On the second day of my two-week motorcycle trip I rode from Bend Oregon to Crescent City California and was struck by the image in my rearview mirror as I neared the border.
As I pulled over to grab a quick cell phone photo of the mirror I was reminded of the days when I photographed with film and always tried to keep 1 or 2 frames left over for the return to the car. I learned to do this because so often when I went out on a hike with the goal of making photographs of some destination I would inevitably return to the car and find out that I had overlooked the best image. I spent the first few years missing great photos because I had shot all my film at what was in front of me without any regard of what was behind.
I finally realized that I needed to save a few frames for the return trip. I think so much photography is driven by the top down thinking that is focused on the destination instead of the journey. This is why I have learned to adopt Eastern philosophy and a more bottom up sensory approach to image making. While I might have a destination in mind, I have learned to ignore the objective of the trip once I take the first few steps and to fully immerse myself in what is available to all my senses.
I didn’t take too many photographs on this trip but I sure enjoyed the journey.
