focused on having an adventure that you have no idea what time it is, how much time has passed…you’re completely *in* the moment and lost to the outside world. That’s kind of what happens to me when I’ve got a camera in hand. I can be suffering from a headache or a bad knee on the way to a session…but bam, as soon as I get the camera in my hands, all of that disappears. The only thing in the world becomes my camera and the subject(s). That’s the third kind of travel that Traveling Julie Photography represents.
Lake Atitlan at Panajachel, Guatemala (2008)