Travel, Photography, and Life with Brendan van Son

I really love Medellin, Colombia. I love the people, the city, and the city was like home to me in 2009-2010. But, it's also the place I was kidnapped. I've held off from telling this story for a long time because I really don't want to disparage the people of Colombia, and didn't want my family to worry. But, I think it's been long enough. So, this is the story about the time I was kidnapped (for a night) in Colombia.

I'm going to weigh into the area of AI photography and, maybe more so, AI generated photography. On this episode, I talk about how it's sort of ruined my feelings about photography. Also I dive into the legality of AI generated photography and talk about some other related topics. Some of the links I mentioned in the photography podcast are: The blog post: https://brendansadventures.com/is-ai-photography-here-to-stay-ethics-goals-and-questions/ My WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaE8plt5fM5WZ2oSPD1W My Photo Workshops: https://brendansadventures.com/travel-photography-workshops/

This was one of the wildest 6 days of my life. I spent 5 nights sleeping on buses. I didn't change my clothes, and I must have smelled horribly. I travelled all the way from Annai, Guyana to Medellin, Colombia via Venezuela over 6 days without sleeping in a bed. I hitchhiked with some less-than-ideal members of Venezuelan society. I got stuck in Caracas. And I just had a bunch of weird things happen. This is the story of that series of unfortunate events in Venezuela. Story about Annai: https://www.brendansadventures.com/whats-in-a-road-a-look-into-guyanas-north-rupununi/

So, no storytelling today, just photography. I just got back from Patagonia, and I had an awesome time. We made lots of great photos, and had some really special moments. But, I did spot a lot of photographers making mistakes. In fact, I think that this is the first time I've been around so many other photographers in awhile, and I was definitely more aware. On today's episode, then, I'm going to walk through 4 mistakes landscape photographers make.

Back in 2011 I arrived in Suriname. This is the story about how I got there, and the series of misadventures that led to me being totally broke. I slept on the beach because I couldn't afford a hotel. I snuck food from hostel fridges. I did all I could to survive the simple fact that I just didn't have any money what-so-ever.

I became a travel photographer almost on accident. I had the goal of travelling, and I was following the mantra of "find what you love doing, and then find out how to make money that way." I loved travel, and be it leading tours, writing, driving tour buses, or taking photos I was going to travel for a living no matter what. This is the story about how I accidentally became a travel photographer. https://www.youtube.com/brendanvanson

Travel photography is a career I sort of fell into. Along there way, there were countless stories. On this podcast, I'm going to focus on the stories that brought me to where I am today. Whether it's being broke and sleeping on beaches in Brazil, or nearly dying in the Congo, or travelling all of Africa on a scooter, these are the stories way behind the photos.