Photography, Adventure, and the Open Road

I've never been particularly good at taking relaxing vacations.

Give me a long weekend, a weather forecast, and a full tank of gas, and there's a good chance I'll end up chasing fog somewhere in the Smoky Mountains, sleeping in the back of my Toyota Sienna, and setting an alarm that most reasonable people would ignore.

For me, photography and road travel have always gone hand in hand. The camera is usually the excuse, but the real draw is the adventure that happens along the way.

Some trips start with a specific photograph in mind. Others begin with a promising weather model, a storm forecast, or a free weekend on the calendar. Either way, I've learned that some of the best photographs happen when there's enough flexibility to follow curiosity wherever it leads.

That's one of the reasons I love vehicle-based travel. It creates space for spontaneous detours, overlooked backroads, and places that never would have made it onto a carefully planned itinerary. Some of my favorite photographs from Tennessee, Western North Carolina, and the Blue Ridge Mountains happened because I pulled over for "just a minute" and ended up staying an hour.

Over time I've realized that photography isn't really about collecting images. It's about collecting experiences. The camera simply gives me a way to bring a piece of those experiences home.