We recently connected with Julya Lizarralde and have shared our conversation below.

Julya, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I started taking photos at a young age. Anytime my parents took us on vacations or road trips to see family, I was glued to my digital camera capturing anything we found interesting. I never really knew what I was doing, I just knew I was having a great time being able to document our adventures. It was in high school when I took my first photography class that I officially wanted to pursue this in some way. I took multiple classes and soon I found my style of photography, which is focused mostly on landscapes and city shots.

Looking back I wish I had taken it more seriously and invested more time into my photography skills. I look at investing time into your style as the most important skill to have as a photographer because that is how you stand out among others. I have been on hiatus for a little while with moving but I am in the process of creating new content to be able to share with my followers. Now that I am officially moved back to Coastal Georgia I am excited to show you new places to explore!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I moved to Savannah in 2020, I was attending Savannah College of Art and Design for my Master’s in Art History, and then COVID switched us to online learning. This made a huge impact on me since I had just moved and had not met many people. At this point, I had not practiced photography in a long time but with nothing to do at home, I decided to develop my Instagram page Taking Savannah, which is now Touring the South. The goal was to share my photography while also giving tourists tips and tricks on how to “take” Savannah. The new goal is to be able to share places all over the South for people to have options to explore without the guessing of “will this be worth it?”

Since September 2022, I have accepted a Museum Director job. Touring the South was always supposed to be a hobby/passion that I planned to do on the side. I just wanted a place to showcase my photography and to help people who wanted to visit different cities. I am proud of how far I have come, especially since I have moved twice since I started it. With that being said I will be dedicating more time to this and I cannot wait to see what I can create and share with you.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The best advice I can give is to just start. Although I don’t have a huge following on Touring the South, I focus on what I am interested in. My content may not be for everyone and that’s okay. If you are doing something you are passionate about then show others!

I started my page for myself and luckily I was able to meet people who had the same interests as I did. I never set out to be the best page about Savannah, because there are many. I was just focused on showing what I thought were great photos and I will continue to do that.

If you have a vision, then run with it!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I think the biggest resource I wish I had when I began was more insight into how social media actually worked. I did not know about algorithms or audience and how it impacts your views on the content you post. Honestly, I still do not understand everything about social media and I am constantly learning.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @touringthesouth
• Facebook: Touring the South

Image Credits
Portrait Photo – By Bonnie Photography