Headin’ west
I’ll be trekking through Colorado and New Mexico for the next few days. As usual, I’ll post photos when possible. It will be a driving trip this time which feels good. I’m ready for a break from airports, baggage weight restrictions, and cramped seating. Gas around here has even dropped below $3 so it’s all good. I love driving, too. Seeing the gradual changes in landscape and having a real feeling of distance is much preferable in my mind to being plopped down in a new place with no bearings or feeling of relationship between where you came from and where you find yourself. No, a long drive can be a very good thing.
Oh, and this shot is from a trip I made to the Four Corners area last year with my Photodudes buddies. Guys — we need to hit the road again together soon!
Ditto on the Photodudes trip. We are way over due… besides… I need something to do while I’m homeless…
-Bruce
How do you decide where you’re going to photograph? Are you assigned projects based on a client’s wishes, or do you determine what you want to pursue?
Love your photographs – I’ve been following for about two years and I check in several times a week to see what’s new.
Take a trip up to SW Wyoming to see the wild horses and the wide-open terrain – well-worth your time!
-Justin S.
Hi Justin – thanks for visiting and good question. A lot of things go into deciding where I will photograph. Sometimes it is purely an assignment by a client that needs images of a particular place or event. Other times I will self-assign something that I think will do well as stock – like fall color or a new museum or attraction that doesn’t already have a lot of coverage and seems newsworthy.
Then there are trips that come my way through organizations I belong to like the Society of American Travel Writers. They have several conferences a year that are hosted by destinations that want press coverage. Attending these conferences isn’t free but I can often combine several of these reasons for traveling into one trip to offset costs. The trip I’m on now, for instance, will partially be a hosted trip in New Mexico that I’m attending by invitation. I’m also doing some architectural work on the way down for a manufacturing client and I’m shooting and doing several interviews for a new video podcast that my wife and I are launching this Fall. More on that later.
I would love to see the horses in Wyoming. A friend of mine photographed them last year during a heavy snow and his shots are great! It’s definitely on my list.
- Michael