“At one point, I just put my camera in my backpack. I realized I had been looking at everything through its lens.”
-John Whitaker
Everything starts somewhere, although in many cases that beginning may not be particularly clear. This particular adventure has clarity of starting right now. It may have existed as an idea for over a year, and I’ve already spent two days in preparation, but this is where it takes off. This is where pencil first comes to paper so to speak.
And what better place to start than at home in Leona Valley, CA? In the garden, having just eaten 23 crayfish and a plate of salad. The sun is setting and there is much to be done because tomorrow is the departure. From now on, every photograph I take for the next six weeks will be published and paired with words written along the way. I’ll take photos when I want to but rarely more than one. In the book, you will get to see everything. Images and text together; we’ll see how those two work together. And I’ll get to learn about my relationship with photography – of course, if you want, you can learn something too. Learning together!
Here’s the layout:
a. I leave tomorrow on a 6+ week road trip with Sam VanGilder, a longstanding friend. Self described as, “a guy with many inspirations and goals focused in the arts with a seemingly debilitating supply of motivation.” We’ll be working together to draw a line on the map of the USA using parks, cities, friends, and family as guides.
b. A rough map has us navigating counterclockwise around the US. Starting in LA.
c. Our Chariot is a ’94 Toyota Tercel (Binkie is its given name), recently purchased from a friend for a G.
d. We’re bringing our bicycles. My Trek 660 and his Poké track bike.
e. I’ve got my Canon Powershot G9, a pencil and a pad, and a 13″ MacBook Pro
As the sun sets in the Western Mojave, the pink clouds fade to gray – silver – the highlights remain visible to our eyes; a river in the waves, downwards reaching puffs of cloud.
July 9th, 2010
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