An ill-thought-out trip to a foreign continent is a rite of passage for many young creatives. For photographer Roger Swimming, trading the sun-kissed streets of his native Sydney for work in dreary London proved to be a creative baptism.

“My hope was to leave things to be spontaneous, see some new sights and kind of figure out where I wanted to go with my art making and other shit in general,” he says.

Though his favoured medium of paint was restricted by a lack of studio space, Swimming used this opportunity to turn to drawing and photography. During his time in London, he would throw whatever cash he could at travel.

“These photographs are the result of trips taken to Southern Spain, France, a little bit of the East and West coasts of the US and a good portion of Great Britain,” Swimming says. His logic behind these expeditions? “It gives me a good excuse to get lost.”

• Photography by: Roger Swimming