If anyone asks me how did I learn photography, I tell them, by walking the streets of Tokyo for hundreds of hours with my very first DSLR camera, a Nikon D80. What is great about living in a city with wide spread public transportation is you can take a train to one area, walk randomly to where your eyes take you, then just hop on another train and get back home without having to worry about returning to where your car is parked. This is how I went about finding one of my more famous photos, at least in Japan, which I titled, “Last Green Leaves Before Autumn.” I submitted it to Metropolis Magazine (the largest weekly English magazine in Japan) and they featured it in the Photo of the Week section. Picking up a copy of the magazine the Friday afternoon it came out and seeing my photo featured inside, I was stunned and even stopped strangers passing by to say (in English), “that’s my photo!” It was a moment of exhileration I have rarely ever felt again.
I have only put 1,500 miles on my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk since I got it last month and have not taken it more than an hour outside of Albuquerque, but I have been offroad a lot already. Nothing crazy like Moab-like trails or anything, but I have been using it as the Jeep, especially the Trailhawk version, was intended. I really like knowing I can go anywhere, do anything with this vehicle. However, I would not do everything you see in Jeep and other offroad vehicle commercials like driving down and across streams! Or causing tumult by trying to "crawl" over big rocks. To me this is destroying Nature. I do want the Jeep to help me reach places just not possible on foot, but by staying on established fire roads and unmaintained roads.
I have already shown you what it is like to fly right under the Bixby Bridge in Big Sur, California. And what the view looks like from beside it. This, now, is a view from only what a drone can see hovering out over the Pacific Ocean. I find it a lonelier view without the Sea as the background to the bridge. Is this what the Sea feels when it looks toward land? Is the Sea, sad?
The Asilomar Beach area of Pacific Grove in California is a place I have daydreamed about for over 7 years. I had never been there, never known anyone who had gone there. This entire daydreaming took place far away from there in Florida. I just somehow knew, that if I could wish myself to be any place on Earth, this was it. From my first step there, I knew all I had daydreamed was verified.
For over a decade (or my whole life?) I daydreamed about driving up the Pacific Coast Highway in California going from Santa Monica, turning right where there is no more Road left, then following the Pacific Ocean all the way up to Monterey, stopping at such famous places as the Bixby Bridge. Recently I got to fulfill that dream and had my DJI Mavic Pro drone with me. I got bold, and flew it right under the bridge!
Going through my archives this afternoon I found this photo from nearly exactly two years ago made at a charity event. It is of an Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster as twilight was falling over Tampa Bay upon a very impressive and expansive intercoastal estate.
Private Jet for sale at Tampa Jet Center - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThis is what it would take for me to be able to travel internationally now, a private jet, as I would not travel anywhere without Kiki and commercial air travel is far too dangerous and risky for a dog. That is ok though, there is plenty of North America yet to be seen that can all easily be reached by car, which is my much preferred method of travel anyway. Still, there is no doubt a private jet has a certain allure. You can go anywhere in the world anytime on your own schedule. On the other hand, it would also seem to be the greatest negative impact an individual can make on the environment in a single act.
