Beginnings - Two Parts

Being half Japanese and half Singaporean by birth, my multi-cultural family roots had helped shape my curiosity in learning about different cultures. Three countries and beyond, my family is spread out around the world. I used to travel overseas to see my mum’s relatives in Japan and eventually did the same seeing my dad’s relatives in Singapore once I moved to New Zealand. By having many opportunities to travel by plane, train or even boat from a young age, my love for transportation and travelling became apparent. Going to the airport, trying out new food and seeing what’s outside the window of a plane or train seat was and still remains some of my greatest joys when travelling.

While I was very interested in travel and transportation, I’ve also had photos of me as a child holding toy cameras to small point and shoot - guess I've always been into photography even before I knew it. My first real experience of using a camera for travel photography took place when I was 8 on a road trip I went on in the United States of America on the frosty December days. The first thing I was given upon arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was an object that was between a point and shoot camera and a DSLR. From memory, I was curious about two things - one how to use the camera I got and two, how to get a rifle license for deer hunting. I was a child full of energy and curiosity, sometimes I enjoyed pointing the camera towards the world outside of the car/train, while other times I would have been sleeping on my travels or asking questions like “how much longer till we’re there…?”

Memories like these remind me of how much I’ve always had a natural love for travelling and doing photography. While many times I was away from the camera because of school, etc., I always got excited when going back out to travel or pick up the camera. My relationship with travel photography as a child is like having a long lost friend, even though separated through distance and time, we somehow picked things up right where we left off the last time.

Accidental Re-entry Into Photography

Travelling and photography wasn’t the first thing that came into mind as something I was passionate about during my late childhood years. Occasions such as revisiting my family in Singapore or taking a trip to Japan on a cultural exchange trip briefly re-sparked my interest in travel photography.

It was not until I was 14 when my interest in photography returned and became a bigger part of my life. This time, it was in the area of filming sports activities after watching a series of parkour videos. I wanted to get my own point and shoot camera solely for filming my sporting activities, travel wasn’t in the picture. Miraculously, on my 15th birthday, my mum gave me a Sony mirrorless camera after she finished using it for her work, it was even better than the best-case scenario I was picturing in my head. Come to think of it, I was absolutely amazed by the quality of the images that were produced by my new camera that it even made the mundane photo just pop out. It left me with a feeling of awe. From then on, while I liked filming sports action here and there, my interest quickly shifted towards landscape photography.

Trial and Error - Exposure, Timing, Encounter

Over the next four years, I saw photography as a hobby where I would take my camera wherever I went to and used it to capture anything - from local landscapes to family dinners and eventually a friend’s 21st Birthday. This was a time where I constantly drew inspiration from Youtubers and other creatives around me to continuously shape and refine my photography style to what it is today.

There have been a few encounters I’ve had over these years which changed my approaches towards photography. One life-changing encounter that instantly pops into my head would be the time I accidentally stumbled across a book written by Award Winning Canon Masters Jackie Ranken and Mike Langford. After doing some research, I found that their office was nearby my hotel, so I walked up a few steep Irish named streets in Queenstown to find myself lost. With the help of a kind local, I ended up at what appeared to be their own home. When Mike first opened the door, I was fully in awe and shock at the same time not knowing what to say since it was really them. The two of them were warm yet insightful photographers. They treated me to a glass of water, had a 15-minute conversation on their photography journey and tips in their living room, and even signed copies of my book despite rocking up to their house unannounced. Their advice on mastering lighting and composition always stuck with me to this day.

After years of trial and error, I tried landscape photography, before moving to urban for a brief period of time, to portraits. My so-called niche was undefined until one day I was in a situation where I had to come up with what my specialisation was. I didn’t feel that landscape photography would define my area of speciality in photography. I was no expert at portrait nor would I see myself photographing just “streets” or “food”. It was only when I came across travel photography where I felt comfortable enough to narrow down my niche without feeling too stuck.

@Jeraldyutakachannz - How and Why I Started This Page

One day when I was planning a trip to Japan, I came across a Youtube video which made me think about the possibilities of taking my travel photography game a little more seriously. The first thought that came to mind when starting this page was… “wouldn’t it be cool to share my story as I am now on the road instead of just being at home?” From there, I picked up my Instagram page and started sharing stories and posts of my travels throughout Japan.

With time, things began to look up. I’ve gone on a few local photography expeditions here and there, became more satisfied with the images I have produced and expanded my social media presence by leaps and bounds. I became excited about the prospect of being able to travel overseas again soon, and then COVID came. Rather than seeing this as a setback, I took this as my opportunity to really work on my travel photography page. Having no work to accompany my university studies during the lockdown, I found myself with an abundance of time to learn more about social media marketing, story crafting while growing my social media presence with more users stuck at home than ever. At one point, my Instagram following grew from 1,000 to 3,000 within two weeks and the growth continued in the months to follow - This was before my account got hacked into.

#JourneywithJerald - Moving Forward

After restarting my Instagram account back to scratch, I decided to rebuild my social media presence, reconnect with members of the online community I knew well while outreaching to new followers, hoping that they can connect with the stories and adventures that I intend to share with the world around me.

I hope that the adventures and stories that I share on my page will inspire you to go out and do the things that make you feel most alive. I hope to show you both the inspiring and the challenges of travelling through honest and authentic travel photography storytelling. I hope to use this as a platform to share the causes and ideals I am most passionate about to the world beyond, and most importantly, I hope to connect and learn more about the great big world we live in.