Cam’s Journey

An American photographer recounts his 29-day Bespoke Journey across the heart of Brazil in 2018.

I’m an American, from Texas. I’ve been working with photography my whole life, and I’m also a woodworker & an inventor. I wouldn’t describe myself a world traveler, per se, but I’ve traveled quite a bit, especially in recent years, and especially after my GOGO trip.

I had been wanting to do an big trip for a long time, and had been planning on it (I think?) for at least a year. I was in a weird place professionally, and I wanted to reconnect with photography in a real, personal way; to be inspired again.

I grew up reading National Geographic, and I’d always wanted to go to Brazil. Of course, I ended up getting married about 2 weeks before my flight to São Paulo, so the timing could have been better. (laughs)

We traveled north from São Paulo, up through the mountains in Minas, then east towards the mountains in Bahia, then to the coast, and then back south. It was a lot of mileage (laughs). And it was very, very beautiful. Honestly, I had no idea that Brazil was like that. As far as itineraries go, it was definitely an epic.

“The first thing I always tell people is that it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The second thing I tell them is I would do it again tomorrow.”

— Cam cullen

I think one of the hardest parts about traveling the way we did is that you’re doing all of this crazy geographical & cultural exploration, while also being completely immersed in an entirely foreign culture. It’s kind of like, buckle up! You have to kind of accept this mentality that you don’t have any control. You’re just along for the ride, so you hold on and try to take in as much as you can in. And there’s a lot to take in.

Looking back, it’s like I was innocent at the beginning of the trip. I’d really only been outside of the country once—almost 20 years before—and while I had some expectations about the country, itself, I really had no idea what the next 30 days would bring in terms of the experience. It was truly transformational for me.

There were lots of hard parts (laughs). So many foreign situations and crazy challenges, both physically & psychologically. The night on the boat [on Day 20, when we traveled to an island off the coast of Bahia] might have been the height of the psychological challenge for me. Everything was suddenly new to me again: the people, the culture, our surroundings. We had been in these small pretty cities in São Paulo for a bit, and then in the mountains of Minas for a couple of weeks, and then suddenly, in Bahia, it was like nothing was familiar. I mean we were on a boat in the middle of the night! (laughs) I think we caught the last boat that night, and the scene at the dock was just complete chaos. The other people on the boat weren’t talking to one another. I think I was just out of my element to be honest; scared that something bad was going to happen to us. It was a mental thing and I know that now, but sometimes you go through that when you’re put into a foreign situation. (laughs) In the end, everything was awesome. The island was beautiful. But the feelings I had on the boat that night will always stay with me.

I’m grateful.

I called Eddie maybe 3 days after the trip, after I’d had some time to decompress (laughs). It’d been a long trip, and I felt like the last couple days of it had really taken a toll on me. I wanted to make sure he knew how grateful I was to have had such a profound experience. I felt like I’d gotten a master’s in Brazilian Studies and a life-changing experience at the same time, and all within 29 days. It was a much more epic trip than I had imagined. Literally, the adventure of a lifetime. I still think about it constantly, and I probably will for a long time.