On our last holiday, we tried two new things -thank you Sheri and Nadine for suggesting them. Since we really enjoyed both, I wanted to share them in a couple of posts in case you want to try them. If you missed the first post in this series, have a look at our family’s experience trying out our first audio tour.

Quick note: Some of the links below are affiliates, the thoughts and opinions are all my own. I’m always excited to share my favourite things with you, save you money when I can, and in so doing may collect a small commission at no cost to you. It’s a great way that you can support my blog.

Flytographer

When I first heard about Flytographer I didn’t really understand how it worked. I remember thinking that while it sounded interesting, it was likely too expensive for our travel budget. Given I was just starting my travel blog, I thought I would learn more and perhaps write about it, so I did what I always do some research.

First, I was excited to find that Flytographer was a Canadian company and even more invested when I learned it was a local business from my hometown of Victoria, British Columbia. I was intrigued by the founder’s story and could certainly relate to the idea of wanting to bring home the memories of our holidays in our pictures. Remember I love a good photobook and the different ways of documenting our adventures to relive on those post-holiday rainy days. I listened to a couple of interviews about the growing business and found myself nodding along and seeing how this idea took off.

I am often frustrated when I hand off my phone to a helpful stranger on a holiday and they end up cutting out the background we were there to visit. Like many family historians trying to capture our shared memories, I am the photographer and as a result I’m rarely in any of our family photos. Another piece that resonated with me was the idea of getting to connect with a local. Every time we travel, we make a point of talking with and getting suggestions from as many locals as we can. This advice has rarely steered us wrong. It has led to some of the best restaurant recommendations, hikes, and activities of our holidays. I loved the idea that you get a photo shoot and an hour with a local who can tell you all the things they love about their city.

Here’s How it Works

Now convinced that I needed to try this I had a look at how it worked. First, you find your travel destination, then you choose a photographer and enter your preferred date and time. Next you confirm how big your group is and choose your package. Then you choose a shoot location or route depending on the city. Each photographer has a gallery of their photos and a little bit about themselves online. Alternatively, you can just roll the dice and pick the next available photographer. You can likely guess, I didn’t choose this option. Out of the dozen or so photographers on Maui, I liked Marie. I loved a couple of her photos, which were exactly what I was hoping for. I read about her favourite beach to take pictures and was all set to proceed. The cost for a 60-minute session is $385US. For this, you get 30 digital photos that you own. They offer the option to buy prints and photobooks through Flytographer, but there is no obligation to do so.

Trying it Out

As we hadn’t planned and saved for this in advance as part of our trip, we decided to think about it before jumping in. We hadn’t had family photos taken in six years and I had been talking about doing this and never getting around to it for about a year. The cost of Flytographer was similar if not less than hiring a photographer locally to take our pictures. In the end, my husband surprised us and booked it for our trip and I’m so glad that he did. He had a couple of minor issues when booking as Marie wasn’t available on our original dates and it took a little back and forth before he had everything set up. We were flexible on dates and excited to work with her so were glad that it all worked out. The customer doesn’t connect directly with the photographer, this is all handled directly through Flytographer. Once confirmed Flytographer shared tips on everything from outfit selection, to the details on connecting with our photographer, what to bring to the shoot, and how long it takes to get your photos (five business days).

Since we booked so close to leaving on our trip, I had to quickly figure out what everyone would wear for a beach photoshoot. I learned that prints weren’t a great option so chose solid neutrals, navy, beige and white. While the guys were easy, I had to quickly find dresses for Emma and me, which we just managed. It also meant taking along a couple of extras that we wouldn’t usually travel with in our carry-on suitcases, but we fit it all in. Prepping for our shoot led to some funny family stories. The iron in our vacation rental was not pretty so Robin hung out in the shower with our dress clothes to get a few suitcase wrinkles out. In the end, these are all part of the experience that we will remember alongside our family photos.

The day before our photo shoot we got a text from our local photographer, Marie on WhatsApp and confirmed our meeting spot. Marie was a genuinely fantastic person who we were happy to share an hour of our holiday with and in turn, she put us at ease, made it fun, and shared some of her favourite places on Maui. She even offered that we could text her if we had any questions during the rest of our visit.

Best of all she took the most amazing photos of our family and captured the story and memories of our time together. The experience itself was one of our trip highlights. We started following her lead and taking directions and as the hour ended the kids were splashing in the ocean soaked and laughing. Good thing we had a towel with us for the car ride home. Out the window went the idea of us all going out for dinner in our fancy clothes, instead, we had to hose everyone off.

We got access to our digital photos through a web portal as we were sitting in the airport waiting to board our flight home and these were hands down the best souvenir of our trip. We ended up with over 100 photos and they are all fantastic. I’ve shared a few of my favourites below. Needless to say, this was an amazing experience and something that I have been telling everyone to try. If you end up giving it a go, here is a link to save $25 off your first Flytographer shoot. Please add a comment or send me a message about your family’s experience.