Learn the best ways to capture and preserve your travel memories. | PHOTO: WAVEBREAKMEDIAMICRO/ADOBE STOCK
How to Keep Your Summer Road-Trip Memories Alive
Live and Learn: Before hitting the road, pick up the skills you need to preserve your adventures — through perfect pictures and meaningful mementoes.
By Kate Rae
There’s something magical about a summer road trip, but once the bags are unpacked, those vivid moments can get blurry. The good news? With a little creativity and the right skills, it’s easy to turn those fleeting experiences into memories that last. Whether through photography, scrapbooking or journalling, here’s how to document your travels. Try these classes before you head out and you’ll be able to revisit those road-trip experiences long after the dust settles. We’ve rounded up the best places to learn these skills — both online and in-person.
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Smartphone Photography
Photography: Digital SLR or Film
Scrapbooking
Journalling and Junk Journalling
Smartphone Photography
There’s a popular expression in photography circles: The best camera is the one you have with you, and for many travellers, the smartphone has become the ultimate storytelling tool. With just one device, you can capture photos, record video, edit clips and even create short travel films.
In-person: Professional photographer Gabrielle Touchette has been teaching photography for 17 years. She offers custom workshops in smartphone photography, helping you unlock your camera’s full potential, master its settings and strengthen both technical and creative skills. Touchette can also teach you effective photo editing techniques.
- Workshop customized to your needs
- One-on-one or groups
- Visit gabrielletouchette.com
Online: Smartphone photography educator Andrea Rees runs virtual workshops. Her small-group classes tackle everything from learning how to overcome your phone’s limitations to editing your images. She offers private online classes too if your preference is one-on-one support.
- Two one-hour sessions
- Cost: $250
- Visit andrearees.com
Photography: Digital SLR or Film
While smartphone cameras are wonderfully convenient and getting better all the time, a digital SLR provides greater creative control. Adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and ISO can help you capture a wide range of images, from dramatic landscapes to moody low-light marshmallow roasting. Film photography is also experiencing a resurgence, allowing you a chance to slow down and spend more time on each shot, making every image feel intentional.
In-person: Take “The City at Night,” a digital photography course with Rafid Hasim through the Winnipeg Photography Group. This course is designed to help you develop your skills for shooting at night by teaching you how to use your camera settings and ambient light for best results.
- Two-hour workshop
- Downtown Winnipeg, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday June 21, 2026
- Cost: $49
- Visit winnipegphotography.group
Online: To get familiar with your camera, consider George Brown College’s Continuing Education’s “Digital Photography Fundamentals,” which teaches you how to choose exposure settings, solve focus problems and critique your own images.
- 21-hour online course
- Cost: $327
- Visit coned.georgebrown.ca
Scrapbooking
Instead of scrolling through a camera roll, you can opt for scrapbooks, which allow you to physically flip through the story of a trip. And your road-trip travel scrapbook can go beyond photos, too. Think small mementoes — maps, ticket stubs, postcards and even pressed flowers. For support and inspiration, check out a “crop” — where crafters meet in person to work on their projects — at a scrapbooking store near you. These get-togethers can range from a couple of hours to weekend-long retreats.
In-person: Visit creative shop Love is in the Details, in Winkler (about 100 km SW of Winnipeg), to explore new scrapbooking techniques and to socialize during their classes, crops and special events. Several courses are available on their calendar with a weekly drop-in crop, where you can use the studio space, connect and learn a thing or two from other crafters.
- Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
- Cost: Free (bring your own supplies)
- Visit loveisinthedetails.ca
Online: The Scrapbook and Cards Today Travel Tool Kit walks you through the process of preserving your memories. You’ll get pre-trip tips too and the opportunity to learn how to capture the feeling of your adventures through your layouts.
- Five self-guided classes
- Cost: $35
- Visit scrapbookandcards.com
Journalling and Junk Journalling
Travel journalling allows you to capture details that cannot be expressed by photos and would otherwise fade — say, conversations in the car, unexpected detours or the feeling of pine needles underfoot at a campsite. Junk journalling adds a creative twist by mixing writing with collage, ticket stubs, maps, receipts and stickers as part of the page and turning everyday objects into art.
In-person: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) in Winnipeg offers a junk-journalling workshop. No costly crafting materials needed — just gather your best “junk” for this eco-friendly crafting event and be inspired by junk-journal ideas and artistry from other attendees.
- Site 3 at Crescent Drive Park
- Cost: Pay-what-you-can and bring your own “junk” supplies
- Visit 3common.com
Online: Crafting supply retailer Michaels offers online classes that will teach you some junk journalling basics. “Ephemera Art Journalling with Mod Podge” provides tips and techniques to make your paper mementoes pop off the pages.
- One module
- Cost: Free
- Visit michaels.com
Get started
Road trips are packed with many moments you don’t want to forget. Capture them while they’re fresh and turn them into something that keeps the story alive long after the drive is over. CAA
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Smartphone Photography
Photography: Digital SLR or Film
Scrapbooking
Journalling and Junk Journalling