In recent times travel photography has turned into more accessible and an attractive genre. However t is believed that it is still an underestimated and relatively less monetised genre. However Travel Photographers face challenges which are lot greater than some of the genres where the light and other shooting conditions may be controllable. In Sri Lanka you really do not meet a lot of people who actually are interested in Travel Photography. But if you are one of those who are interested in travel and have an account on Instagram then you should be definitely following the account, ‘Travel with Wife.’ So this week we are bringing you the story behind Chamri and Kasun Deegodagamage who are the owners of the YouTube channel, Instagram and FaceBook accounts named Travel with Wife.
Tell us what made you start a YouTube channel focusing travel?
Actually we did not plan any of this. It was a coincidence. We did not think of starting a channel or anything of that sort because of that we had no idea as such to “Choose” travel for it.
We only wanted to post pictures we took whenever we travelled. And It is not like we travel most of the time but we do when we get a free time, mostly on weekends. With time and response we got for the pictures we posted, we started to travel more often than before since we wanted to put more pictures of the places we travel. Later it became a “must.”
What was your first video about? Where was it shot?
We first shot a video when we went to Kandy for our Anniversary. That we did because we always posted pictures only. But we did not post it. After we shot that, we went to Gampola. During that trip we were actually able to shoot good clips from the phone as well as from my phone and that we edited it and posted.
When did you think of making better content with more creative ideas?
That was when Ideal Hell came into the picture. They have seen our videos and expressed interest to provide us with the equipment and other help needed to create videos of a better quality and content. After we joined them only we learnt most of the technical stuff with regard to making videos and reaching out to the audience. With Idea Hell we included our experiences to the video as well and it worked well. It was indeed a great support for us since we were just starting.
How would you describe the experience of shooting and creating content?
Talking to the camera was very awkward at first because we have not done anything like that. We did not know what to tell and how it has to be done to make it more appealing to the audience. We shot one single clip for more than ten times at first. It was that difficult for us. But with time we got used to it and now it is just a matter of getting the locations right.
The name, Travel with Wife is very catchy and simple. How did you select that name for your channel?
We were looking for a name for our channel. But could not find one we actually liked. We always wanted to put a name which is easy to remember and something not too complicated. And once when we were talking to Chathura Alwis regarding this, we just said how about we put Travel with wife? We were not that serious when we suggested it. But Chathura said that it is actually a good name and we should go for it. Then we searched whether it is available for us to put it as our channel name and it was. So that is how we got this name.
What places do you recommend as a ‘Must’ visit ones?
Definitely, Ella, Sigirya and Jaffna. Pasikuda, Mirissa, Mannar and Trincomalee too. When we went to Jaffna last time, we had a great experience during our stay there. But we were not doing videos back then. However we are planning to do a series videos in Jaffna, soon and also Trinco. Ella is one great place too especially for hikes.
Do you do brand endorsements? If so how?
Whatever we do we tell them that we cannot lose our focus. So if we are endorsing any brand/product it has to be relevant to us and within our space. Also we should mention that almost all the people we have worked with have never tried to force us to put something unnecessary into our videos to lose the focus of ours when creating travel videos. So far we are quite happy about the people who approached us and wanted to be a part of our videos for been understanding and supportive of what we want to do.
How has the response been since the initial stages of the channel?
It has been quite tremendous. But it is not like everyone liked what we were doing. Especially at first we got some negative, discouraging comments which had no basis at all and it was all unnecessary issue they were trying to create. At one point we thought of just giving up on the whole thing. But later we realised that some people will only talk bad about you whatever you do and if we are doing something worthwhile that is what matters. So we continued creating content.
We should specially thank Janith Rodrigo of Idea Hell who introduced all of this every passing day. Also our parents and our viewers. They help us in so many ways not only by encouraging us but by suggesting places when we tell them that our next travel video will be done in a particular destination. So it is easy for us to choose what locations we should include in the video. Keep supporting us and we hope to bring you all creative content from every video we do.
Future Plans?
We are planning to start a web site. On that we will be including all the details including the travel expenses. Because we get a lot of questions asking so many details about the videos in which we cannot put every single detail of the video. So we will include all the information needed if a person goes to a particular destination we have travelled so that it is easy for them to find lodging, food and main attractions of the location. And I hope our viewers will like it too. Also we will only be doing videos which cater to the mass audience and we will stay in our limits when shooting such videos. Our videos will always be made for all ages and it will not change.