WHY FAMILY TRIPS MAKE PHOTOGRAPHY HARD — AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT
Berlin at dawn. A brief window to photograph before meeting back up with Becca and her mom for the day.
If you’ve ever tried to make meaningful photographs on a family trip, you know it’s not as simple as bringing your camera along. You stay optimistic, tell yourself you’ll find a few small windows to work, and then the trip begins… and reality sets in.
Berlin was one of the rare trips where the rhythm worked really well — they had their plans, I had mine, and natural pockets of time appeared. But not every trip unfolds that smoothly.
Japan during peak cherry blossom season should have been a photographer’s dream. Instead, it turned into a quiet comedy.
We were traveling with both our moms — one always a few steps ahead, the other a few steps behind — and Becca and I were in the middle, mostly just trying not to lose a mom forever in the crowd. Herding cats might’ve been easier.
Needless to say, I didn’t make a single photograph.
A few years earlier, I took my mom to Colorado for fall colors. Peak season. Perfect timing. And still, I came home without a single usable frame — partly due to a lens issue I didn’t realize until later, and partly because my attention was split between being a photographer and being a son.
Family trips run on a different rhythm.
Photographers often ask how to balance family travel with making meaningful photographs. It’s a familiar theme: traveling together, but still wanting a little time to focus without slowing anyone down. There isn’t one perfect solution, but there are a handful of approaches that consistently help — and these have made the biggest difference for me:
1. The Early-Morning Window
When we travel, Becca wakes up at a normal vacation hour — the way any sane person would. I’m often out the door at 5am.
The city is empty. The light is soft. There’s a rhythm to wandering with a camera while everything is still quiet.
And by the time she’s getting up, I’m coming back with coffee and croissants — hero status achieved — plus a couple of unhurried hours of photographing before the day even begins.
It keeps the day relaxed for both of us.
2. The Scouting Mindset
During the day, when we’re out together, I’m not trying to make finished photographs — but I am scouting.
I pay attention to light, space, and the way scenes might work later. Sometimes I take a phone snapshot. Sometimes I pin the spot in Google Maps.
Then I return when I can actually focus — early the next morning, or on the way to dinner when a twenty-minute stop won’t throw off the day.
It keeps me present instead of dragging photography through every moment.
3. The Low-Expectation Rule
On a dedicated photo trip, I start with the hope for one strong image a day — and hope to exceed it. On a family trip, that mindset doesn’t apply.
Here, low expectations are your friend. Expect little, and any image becomes a gift.
If I come home from a family trip with one or two photographs I genuinely love, that’s a success. There’s no pressure — just openness to whatever small windows appear.
4. Trip-Stacking
One approach that works well is separating the modes of travel a bit.
Sometimes I’ll arrive early and photograph on my own. Other times, I’ll stay after everyone else flies home.
This depends on having a partner who’s comfortable traveling solo or having some independent time — not every relationship or season of life supports that. But when it does, it gives you the best of both worlds: real family travel and real photographic focus.
5. Bringing a Second Companion
Bringing someone else along can open up more space than you’d expect. Toward the end of a Venice workshop, Becca and her mom flew out and spent a few days exploring while I finished teaching.
Once the workshop wrapped, the three of us headed to Berlin — which brings us back to the photograph at the top of this article. Berlin had a natural rhythm: we spent time together, and then I’d slip away to photograph while they continued exploring.
Simple and easy — no one feeling rushed or held up.
6. Adjust Expectations — and Drop the Guilt
This is the heart of it.
Family trips are about connection — shared meals, time together, days that unfold at their own pace. They’re not meant to revolve around your shot list or everyone waking up in the dark so you can chase sunrise.
If you expect portfolio work from a family trip, you’ll almost always be frustrated. If you treat the photography as a bonus — something you fit around the edges, often in the early hours while everyone else is still asleep — the tension disappears.
You stay present. You stop keeping score. And ironically, you often see more clearly because you’re not forcing anything.
7. The Half-Day Escape
Here in Maui, I see this play out constantly because most of my workshops happen during family vacations.
Nearly every workshop participant I meet is here with their spouse or family — and they slip away for a half-day or full-day photo workshop while their partner relaxes by the pool or gets a round of golf in.
It gives them the focused photographic time they crave without pulling their family into early alarms or long stretches of waiting that meaningful photography often requires.
Sometimes a few dedicated hours is enough to feel fulfilled, present, and reconnected to the craft you love — and you walk away with photographs you’re genuinely proud of, work that stands confidently in your portfolio.
So… what’s the solution?
There’s no perfect overlap between full-on family travel and focused photographic work. They move at different speeds.
But there are trips where photography sits at the center from the start — solo travel, traveling with another photographer, or joining a small workshop group where everyone is working with the same intention and pace.
Not because workshops magically fix everything, but because the schedule, the locations, and the people you’re with all support the work instead of competing with it.
In the end…
Family trips are for family. Photography trips are for photography. Trying to make both operate at full strength at the same time usually leads to frustration.
But with a few strategies, honest expectations, and a little carved-out time, you can enjoy both — fully.
And when you’re ready for a trip where photography finally gets to be the priority, I’d love to have you join me on a workshop.
Until then, enjoy the people you’re with. Travel well. And if you come home from the next family trip with a single strong photograph, consider it a quiet success.
Ready to go deeper into your photographic process?
Join me in Maui for a photo workshop, or explore upcoming destination experiences in places like Venice and San Francisco—details on the Workshops page.
Hi, I’m Scott Reither—fine art photographer, educator, and the founder of The Curated Landscape.
I created this space to share reflections and tools for photographers who want to go deeper—into their craft, their process, and how they connect with the world through the lens.
