Only Experience Will Teach This

About two years ago, I spent a few weeks in Margate. For those of you who don’t know, Margate is a small seaside town on the south coast of the UK. The town is lovely, but it’s not exactly a dream destination. When I arrived in Margate, I met up with a good mate of mine, a local, by the name of Matt Hall, and given I just got back from a long trip across Europe, he jokingly asked me if I was bored or disappointed.

The funny thing is I was neither. I was actually so excited to shoot there because for me it was new. I didn’t care that at times it was grey, windy, and cold. I just wanted to grab my camera and shoot. Matter of fact, as I was walking up and down the seaside, I had the same level of excitement as I did when I first visited Paris, Lisbon, New York, or any other bucket list destination.

Fast forward to today, and I am writing this from a Llandudno, a little seaside town in North Wales. I am here to explore a bit and catch up with a goof friend, James Popsys. The other day, we took a drive down to Anglesea, and to say I was speechless was an understatement. I was in my own world, and everything was photogenic. For James, on the other hand, it was business as usual.

As we were exploring more of this area, I remember thinking the exact same thing as I did in Margate in 2023. I am no less impressed, excited, or inspired in a small Welsh coastal town than I was when I arrived in Tokyo for the first time or driven across Morocco.

The more I thought about this, the more I realised that in most cases, you don’t need to spend thousands and travel halfway across the world to feel inspired. Sometimes, a quick 2-hour train ride will take you to somewhere you’ve never been before and give you that feeling of shooting somewhere new.

Of course, the massive caveat here is the place does need to be photogenic or at least interesting to you. There’s no point going somewhere that you already know will be boring. Also you might say “well this is rich coming from someone who’s travelled so much”, and I totally agree, but this is why I am making this video, because I can share these observations.

So next time you feel bored and want to travel, but life gets in the way, instead of feeling down, see what’s nearby. It could be a small village a couple hours away, or even an area of your city you haven’t explored.