Posts Tagged ‘Travel’

It has been far too long since I had a blog entry.  For the sake of just getting something new posted I will be short on words, which apparently is something that I have a hard time doing according to my wife and the friends honest enough to tell me.  Interestingly enough, I can be a fairly quiet guy, but when it comes to putting words on paper, brief and to the point is not my style.  You would think that being a photographer, I would let the image do the speaking for me…………. for your sake, I will let it in this instance and will try to do so more in the future.

It is just around the corner and already the nights are beginning to dip into the 50’s.  When you walk outside in the morning and are met with a coolness instead of the thick humidity we have endured for the past several months in the South, my mind instantly floods with the potential activities that the coming weather is synonymous with. Camping, hiking, pumpkin carving, leaf pile jumping, fires, and roasting marshmallows in the backyard.

Oh and Fly Fishing of course.  I don’t even Fly Fish myself, mainly because I so thoroughly enjoy capturing those who immerse themselves in the outdoors.  Years ago, my passion for engaging in outdoor sports and adventure transitioned into documenting outdoor sports and adventure.  The camera and the need to create and capture the essence of the activity, surroundings, and people, became necessary to my fulfillment of  the activity itself.  I find it it to be the perfect blend.  It is impossible to document outdoor adventure and sports or the landscape itself, without being in it, taking certain risks, and engaging with it.  Whether it is climbing a rock face to get a better perspective, hiking several miles to a certain location, kayaking down a coastal river, or wading in a cold mountain stream, the physical effort it takes to be there, the vulnerability to the natural elements, and the ability to visually capture the experience or surroundings, perfectly fulfills my creative needs along with my need for adventure and the outdoors.  I absolutely love my job !

If you do fly fish and need a guide, John Monroe is a great one, but more importantly, he is a super nice guy that you will enjoy spending a day out on the river with.

This image is from a trip I took to San Paulo, Brazil to visit a friend.  For whatever reason I like this photo, probably in some respect to the fact that it is chaotic, which is what San Paulo feels like.  It is like New York city on steroids and is the most populous city in the Americas.  I happen to fly in the day the airline workers went on strike and ended up standing in the customs line for over 5 hours. With no way to communicate with my friend on the other side, I finally emerged through customs with no one to greet me.

Weighing my options, and not able to speak any Portuguese, I exchanged some currency and finally decided to show a cab driver the address I had written down on a piece of paper.  It was then that I experienced the most thrilling and nerve racking cab ride of my life, complete with motorcycle messengers racing in between traffic and kicking the cab if it dared impede their progress.   They are commonly referred to as “cachorros locos,” Portuguese for “mad dogs” and rightfully so.   One or two die every day doing their job.  Surprisingly, I made it to my friends place in one piece.  As interesting and cultural as San Paulo is, the ability to escape the chaos in a couple hours to some of the most beautiful beaches and small coastal towns in the world is what I found most appealing about the city.

This was back in the days of film when one of my clients was South Carolina State Parks.  It was after sunset on an incredibly calm summer evening.  If I recall correctly the exposure was around 20 seconds or so and the boat was so motionless that it is still sharp.  It was the last exposure of the night before I called it a day and went back to my tent for the night.  To think I actually had to wait several days before picking up the film from the lab to see the results……… boy have things changed in this business.

This image brings me back to my formative days.  After college in Baltimore I moved to Greenville, South Carolina to take a full time assistant position with a commercial photography studio.  After work on Friday I would head to the mountains to camp, hike, rock climb, kayak, and shoot.  It was during those two years of exploring that I fell in love with this region.  I was hooked……..and still am!

Rolling Kayaker on the Chattooga River on the South Carolina/ Georgia border.

This was a photo shoot of a Pheasant Hunt for “Garden & Gun”  in West Virginia.  It was a great assignment, but I was also thrilled to come back in one piece.  Walking ahead to be able to photograph them shooting over top of my head when the Pheasant was flushed out, was a little unnerving.  It was right around the time Dick Cheney shot his friend while hunting, which definitely affected my typical “these are experienced professionals, I have nothing to worry about”  mentality.

Pheasant Hunt in the fall at Primland Resort in West Virginia for a story in Garden & Gun Magazine.