Living a Wild Life with Hayley Anderson: Part 2

In terms of how you create an aesthetic in your photos that is uniquely you, is that a process that you've just honed over the years? I mean you’re great at doing floral backdrops and sweeping scenery. How would you describe your style? Obviously, you take a lot of photos, but it’s probably what you say no to? And what you say “yes, this is on brand for me”, that makes the difference. So how do you make that call as to what works and what you’ll use?

When we're traveling, I like to mix the landscapes, showing off the area that I'm in, but also being in it and showing a personality and having a human element, which is me, obviously. And I've actually noticed my style – I’m always kind of standing in the middle of the photo. I don't know why, but I must really like that look, and I've just come to realize, “hey, that's something I must really like, just me in the middle of the frame”. My style has evolved a lot over the years, it's always changing. I always like to experiment and try new things and not just stick to the same thing all the time. I grew my following from travel photography, so I'm conscious of finding beautiful locations. I'm all about composition. My photos have to be perfectly composed, and I like having big sweeping landscapes like you said, and then me in it. A lot of accounts stick to a theme, but I'm happy to shoot wherever or whatever and just make something beautiful out of it.

It's all about composition. Do you love to have symmetry in the photo? Or is it more that you’ll be lower down, and then the scenery will be big behind you, that sort of vibe. 

I'm usually at the bottom of the frame, and then the scenery is sweeping up behind me, which I really like. It’s something I steer towards doing all the time.

It really inspires wonder and awe because you're overwhelmed by the environment, which I think is a really cool aesthetic. What's the main thing that you love about travel? 

I've had a lot of time to think about this, because we haven't been traveling, and I'm thinking about it all the time. I was editing some old photos this morning from our travels in Europe. And all these emotions were coming back to me that I feel like I've blocked out because I can't be there right now. But today, I was going through all these photos. It's just something that it makes you feel - it makes me feel something that nothing else gives me. It's this amazing, overwhelming feeling of happiness and joy. I get so excited in moments where it's so beautiful, and I'm experiencing something so different. I just get so excited that I get really hypo and so happy! Nothing else gives me this feeling that traveling gives me and I just love it. I'm not the kind of person that likes to be in the same place for too long. I like experiencing new things and meeting new people. Even just new smells - I was going through everything that I was feeling today looking at old photos, and I was thinking about the smells and the noises, and everything about Europe came back to me. I love adventure and doing something exciting every day. I've never been one to have a routine in life. I just want something new and exciting every day and that’s what travel gives me, and it brings me so much joy. I love it.

“I love adventure and doing something exciting every day. I’ve never been one to have a routine in life. I just want something new and exciting every day and that’s what travel gives me, and it brings me so much joy. I love it.”

I agree. Well said yes. It’s that ultimate feeling of freedom that anything's possible, and that you can achieve or do anything. You get so many ideas when you’re overseas. You're not constrained by what you should be doing or by expectations. It's just like, “go free, roam, let’s live a wild life. Let’s make the most of it rather than playing small and doing the same things over and over again”. And yes, obviously there's Europe and Italy, and we all miss those places greatly. Which brings me to my next question, actually. What is the trip that you've taken that's been the most life changing? Is there a place that you went to that really inspired you? Or maybe there’s a place that you really want to go back to?

There are so many places. One of the places that I’m thinking of I wasn't expecting too much of. I never had a really strong desire to go there, but then when I went there, I was just blown away. It just left me feeling so inspired. The content that we created there was just amazing. That place is New Zealand. And it's somewhere that, as an Australian, you never really think, “I can't wait to go to New Zealand”. You know what I mean? Because you've places like Europe and America you want to go to. But I think I just really love like quiet, mountain scapes where it feels like it's just you and the world. Everyone asks me, “oh what's the worst place?” and I genuinely cannot think of anywhere because there's no place that I've been that I haven’t enjoyed. I know that before you go traveling you have all these expectations which reality never meets and just accept that as you keep going along. You end up loving the not so attractive parts too. You know, I love the parts that are dingy… You do all the unexpected thing and you go in with a way more open mind. I always find something that I love in a place even if it's not the most aesthetically pleasing for photos or hasn't got beautiful landscapes. I always find something that I just end up loving from any experience.

Okay, so New Zealand, what would be your top places there? I'm going to guess South Island? And the lupins, which come out in November and December, which are apparently not good for the environment, but they look beautiful.

I know, I heard that too. But definitely the Lupins – they’re the whole reason I went. I saw a photo of the lupins, and I booked a flight, and we were gone five days later, because I was convinced that we were going to miss the season. So I said “let's just go”, and we went. And it was just like, “what is this? This is insane!” So South Island, definitely. Mount Cook is probably my favourite place in New Zealand, it's just so beautiful. And then around that area, Lake Tekapo, which is where you'll see all the beautiful lupins. Milford Sound, that's pretty epic. But we're actually going to New Zealand in two weeks. We’re really hoping that the borders stay open, because we want to explore some new places that we've never been before.

You said that in the beginning, it was hard. You were shy, and you weren't necessarily in the photos. What advice do you have for people who might like to bring more of their into their storytelling and their content? How do you do that? Do you just be brave and put it out there? Or is it a gradual process?

It can be a gradual process. I think everyone should be patient with themselves because I still struggle with being the model and knowing how to pose. Go and find inspiration before you go. What I do is find some posing inspiration. Go on Pinterest and make a little mood board. And then when you're there, just go back and have a look and try and mimic those poses. It can feel a bit strange sometimes. Even if you're just moving your body around – and I know that sometimes you just look a little bit crazy, and a lot of the photos might not look great, but you might get one photo in there where you’re just moving around and changing your poses a little or using your dress as an object to help with the posing as well. Just be patient with yourself. We take a lot of photos to get some of the photos that I post. There's a lot of bad photos in between the good. I think the more that I showed my face as well, the easier it got. The thing is you don't even have to do crazy poses.

It's about learning what you like and going from there. Have a library of poses that you can choose from – maybe like five of them.

Yeah, take some inspiration with you. And that'll help you when you're there because sometimes I go without them, and then I don't know what I'm doing and I get a bit shy. So maybe just go prepared on a photo shoot with some inspiration.

And have props and things like hats and all that.  

Yeah, I think clothes – what you wear plays a big part in posing and choosing the right outfit for the location.

And bringing out the colour. I noticed when we were in Uluru, you wore a lot of white because then that's beautiful. You don’t want to wear warm colours like red, because then you’ll blend in with the backdrop. You’ve got to have more of a neutral palette going on.

Yeah, exactly. Or even just take a bunch of different outfits if you want to, and see which one works well.

Where is the place that you can't wait to go to next? No holds barred, no restrictions whatsoever.

The place that we were supposed to go to, and I was really looking forward to going before COVID, is the Yosemite in America. I want to do a lot of national parks in America. So I probably would really want to get like a cool van and road trip around the national parks in America because they look so epic. And maybe even Canada.

I love road trips because you've got all your different things in the car, so you don't need to worry about forgetting anything.  

Yeah, no repacking and packing. You can stop, wherever you want, wherever the scenery looks best.

Follow Hayley’s adventures on instagram @haylsa.

All images courtesy of Hayley anderson.