Travel Vision
"Anything more than 500 yards from the car just isn’t photogenic.”
Edward Weston
“Being in your element is not only about aptitude, it’s about passion: it is about loving what you do … tapping into your natural energy and your most authentic self.”
Sir Ken Robinson
When I was 19, my world view, created on the sidewalks of Brooklyn, was beginning to move away from Motown towards Hendrix and then Coltrane. I was opening up to new ideas. I already had a crush on photography, I just wasn’t sure how to court her. It was then that I saw a photograph of Ansel Adams working in the wilderness which created a spark that lit a lifelong fire to take my cameras out onto the open road. Some wanted to be a Beatle, others Willie Mays. Neighborhood dreams. I wanted to be the guy on top of Ansel’s car. I didn’t get the car platform, but my parents gave me the keys to the highway and a blessing to follow the light.
That which drove me in my youth continues to this day. Each and every journey has brought me something to build on, whether the final results were “successful” or not. There have been many unsuccessful photographs, but those failures have taught me how to appreciate and understand the successes. Like the musicians I worship, I am dedicated to practice. I am still in love with the process; the joys of planning destinations and preparing equipment. I am always on the hunt for moments of consideration in places grandiose or sublime. And always, for the light.
Property of The University of Arizona, © 1942 Cedric Wright
courtesy of Geoffrey Ithen