I was recently visiting family in NYC and had a free afternoon in Manhattan. While I had a wishlist a mile long of possible photography spots, especially if fall colors were cooperating, the weather had other ideas. I generally don’t mind shooting in poor weather – sometimes I even enjoy it – but on this day it was really pouring and most trees in Central Park weren’t showing fall colors.
So, onto Plan B.
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The outdoors and travel were my first passions, and photography became a natural extension of those pursuits. I love setting goals and making shit happen, so with my 40th birthday a little more than 4 years out, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to create a challenge that will get me doing more of the things I love.
This spring I had the great opportunity to visit South Africa, as well as Lesotho and Swaziland. The genesis of the trip was an invite from a friend who was going to visit another friend in Kruger National Park, who is a researcher there. This afforded some behind-the-scenes experiences, including going along for buffalo captures (brief captures to collect data and then release them). In addition to our time with the researchers, we had several days on our own in Kruger, as well as time in Johannesburg, Swaziland, and Lesotho.
Since I typically shoot landscapes, it was a fun change of pace to have such a strong focus on wildlife (later in the trip, in Lesotho, I did predominantly shoot landscapes). As with any trip, no matter how new or familiar, I always take away a few lessons learned, or at least confirmations of past lessons. In no particular order…
Earlier this fall I was fortunate enough to take a trip through Nepal. While my dream was to do a trek in the area, for a few reasons that wasn’t in the cards this time, so instead I took more of a grand tour of the country. This ended up being great as I saw more of the country than I probably would have had I only trekked.
Travel, especially to a Third World country, can provide certain challenges. That’s part of the allure, but I believe knowing a few things before departing can help you make the most of your trip, while not necessarily taking away the excitement of dealing with challenges along the way. Below are a few lessons learned that may help in your own planning for a similar trip.
We recently returned from a two week trip to Iceland and Norway in winter, a bucket-list trip for many photographers. Both have recently grown significantly in terms of photo tourism, both summer and winter, and you may think, “it’s overdone!” but it’s popular for a reason. Yes, it can be crowded, even in winter now, but it’s still worth a visit. Or two! (more…)
This past summer I volunteered for Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC), a statewide nonprofit that engages volunteers in stewardship projects across the state. This includes restoration work, invasive weed control, trail maintenance, new trail construction, and more.
Previously, I had photographed other trail work trips I had been on (see previous post, American Hiking Society (AHS) Annual Report Cover), but this was the first time where I got to primarily photograph, rather than primarily work while occasionally grabbing the camera for a quick shot. It was a fun change of pace (not that hard labor isn’t fun too!) and a good excuse to photograph something besides landscapes. (more…)
