living a wild life: a conversation with hayley anderson part one

Hayley anderson started her travel photography journey with a dream and a whole lot of guts. together with partner kyle hunter, the pair travel the world capturing stunning landscape shots infused with personality and charm. Hayley and kyle hosted Our recent trip to Australia’s red centre, sharing their humour and love of photography with the group.

from europe, to asia, to our own backyard, the travel influencer talks how she got her start, the importance of believing in yourself, and dream destinations. Below, the first of our two-part conversation.

How did you start your career in travel?

It started in 2015. Kyle and I, my partner who I travel and do business with, saved up a lot of money because we knew we wanted to go traveling. I had finished my uni degree, and was really interested in travel photography, so we decided to save up as much money as we could over the next two years, and then we just bought a one-way ticket to Europe. It was very early days with photography, I didn't know a whole lot back then, but I was super eager to learn more. I had been so passionate about it since I was really little. I bought the best camera out there, because I thought, if I wanted to do it professionally, then I was going to get the best camera. I bought one lens and the camera, and we set off. We travelled around Europe for a year and a half in this little van. We were on a shoestring budget; I think we were trying to live off 50 euros a day. I was just taking photos, and my photography back then was very different actually to what it is now. I was a real amateur and still learning and trying to find the kind of style that I liked and what I was trying to achieve. I just always loved the idea of traveling and creating photos around our experiences and telling a story through photography. I knew what I wanted - I wanted to be where we are now, doing full time photography, creating content, and traveling. I was sharing photos occasionally on Instagram – I think maybe I could see its potential in those early days. So we just kept going, we spent as little as we could to keep ourselves going for as long as we could. We travelled on and off for like… up until when I don't even know, we didn't stop. We’ve been to a lot of places and done a lot of things and built a whole lot around it. So it's just been so amazing.

Is there a turning point you feel you had with your audience or with a particular image that you took in Europe that then took on momentum and was able to grow your audience?

Funnily enough, the year and a half we were in Europe I barely gained any followers at all, because I wasn't really sharing that much to grow the way I needed to. I was still really trying to get Kyle interested as well – trying to get your partner into something you’re really interested in can be a bit of a struggle. I wasn't growing quickly, but I think after a year and a half of trying I hit 20,000 followers. It’s such a long process and I think back then I could have easily given up, but I just wanted to keep going. I said to myself, “No, I feel it, I'm still going to do it, I'm going to achieve this”. There was no pivotal moment in Europe, but after, we went backpacking around Asia. I remember one photo – we did this hike, and the location was amazing. In the photo, je's sitting on this rock that was jutting out over this jungle forest. I think that was one of the photos – that was a turning point. I grew a lot of followers just from that, and I think from there the momentum just began to build. At that point I was also posting more, and actually getting in my photos as well. At the beginning I wasn't in a lot of my photos because I was feeling really shy. It's pretty daunting if you're not used to being in front of the camera to feel comfortable and know how to pose. It took me a while, but once I started putting myself in my photos and adding more personality to my Instagram, the following grew from there.

How did you convince your partner Kyle to be keen to take the photos? Did he start to see how valuable they could be once you started growing?

I think he definitely did. I feel like most girls can relate to boyfriends not wanting to take photos of them. I think it's a male thing! But yeah, it was a bit of a struggle to start with. He didn't really see the potential that I saw in it. It was only when he began to see the growth, and then me getting paid work. And then once I reached over 100,000 followers, I was like, “I think I'm earning enough to take it full time”. And he was like “What? I don't want to go back to my normal job. No thanks”. So I said, “Okay, well let’s take this more seriously”. Since then, it's definitely changed for him. He has his own thing going and he’s really into photography now. he loves it as much as I do - he loves traveling and sharing and creating content as much as I do, because we've been able to make a very exciting lifestyle around it. It is hard if your partner doesn't see the potential, but I just kept hassling him.

You have to be really creative. You go to spots that a lot of people go to and take the same cookie cutter image, but you guys always do really well at giving a new perspective on a place. Can you talk us through your process? How do you come up with ideas? Do you do it before you leave the house? Do you plan out your shoots? Or is it more you're there and then spend as much time as possible in the place to work out what's going to work best.

I think it's a mix of both when we're traveling. We will research locations on Instagram and Pinterest before we go. I'll read lots of blogs and find some unique places to shoot that maybe haven't been photographed or shared on Instagram a whole lot. But then when you're there, you have a vision in mind that’s never really executed the way you think. You just have to go with it when you're there. We just try a lot of different things; we try so many different angles. A whole lot of things go into it – you’re planning the lighting, your new outfit, you might even make a mood board. But with traveling, a lot of the time it happens in the moment. With some of them it’s like ‘Whoa, this is amazing. Look at this location. Let's try get some photos here’. With other places you know where you're going, you know what photo you're looking for. When we're at home and we're taking photos I'm always shooting for more branded things, so I guess more planning goes into it. You're trying to find a location, you're planning an outfit… The time of day too – we’re actually trying to plan to shoot right after this, we need this forecast to do right. It's really cloudy, which I'm kind of looking for. I don't want the harsh sun. But I don't have I have a location in mind. We're going to go for a drive and hopefully find something that is going to work. Most of the time, it doesn't really work out how I envision it, but you just have to go with it.

Follow Hayley’s adventures on instagram @haylsa.

All images courtesy of Hayley anderson.