A little bit about me:

Hey there, I’m Ben Campbell, the guy behind Find Away Photography. I created this site because I wanted to make the resource that I wish I had when I was first starting out in photography. Beyond that, it’s my place to share the things that I learn about photography, travel, and everything in between.

Besides these things, I love anything to do with adventure, and I spend as much time as I can hiking, biking, caving, kayaking or skiing. I grew up in a small town in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, and it was time spent climbing mountains and exploring that inspired me to get into photography in the first place. Check out more of my story here.

One of the best things about photography is that it can easily complement everything else that you enjoy doing. In a way it’s like ketchup, it just makes everything else better. I guess in my case, mountain biking, caving, hiking and travelling would be like the hamburgers, hotdogs, french fries, and whatever else you can put ketchup on. And really, is there anything that isn’t better with ketchup? I’m not sure if we’re even talking about food or photography anymore, but either way, the answer is no.

The Guy in the Red Jacket:

So I seem to take a lot of photos of myself while I’m wearing a red jacket (if we want to get technical, I believe that the official Arc’teryx colour name is Oxblood, but let’s not get too fussy). This kind of happened by accident because I really like photos of small people surrounded by big, impressive landscapes. This seems to add perspective and a sense of connection to the photo.

When I want to take these photos, the person in the photo often ends up being me because I’m by myself, and to stand out from the landscape I like to wear a bright colour. My favourite jacket in the world is an Arc’teryx Alpha SV that always seems to be with me and because it is bright red, it helps me to stand out in the pictures.

I realized one day when I was showing someone my pictures that almost every picture of me is when I’m wearing my red jacket. Therefore, I’ve given myself the title of “The Guy in the Red Jacket“. I mean, if no one else is going to give you a title, then sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands. So there….now it’s official!

Now, if you ever find yourself perusing the internet or Instagram and come across someone wearing a red jacket, take a closer look, because it might just be me! 🙂

Goals for the site:

My goals for the site are pretty simple and so far there are only three, but I am a big fan of lists so I thought I would use one here for demonstration.

Goal #1: Simplify the process of learning photography.

Goal #2: Help make photography cool again.

Goal #3: Make a resource for creative and adventurous people.

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Goal #1: Make Learning Photography Simple

Photography is a ton of fun and a good way to capture the world around us, so I think that it’s something that should be simple and easy for anyone to learn if they want to. I try to do my small part by making everything that I talk about as simple and straight-forward as possible.

Learning photography can get complicated quickly, and with all of the different opinions floating around it’s often hard to know what’s correct. Trying to figure out things like metering, diffraction, lens speed and sensor crop can easily become overwhelming when you’re first starting out. But by filtering through the noise and learning one thing at a time, anyone can learn to take photos that they love, and have fun doing it.

Maybe you want to take better pictures of your family, or maybe you want photos of  your travels and adventures so that you remember them like you were there. And maybe you just want to try taking your camera off of the Auto setting. Whatever motivates you, I don’t think that it should require paying for a bunch of expensive courses or reading a stack of books to accomplish.

Goal #2: Make Photography Cool Again

I don’t know about you, but a lot of times when I think of photography today I think of people arguing on forums about things like “camera ergonomics” and “micro-colour-casting in lenses”, other times I think of groups of tourists walking around attractions with sun-visors, fanny packs, and large DSLR’s strapped around their necks. Now there is nothing wrong with any of this, but it doesn’t really capture the essence of “cool.” It just seems like a lot of the time, photography gets associated with being kind of a nerdy thing to do.

But outside of this idea of photography, there are so many people doing really cool things. People exploring and travelling to really cool places and capturing their adventures with a camera. I don’t really consider myself to be espcially cool, and I can talk nerdy (no, I didn’t say “dirty) with the best of them, but I think that the awesome side of photography is often overwhelmed by the overly present selfie stick wavers and the “stick your big lens out the window of a tour bus” type of crowd.

So I guess, all that I really want to do is try to showcase the cool ways that photography can capture the world around you and how it can fuel your adventures and travels. And then, hearing the word photography can conjure up ideas of catching a sunrise high up on a mountain top, seeing the milky way reflect across a still lake, exploring a new ancient city for the first time, or looking across the icy blue expanse of a craggy glacier. Because these ideas would be much preferable to the not-so-cool idea of cramming in shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of other people to try to take a picture of the Wanaka Tree (something that I’m far too familiar with).

Goal #3: Make a Resource for Creative and Adventurous People:

I’ve often found that a lot of photography websites are made by photographers that don’t do much other than take photos. This obviously isn’t a bad thing, but I’ve always had multiple interests and hobbies at once and have had to fit photography into this mix. As much as I love taking photos, I can’t dedicate all of my time to it because then I would never ride my mountain bike, go hiking, caving, kayaking, skiing, or any of the other things that I like to do. The good thing is that photography is the perfect compliment to things like hiking and travelling, and because of this, I’m able to carry carry a camera with me on most of my adventures.

Because of this, I’ve sometimes had a hard time relating to other websites that get obsessed with all of the minor nuances within photography like  pixel-peeping and analyzing all of the micro details in a photo. Or those that pour through lens specifications and testing and, worst of all, argue with each other endlessly on forums about all sorts of crazy business. There are things that are definitely worth learning about and exploring within photography, but I try to focus on only the things that really matter in helping you take better photos so that you can spend more time out there adventuring!

Therefore, I wanted to create a place for people like yourself who are both creative and adventurous. My goal is to help you take better photos of your adventures and travels, not just take better photos.

Contact Me:

I would absolutely love to hear from you with any feedback or questions and you can get in touch with me through the contact box below.