I learned to love to travel as a child. So did Patrick. When Garnet came along we hoped he would also love to travel. We took our first real trip together when he was 11-months-old. We dressed him in a bear costume, hoping that if he cried on the flight people would at least be ameliorated by the overwhelming cute of a small bear-like child. He barely cried and it soon became evident that he was one of us.

Each year, we took trips that were more demanding – longer plane rides, more hours in the car, longer hikes, different locales, weirder motels, less sleep, more snack-based meals. He adapted to everything and we enjoyed sharing new places with him. There were always limitations imposed by traveling with a child, but that was okay. One of the main reasons to travel is fresh perspective and by taking him we had that two-fold.

A work trip presented itself recently that was a bit different than most. I needed to conduct site visits at three hotels and one museum. One of the hotels comped a night’s stay and I had frequent flyer points to cover a plane ticket. I invited Garnet to join me. I explained I had to work all-day Friday, but that we’d be free to adventure all-day Saturday. I knew he’d get bored waiting, so I asked him to help me. I gave him my old camera to use and asked him to take photos of the places we were visiting.

I’ll admit it, I was just hoping to keep him occupied while we spent the day conducting tours. That isn’t what happened. He asked helpful questions and his use of the camera was natural and innate.

Something about the camera shifted the dynamic. I could see what he saw. Further to that, he was sitting in the passenger seat beside me for the first time on a trip. He took photos of clouds, signs, and the dashboard. I saw what was interesting to him. He was curious about how the camera worked and I started to teach him about light, shutter speed, composition, and perspective. We were less parent and child and more like traveling companions. It was wonderful.

When we got home we worked together to pick his best photos. I showed him about cropping, adding contrast, and general editing. He showed me which photos were his favorites and why. He teaches me more than I could ever hope to teach him. These are some of his photos from the trip…