Trippy

 

Though I haven't yet booked a flight to Denver, plans are proceeding apace.   The van is being upgraded, way out there in CO. Friends at that end are being most helpful!  Charles in Fort Collins, and Kathy in Denver have been so accomodating and encouraging, which has helped my confidence and urges me onward with great excitement. I've always said how wonderful it is to me to have loving support while I travel, and in this case, my wishes have come true many times over.

I've ordered stacks of maps from AAA, have upgraded all my communication devices, created trip-tychs of my journey, and I just joined KOA and now have a membership card!  Looks like I'll be stopping at as many as 8 or 9 KOAs along my path (maybe more?), and possibly a few other smaller sites along the way.   I've got a lot to learn still, about how to hook up the camper to all the facilities, what the protocol at these sites is like, and hey---are those shower stalls clean and how are the laundry facilities?  Folks tell me that KOAs are pretty darn nice, and this time of year, relatively quiet.

Although every day will be different, and everyday I'll see new vistas, people and places, there are some things that will be the same no matter where I go.   The sun will rise in the East and set in the West.  The moon will show its very same face to me, every evening.  The clouds will dance, the birds will sing.   The tall grasses will sway in the breeze, and I'll be seeing the very same stars.  

I will sing, I will dance.  I will cry tears of frustration, and tears of joy.  I'll be energized; I'll be exhausted.  I'll be brave; I'll be scared.  I'll be lonely; I'll need space.  I'll make some dreams come true; some hopes will be dashed.  I will take lots of photos, I'll put down the camera and just BE.  I'll want to drive and drive and drive; I'll want to get out of that van and be free.  I'll be in my head; I'll be in my body.  I'll kiss the soil that my ancestors lived upon; I'll cry at their graves.

Many weeks after visiting ancestral home land, I'll be in my own home again.  Home is where my life is Now.  And how will I feel then? I cannot imagine.  It will be a mix of emotions, certainly, and I will be a bit worn out, no doubt. But I will have made a lifelong dream, and perhaps even several dreams of mine, come true.

Planning Stages

I plan on flying to Denver sometime in the next few weeks, although I haven't looked into flights at all yet. I'm assuming that something will be available one-way from Boston to Denver on some random day.   Once I book that flight, it all becomes real, very real indeed.  I sincerely hope that once I book, the weather cooperates.

In the meantime, I'm getting to work on planning my route.  I'm driving campground to campground in do-able chunks, avoiding too many huge city interchanges, and attempting to get in the vicinity of natural beauty and few options for entertainment and basic needs.   I do feel as though I am flying blind.  I've never camped in anything like a KOA campgrounds before, never driven thousands of miles solo, and have no idea, really, how I will cope with all that driving.  I don't dislike driving, but I don't love it, either.  I'll be in a much bigger vehicle than I am used to, with no co-pilot!

There will be time to get my head around these issues once I arrive in Colorado.  I'll start at my dear friend Kathy's house in Denver, get a couple of days of fun and rest before I head up to Fort Collins, where my buddy Charles awaits with a camper van for me.  Between now and then we're getting a lot of work done to the vehicle, increasing its road-worthyness and comfort.  I expect that I'll enjoy being up in FC for many days before I eventually get back to Denver and do the final outfitting of the van for the trip.  Bedding, food, and many other expected and unexpected needs.  I am only flying out with a bag of clothes, no doubt there will be much I need to be safe and happy for 2500 miles.  

Staying calm, for now, but as we get closer to the real thing, I wonder how I'll be feeling?  No doubt a mix of exhilaration tinged with a bit of the fear of the unknown.  

Here's the vehicle!

 

Forward

"I've lost my Photo-Mojo and I don't know where to find it."

It's been over a year since I've posted; my life has taken some challenging twists and turns in that time.   I spent a lot of time howling with the coyotes and sighing with the moon; I slept rarely and hardly ate. I lost one third of my body weight and stopped cropping my hair short every 6 weeks, letting it grow and flow at will. My sisters and I placed our 87-year old mother in a dementia care facility, my daughter spent four months in Africa, and my husband paddled his canoe in the very murky waters of a large corporation that tossed him about crazily until he re-found his career footing.    

I also spent a lot of time on the road, traveling to change my scene and to be with far-flung soul mates and friends in an effort to re-balance, find my center, and get happy.  Some friends have faded away, some were wrested away, and some new friends have magically appeared in my life from nowhere, seeming to know that here is a soul who has temporarily lost her tribe.....

And now---a plan.  I've hatched a plan.  My dear family is supporting me, the Universe has heard my call and doors are magically opening.   Husband has landed beautifully on his feet.  Daughter has returned home happily; she is older, wiser and even more beautiful inside and out.  I have the time and inclination, and so, off I go.

Camper van.  2,500 solo miles, eastward from Colorado to New England.  Visits with friends, visits to ancestral homelands, visits to family, known and unknown.  Cameras, diaries, video.  Blog.  Skype.  Dark skies with bright moon, wide vistas.  

The camera will be my best on-the-road friend; we will explore and play together.  We don't know what will find, who will meet us on the path, or how it will end.   The unknown and yet-to-be experienced are calling to us.  

I have no choice, other to answer, and heed the call, and the camera, well--it's in the bag.  

Nocturne

On August 2, Utata.org is going to publish its latest big project: Utata Nocturnal Photographer.  It's the 2010 revisit of one of Utata's earliest (2006) big projects.   There is a huge difference in levels of participation, and dare I say it, the calibre of work submitted.

Flickr and Utata were much younger in the earliest days of 2006.  It was just 4.5 years ago, but so much has happened so quickly to social sites, photography and photo equipment (especially in features and value).  The Flickr Utata group had fewer than 1K members in winter 2006, and now has close to 19K.   The group pool is now well on it's way (and things are speeding up seemingly exponentially) to a half million submissions.  

Discussions about art, technique, and thousands of other related and unrelated discussions have occurred in the Utata/Flickr Salon, and much learning, growth and creativity has blossomed in that atmosphere.   True, deep, ongoing friendships have arisen, and artistic collaboration and exploration abounds.  Lots of folks in Utata have met in person and have formed long lasting and close bonds.  Many long-timers have witnessed and supported one another through both joyous and challenging life events, and there is comfort in knowing that the social media universe has unique niches in which people's lives are truly enriched.  

I was delighted to participate in both the 2006 and 2010 projects, and I can see a big difference in my approach and skills between the two.  My cameras have changed, and my outlook and technique continue to morph.  I've been a serious and prolific photographer, both professionally and recreationally, since I was 15.  I'm still learning and growing, and that's fantastic!  

My full set of Utata 2010 Nocturnal Photographer images

City by the Bay

Two weeks in San Francisco, every day was sunny and warm (but not too warm), every eve was brisk and breezy, just perfect for us.   Our house rental was convenient to two neighborhoods where we feel very much at home.  We rented a car for part of the time and got to see greater views of the topography of the southern peninsula.  There is much more to tell, but it will take time.  So, I'll be back soon, hopefully, to share it.

On the road with two little cameras

Camera One:  Olympus Pen EP-1

Camera Two:  Apple iPhone, with a useful selection of photo apps

Additional Accessories:  spare juice (batteries and international charger), spare memory card, small carrying cases, lensbaby stuff

I left my big camera at home for my latest trip to the UK this spring.  I used only the equipment above, which is ever so much lighter and easier to travel with.  It also turns out that it was also a lot more fun.  I saved my working arm, from shoulder to fingertips, the pain of lugging around a camera heavy enough to be used as a lethal weapon.   I was able to take creative images on my iPhone using clever photography applications, and to upload them to the web immediately so that my friends and family had an ongoing, visual journal of my adventures.   

 

The image above was taken with my iPhone, using Hipstamatic (such a fun app!), and then instantly uploaded to Facebook (I had purchased a well priced international data plan before my trip, fortunately) , whereupon my friends in many time zones were able to share my delight in being out on my own in the late afternoon London sun.  I would have enjoyed being there with no technology in my hands, but it was even more fun knowing I could share my experiences on the road in this manner, and to receive feedback and delight in return.

 

Even from the top of the ruins of Ludlow Castle in Shropshire, England, I was able to fuse 5 images together in an automated panoramic application, crop it to size, and then upload it in mere moments for all the world to behold!  I find this quite thrilling.  When I began my lifelong interest in photography, and worked in darkrooms and scrimped and saved to buy film and developing equipment, I never could have imagined this complete transformation in the art.   Some folks still embrace the old ways, and I can understand that completely.  I however, have run into the digital photography world full tilt and have hardly looked back.  

The Olympus camera was chosen when I needed higher resolution and greater control.   I missed not being able to share the images immediately, I must say!  Maybe I'm hooked to that aspect of it, for now.  But I was also having great fun with the Pen, sometimes slipping away from manual shooting and utilizing some of its integrated creative settings, and I always use it shooting under more challenging lighting conditions, such as this early morning sunrise on May Day in Somerset.

After so many years of lugging around big bags full of lenses, batteries, rolls of film and more, I am very much enjoying traveling light, and being able to do so much.  I'm just fortunate, now that my knees and shoulders aren't what they used to be, to do so much, with so little.  

Nice!