Photographer Becky Bardin

THE PICTURE SEEN AROUND THE GLOBE

Photographer Becky Bardin showcases some of her amazing work taken during her photography travels.

BY JILL HOLLOWAY

32 BAINBRIDGE LIVING / Summer 2022

Photographer Becky Bardin is known for her beautiful portraits and close-ups, but perhaps some of her most famous work comes from her photography travels, including a safari to Tanzania and a recent trip to Iceland.

In 2016, Bardin entered her name into a drawing for a photography trip with McKay Photography Academy to Tanzania. Out of nearly 10,000 people, her name was drawn and from there her travel photography journey took fl ight.

“It was surreal, here I was a nobody from a small town in Georgia and they were boarding us up onto Jeeps, saying we were going to see lions, cheetahs and zebras,” Bardin recounted.

Bardin explained that she fl ew into Amsterdam before she, along with other McKay Photography Academy students, were then were taken to Tanzania, where every day the photography group would go out into the fi eld and drive around, shooting photographs of whatever they could fi nd.

It wasn’t hard to spot a variety of wildlife, as the trip took place during the Great Migration period.

“We got to see a really epic river crossing,” she said.

Bardin quickly learned one of her favorite animals to capture was big cats, stating there is just something really amazing about them.

She reminisced on one of her last nights in Tanzania, when they were given a tip about a female leopard sighting at the same location as a group of lions.

“Lions and female leopards are not friends,” Bardin explained. “So, you

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had lions to one side and the female leopard on the opposite side just perched up on top of the rock right at sunset. It was just insane.”

Photographing until sunset was not uncommon. Bardin said the photography safaris were all-day ordeals.

They would begin the day with breakfast at the tent camps, before loading up to snap photographs all day. They would then be brought box lunches to the fi eld where they were photographing.

“The camps were super stringent,” Bardin said. “We couldn’t be out past sunset; they are very mindful of taking care of the wildlife, because so much of Tanzania’s economy is based on tourism to see the animals.”

The whole experience was overwhelming to Bardin.

“You’re sitting there in these Safari jeeps half a world away just looking around and it’s surreal,” she said. “You begin to think is this reality, and it was and it was amazing.”

One of the most amazing things about Bardin’s whirlwind trip to Tanzania was a gift from her brother and his wife. The couple paid for Bardin to take a sunrise hot-air balloon ride over the Serengeti.

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Bardin said she awoke at the crack of dawn to go to the hot-air balloon and on their way there, they saw a mama and two baby cub cheetahs. However, when she fi nally arrived there were four hot-air balloons that each fi t 16 people.

She said during the trip, they fl ew over a lion with 7 or 8 cubs, along with elephants, giraff es and hippo pools.

Once the balloon landed, everyone was treated to a full English breakfast.

With such an amazing experience, it was no wonder Bardin wanted to take another photography trip this past year.

So, she embarked on a photography group trip in the climate opposite of what she had already experienced by visiting Iceland.

“In between the two there had been quite a bit of time, I had traveled out west a few times and up to Maine and did a workshop out in the Outer Banks, but I mostly stayed in the United States,” she said. “I really wanted to go to Iceland though, because that’s my dream bucket list and then I found a guy online whose work was amazing and had an opening on his photography group trip.”

Bardin opted into the trip in November, before fl ying to Iceland for 15 days in January with her photography group to partake in the workshop.

Bardin said she had to immediately begin ordering winter clothing due to the extreme conditions in Iceland.

“The weather there was crazy,” she recounted. “We would be in the middle of shooting a photograph and Brendan (the tour guide) would tell us to hold our tripods because we were about to have a little blizzard come through.”

Even with the 50 mph wind and tumultuous conditions, Bardin wouldn’t have traded the experience for the world.

“It was just exhilarating,” she said. “I had never experienced weather like that before.”

The weather extended throughout Bardin’s trip, which consisted of the “ring road.”

She said the team started in Reykjavik, before they moved to Kirkjufell, which is famous for fans of Game of Thrones.

After arriving in Kirkjufell, the crew drove to Akuyeri, where the visited Godafoss. After two days in Akuyeri, the group drove to the geo-thermal region, where they saw the Northern Lights in Myvatn.

They fi nally made their way to the south coast, where they photographed Diamond Beach, Jokulsarlon’s Glacier Lagoon and Black Sand Beach.

“I just had to take in that I’m really on Diamond Beach, which I’ve dreamed of for years and remind myself of how lucky I am,” Bardin said.

Bardin concluded by encouraging everyone to travel while they have chance, saying it is one of the very few things that makes people richer.

“I think the people I’ve met and the places I’ve been have changed me in so many ways and that’s something I cannot overstate to people,” she ended.

During her photography tour of Iceland, Becky was able to capture pictures of the Northern Lights, the church in Vik, and Godafoss of Akuyeri.

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