So here you’ll find a little history on me, not so much what I’m like but what lead me to the start of this journey. Obviously I love travel but throughout my life so far I’ve had minimal “travel funds”. I’m a big fan of the “road trip” and have done quite a few shorter trips down the West coast of North America and into the American Southwest.

I wasn’t sure how far back I should go in my history but decided it would pertinent to reveal a little more about my nature as I’m not a teenager anymore. The fact of the matter is, I’ve enjoyed a younger persons life so far. I played drums in many rock and roll bands over the years, traveling British Columbia and Alberta Canada extensively in cover bands when just starting out and then getting to see parts of Canada from the windows of a 15 passenger van through the late nineties in a Canadian Pop/Rock band named Zuckerbaby that was signed to a major label. Experiencing such things as Quebec City in the autumn, Montreal in the summer, a Glimpse of P.E.I and so on just fueled my passion to eventually get back and photograph them and everything in between.

Since those days in ZB I’ve lived in Vancouver, working as a freelance web designer/developer for the past 12 plus years and still playing music locally up until November 2008 when I decided I wanted to focus my time and “money” into my photography. I’ve had my own exhibitions, sold some prints and have been selling some stock photography on a few sites. I simply want and need to take the time to get it to the next level, like years of drumming has taught me, one must be doing something all the time to be any good. During the years 2006-2008 I was busy working for a company based out of Las Vegas, Nevada handling all their new site designs and web development needs. This was a great gig and aside from allowing me to afford some of my own road trips, they also flew me down regularly for meetings and face time which allowed me to take weekends away from the glitz of Sin City and see other parts of the Southwest. Life was moving along swimmingly until George Bush’s great legacy finally caught up with him and the whole general economy took a bath. In October 2008 I lost the Las Vegas client and was back to square one.

Since then, freelance web gigs have been few and far between. Companies everywhere are cutting people left, right and center and no one is spending money. Jobs are now being fought over by hundreds of designers and developers and freelancing has become almost pointless. For the past two years I’ve been on the list at a major Canadian recruitment agency and even that has spawned no results. Awhile back I called up an old acquaintance who works as a Assistant Locations Manager in the film industry and started to get some work, (albeit scattered) as a Production Assistant, the lowest paying, shittiest job in the industry, but it was work. It also got me interested in being a Stills Photographer in the film industry. This is apparently a great job once you get in and start working. The “getting in” part is like being a white Irish church librarian trying to become part of the Corleone Family. I have five of my 100 DAYS needed to apply to the union. I need 95 more days on a non-union production so if you have a film shoot coming and need a stills guy, let me know.

So I’ve decided to try something a bit left of ordinary.  I’m leaving my apartment and selling my belongings, putting all my faith in myself and my abilities as a photographer and going for broke. I will either succeed, sustaining myself as I travel the continent or I’ll fail and have to come back and start completely over. For me, the risk is worth it as I’m tired of the way things are currently.

Even with a little extra money in the bank from the sale of my “stuff” my trip is going to be on a VERY slim budget. I will be learning more as I go and documenting how one can road trip, live and continue moving on the minimal of budgets. As I progress through the upcoming months sustaining the trip will depend a lot on the sales of my photographic prints so please take a look and order anything you like.

Why? ….Why Not?

Why not has become my answer of choice for a lot of things lately. In October 2009 I said why not and I went on a four month solo road trip across Canada during what many would think is this worst time of year. I had an experience of a lifetime. I took almost a terabyte’s worth of raw photographs. I saw things and experienced “quiet” that most people will never experience. I learned many new things about myself. I learned how valuable good friends are. I learned that fear is the enemy and that it’s only a product of our ego, the one that was developed through years of society’s prefabricated bullshit. I learned that it’s VERY okay to be free.

Then I got home. Feeling renewed and excited at first which was also prolonged by the energy produced by hosting the Olympic games in my home city. Vancouver did a great job with the Olympics but at what cost? Just as prior to my winter trip I started to again look for work in the over-saturated Vancouver web design/graphics industry. Sending out 3-5 resumes and applications a day. Again, I was back to getting no replies. I looked into the upcoming film and TV shoots for work and saw how many were actually wrapping shooting for the season, a job I really didn’t want anyway. So back to freelancing I went. Low balling bids just to get the work and then nickle and dime’ing piece work and juggling bills to sustain the most meager of existence here in the city I call home. Basically scraping by only to do it all over again next month. This people, is not life. This is a mild form of hell.

So I looked around my small bachelor apartment and I wondered again why I was paying for this box and what is this stuff that I have crammed into it. A drum kit from a past life that has been collecting dust for almost two years. A passion once yes, and it will hurt a part of me to watch it go but really, lets be realistic. A big screen TV that I hardly ever watch as I’m always working and I can’t even afford the cable anyway. Some prints of my photography that I have outgrown artistically. ..and a room full of miscellaneous furniture and home items that mean nothing. Dead weight. I decided to liquidate my life of this clutter and use the money to experience life and new places while again shooting everything I can find with my camera and advancing my photographic abilities, my artistic vision and once again attempting to build my portfolio, (those of you who followed my winter trip know of the mishap I’d prefer not speak of). Material things are just that, things. From the smallest trinket to the largest mansion none of it is ever truly OURS. We can’t put it into a container the day before our death and take it with us to wherever it is we go next. It gets dispersed to those we leave behind or perhaps the very bank that you payed those mortgage payments to for decades gets it back to sell to the next sucker. I want the life that flashes before my eyes at the moment of my death to be well worth the price of admission.

I know that some will think I’m crazy, some will wonder why I’m doing this just to see “North America” when there’s so many other places to go. Well the answer is that North America is a place I can feasibly start for now. If my plan goes “as planned” and yes I do have one, this North American tour will only be one of many steps and trips. It’s starting with what I know and knowing what I can expect, knowing that I can get more than a lifetime’s worth of photographs here. It also has a built in safety contingent in the fact that if “my plan” blows up in my face I can crawl home to family relatively easy. This however, in my mind, is NOT an option. Trust me, I’d love the chance to spend years in South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, the list goes on. For now though, I will experience what I can get to on my own.

As I venture out and take this extended trip I will be looking for localized photographic gems wherever I go, shots that unless one is really looking for them they would not be found. Old cars, barns, houses, landscapes and scenes that exist off of the beaten path. Basically whatever I can find that interests me will be captured. This is what I love to do.

Leaving Home

Will I miss the comforts of home? It’s funny, I answered this question totally different before I went on my last trip. Listing things like my TV and my dual monitors, my bed etc as things that I would miss. What I realized when I was gone is that I didn’t really miss those things at all. What I missed was my friends and my family, my favorite coffee shop, mainly because my friends and I have spent a lot of time there over the years and it contains many memories. These are the friends who have all encouraged me to go on my adventures and will be here when I return. Most of them truly understand me and the ones that may not, still support me because they know I’m going to do it anyway. If I am one thing, it’s tenacious.

As I re-read the above paragraph something somewhat telling has occurred to me. Since I’ve been back from my last trip, trying to get things up and running, stressing over finding that new “great job”, the money, bills and the upcoming rent I have literally slept in the aforementioned “bed” an amount of times that can be counted on two hands. I usually pass out on my couch to something redundant on my “kickass TV” because I’m too stressed to shut off quietly in complete silence.

Funny how that when I’m on the road, living out of a truck, taking photographs all day, I can sleep like a baby.

Transportation:

Black 2007 Nissan Xterra affectionately named Betty, after Betty Page, (they’re both dirty brunettes). I got this vehicle back when I was making money and had decent credit. My credit has now been shot so I’ve been fighting to keep the truck as it will be a long time before I’ll be approved for another. Since I’m paying for it I figured I should be using it, especially since I bought it to help me get to remote places that I wanted to explore photographically.

Accommodation:

See above. No seriously. I have a fitted SUV air mattress that I bought for camping and good sleeping bag. Budget is at a minimum and so will any motel rooms.

Camera Gear:

I have all my gear in a camera backpack that isn’t light in weight. (I should weigh it actually). In it I have as follows:

• 1 Nikon D200 body
• 1 Nikon AF-S Zoom ED 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G
• 1 Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4
• 1 Tamron AF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di LD Macro
• 1 Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 DX Fisheye.
• 1 Nikon 35-80mm f/4-5.6D AF Zoom
• 1 heavy duty (and heavy) Manfrotto tripod with head
• 1 SB800 flash unit
• 1 Wolverine 80 gb portable media storage unit
• 1 cable release cord
• Colored gels for light painting
• Multiple flashlights for light painting
• Head lamp
• Extra batteries and flash cards
• First aid kit
• Cheap Walmart stop watch

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