Cam’s Journey

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

A man in casual clothing holding a camera, walking on a cobblestone street in a small town with hillside houses and trees in the background.

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.

A man wearing cowboy hat and sunglasses sitting in a black Jeep with a beige cover, smiling and waving inside a building with blue walls and shelves in the background.

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)

A man riding a motorcycle beside a retro van on a rural road surrounded by leafless trees under a cloudy sky during sunset.

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.

A small wooden cabin with people inside and outside, surrounded by trees.
A truck driving on a rural road with open fields, trees, and mountains under a partly cloudy sky.
A pickup truck driving on a rural highway with a surfboard and other items in its bed, with mountains, cloudy sky, and power lines in the background.
Group of five friends smiling outdoors on a dirt path during sunset, with a small orange building behind them.

“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

A man with a beard and glasses sitting at a wooden table in a dimly lit outdoor restaurant at night, wearing a black puffy jacket and a cap, with a laptop and camera on the table.
Black and white photograph of a tropical landscape with a rocky foreground, dense shrubbery, and numerous tall palm trees against a partly cloudy sky.
Two smiling men taking a selfie outdoors near a building with a window framed in blue.
A painted portrait of a woman on the mud flap of an old, rusty vehicle surrounded by muddy ground and greenery.
Man hiking in a grassy mountain landscape under a partly cloudy sky
A sunny view of a rural neighborhood with houses, trees, and mountains in the background under a clear blue sky.
A man with a beard and dark hair, wearing a black puffer jacket, leans over on a dark table near a window with wooden frames, in a room with white walls and a pineapple with spiky green leaves on the table. A yellow water bottle is on the table, and there are two wooden chairs and a bench in the background.

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.

A man with a beard and cap standing outdoors with a camera hanging around his neck, street scene with houses and mountains in the background.

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.

A man standing knee-deep in a river, holding a pair of hiking shoes in one hand, wearing a gray long-sleeve shirt, black shorts, a hat, and sunglasses hanging around his neck, making a shaka sign with his other hand.
Two women walking arm in arm down a cobblestone street in a small town with colorful houses on either side, overhead power lines, and a cloudy sky in the background.
Two men playing backgammon at a wooden table in a cozy room, with drinks nearby and a couch in the background.
A man standing on a boat, looking out over a body of water with trees on the shore in the background.
An older man with gray hair smiling while holding a surfboard, standing in a rustic, wood-paneled room.
Black and white photo of a man with a beard and cap holding a camera, standing outdoors near a car, with hills and houses in the background.
A man with a beard and dark hair sitting in a dark space, holding a black bag and a yellow object, with part of a bus or train window visible in the background.

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.

A smiling man holding a phone, standing outdoors at night with a wall decorated with colorful festive lights in the background. Several people are standing along the wall, some with arms crossed, in a festive or social gathering setting.