There’s something so beautiful about The Vista’s Instagram feed. Something that makes you feel you’ve stepped back in time to an age where there was no television, no digital distractions. And yes, we do realise the irony of this considering we came across it via our iPhone.

Meeting the website’s founder Julia Ashwood at a skincare launch earlier this morning, the former marketing and communications expert was just as The Vista’s feed would suggest – easy-going, relaxed, friendly and super stylish. But catching Julia at a beauty event in Sydney city is very much a rarity these days. Living a life inspired by wanderlust and adventure, she has removed herself from the rat race – living in an old farmhouse in Northern NSW with her husband and daughter, Delilah Bee.

While there are so many things we wanted to chat to Julia about (in fact, we are doing a follow-up article in a few weeks about her top travel tips – so keep an eye out for that one), we settled on finding out from her just how she goes about capturing enchanting shot-after-shot for The Vista’s Instagram feed…

What photography equipment do you take on each trip?
We take a Contax T2 and an iPhone.

What are your top tips for capturing the perfect travel shot?
I love capturing an emotion, even if it’s a landscape – it still has a beautiful emotion. A moody sky or a soft grass… I love texture. It’s often nice to have a human element to your shot, and of course framing is important too.

Your lighting in your Insti posts is consistently amazing. How do you go about capturing this light?
My favourite time to shoot is at sunrise and sunset, especially in places like California. The light is STUNNING but much too hot to shoot in the middle of the day.

How much editing goes into your travel shots?
When I shoot on film, it’s a bit of a rule not to touch them; that’s the beauty of film – it’s usually perfect just the way it is! With an iPhone, you will almost always need to tinker with the brightness or saturation.

What equipment would you suggest for an amateur photographer?
Start out with a point-and-shoot film camera with a nice lens, they all have an automatic setting to help you out. I’m still learning about my camera and I have had it for three years! When travelling, film just has so much beauty about it. It’s more about the memory than the perfect shot.

All images: @The_Vista