Once A Year featuring Sarah Babian

How did you choose this trip?

Once a year, my best friend Lindsay and I take a trip together. We've been doing it together ever since we were in high school. Our first trip was to Ohio in her beaten up car. The steering just veered to the left, so the whole time you had to hold it to the right in order to not just merge. We thought it was too funny. Ever since then, we've just been addicted to traveling together. We're both relaxed and have the same priorities- we don't want to spend a lot of money, we want to have a good night's rest, we both have allergies, we don't really care about how good the food is, and we just want to experience something new and exciting. We'll plan what direction we'll go in, but we won't necessarily plan exactly what we're going to do. For example, we'll plan what we're going to head towards that looks interesting, but then be open to the idea, one, we might not even make it and two, if we see something that looks cool- we’ll go for it. We keep it open minded with no expectations. We learned that when we planned our own missions trip to Africa. Everything was going wrong. We had 48 hours of traveling with sleeping once in a completely horizontal bed- which I got bed bugs from- we got car sick, we lost our luggage multiple times, and nearly missed a flight. So our expectations were- don't have any and everything will be good. That's guided us a lot and probably has made us happier when things don't go well. We just think- this is funny even though we're miserable. Which is normally what you remember – the fun things, but also the things that were terrible. And you learn a lot about each person, what they're really good at or really bad at in moments of trouble. I might be super talkative to try to get some help while Lindsay might shut down or vise versa. And it's funny just to see how people react in survival mode, as we like to say. As long as we have our passports, cash, and our glasses – so we're not blind the whole way we're lost, then we'll be fine.

Because we did a domestic trip last year, we knew we wanted to take an international one this year. Lindsay's a nurse, so she only has a certain amount of days off and gets the schedule a month in advance, so we had a month to plan this trip. We landed on the trip being five days - with a day to get back from her next time working just in case! I said I would plan it since she' was so busy. I sent her a bunch of places, but told her we were going to Peru. She said she couldn't wrap her mind around going that far to a really foreign country that quickly. We decided that it was going to be really expensive anyways, so we changed our plans. She suggested Iceland. It seemed a bit cliché, but it has really pretty places to photograph. The problem was that Iceland had high housing costs, so she suggested a camper van. The car option ended up being the best option, so it was the second thing we booked after the flights. For meals, we knew we would be in the country, so we decided to pack our own stuff. We got all of our dinners from REI, for breakfast we made overnight oats, and for lunches we packed granola bars, snack-foods, tuna, and PB&J’s. We put that in a suitcase as a checked bag and prayed that would get there since it was all of our food, ha! Everyone kind of thought we were crazy. It ended up that both of us were so busy before our trip; we decided to just plan where we would go on the plane. We downloaded as many offline maps of Iceland as we could get so we could navigate around the country before our final flight.

Our first stop was supposed to be the Blue Lagoon, but when we got there, it was rainy. We decided to just book it at the end of our trip instead. We're glad we did that, because it was so beautiful. Outside of the other typical places in Iceland, we both shared what we wanted to do. One of mine was that I wanted to see a puffin birds. Lindsay wanted to see wild horses and a certain waterfall. We made all the things happen which was really fun. Since it was daylight for basically 24 hours, we didn't really have jet lag. So we were tired, but we went until we couldn't.

Why is it important for you to travel?

Well, it keeps me inspired I think. It brings me into a different world to experience for the first time which is a really healthy thing to do. Even not as a photographer. You learn a lot about yourself in a short amount of time. It can be really healing or really challenging, but you know by the end of the trip that you will have accomplished something different rather than if you would have just stayed home. It's also just fun.

What types of things inspire you or what is causing you to capture what you do?

We got our pictures back and took time to sit down to remember our trip, and it was really interesting because we experienced the same things, but it looked so different in photographs. We only had two pictures that were really the same. Which we thought almost everything would be the same. She saw things completely different than I did, but we appreciated each other's views even though they were so different. I don't know how I am drawn to things, because it's just how I am. What I think, though, is colors- I enjoy light colors, airy colors. Interesting light- probably less contrast. Things that feel like fairy-tale like. Even if it's a huge waterfall that's ginormous. You don't really think of that as elegant you think of it as powerful or earth-shaking and if you went under it, you'd be blown away. It's not really delicate, but I think, “Okay how can I make something huge feel small or something small feel noticeable and powerful.” I try to do that in each picture that I take in some regard to have a different perspective from what maybe everyone else sees- a waterfall straight on. I would see it more from the side or with flowers in front of it to make it feel more dainty. So I guess, especially with pictures of nature, I challenge myself to capture the places in a way that makes someone feel like they’re seeing it for the first time. It's really nice to have a friend that does the same thing as you, but does it differently. You're experiencing the same thing, but in drastically different ways. Then you get to ask questions or observe what they've accomplished. For example, especially in tourist type places, a lot of photographers like when people are in their photographs because it makes it feel lived in and alive. For me, most often, I don't like people in it. I like it feeling more vast and empty- like no one was there with me.

What things do you find leave an impact after your trip?
It's usually me thinking, “That was really great- I should start planning my next one!” I'm addicted. I want to do it again. I think experience-wise, it's almost like you're going on a retreat, or like a summer camp. At the end of your time, you learn something about yourself. You end up taking that forward with you- whether you realize it or not. Maybe you're going through a hard time, but you hadn’t talked about it with anyone. But if you're spending such quality time with somebody, whoever- a family member or a friend, those things come to the surface. You have to address them whether they are good or bad. It forces you to take that with you and process it. It's good, and you're usually around someone that's safe. I think creatively, that helps you get to know yourself and what you want to show out of your work. The humanity of your work and less of “this is something pretty and don't you wish you were there too.” People don't realize it- someone may love an image but they don't know how you were feeling, and taking that image made you happier. Or the person who was with you felt sad, or you were both happy experiencing the same thing. That's kind of the goal- to communicate.

PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY

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Photographs by Sarah Babian