On my last night in San Francisco before heading back to New York, I got a text from the Priime crew asking if I wanted to join them for a quick run up to Mt. Tamalpais for sunset. Random fact: I had never shot sunset from Mt. Tam before (only sunrise after camping), so of course I said yes.
For the final post about the Passport Express voyage, I wanted to highlight the experience of traveling by Amtrak across the country. Throughout the course of the two week trip, we ate, slept, photographed, chatted, danced, and lived in between our observation car and sleeping car.
Sure, there wasn't a ton of space, and climbing over my poor roommate Phil's face every night to get to the top bunk was probably not his favorite part of the trip, but the close quarters forced us into an intimacy that's hard to convey. Like air travel, you're in a confined space, but unlike air travel, there's a freedom to move about, to explore, and to engage. At any given time I could be in my bunk/cabin, sometimes alone or talking with Phil, sit in the observation car quietly alone with my thoughts watching the world go by, or, engage with one of the 34 other passengers. This included good chats, sharing stories, sharing photos, sharing drinks, sharing hugs, and sometimes, sharing crazy dance parties that lasted until too late at night.
One of the most amazing things about train travel is also what you see. Just staring out the window was a mesmerizing experience. Often the train would go where no roads would, allowing us peeks at slices of different places. Many of us left our cameras permanently in the observation car, ready to be picked up at a moments notice as the scenery zoomed by.
I can't begin to thank Passion Passport and Amtrak enough for the opportunity to take this trip with them. From the bottom of my heart, I am truly grateful.
Although one of the main draws of the Passport Express trip was the concept of crossing America by rail, we had several waypoints along the way. Over the course of the trip, we spent 2-3 days each in the cities of Chicago, Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Whitefish (Glacier National Park), and Portland (Mt. Hood). In each location, we visited museums, vista points, libraries, restaurants, explored outdoor areas and generally got lost.
Each location had it's own charm, and I won't bore you with all the details, rather try and show you with a few photos from each place.
It's been almost 3 months since I embarked across the country by rail with Amtrak, Passion Passport and 34 other creatives, makers, philanthropists and generally incredible people. Needless to say, the journey was the experience of a lifetime and I'm honored to have had the chance to see the country in this manner, experiencing the intimacy & pace of cross-country train travel, and becoming a part of the lives of my fellow travelers.
Although words and images will never suffice to describe the experience, this week I wanted to share a bit about the trip in 3 parts: The People, The Places, and The Train.
To begin, I wanted to highlight the faces of my travel companions. When the trip began, I had no idea that I would focus the majority of my photography on the people I was with. By the end of the trip though, the reason was clear: being in the presence of people so dedicated to their craft, their life's work and the support of each other was creatively inspiring. I found myself wanting to photograph their beautiful faces every waking moment, of every single day.
As I share my posts this week, please feel free to ask me any questions about the trip! And be sure to check out the #PassportExpress hashtag on Instagram to see everyone's photos.
Last month I was invited by Airbnb to join their #BelongSF campaign, a mix of awesome Airbnb lodging with fun and unique local experiences. I had a blast and was happy to reunite with a few friends from the Passport Express trip.
Although my wife and I got married already in the courthouse in San Francisco, we still want to have a wedding party to celebrate with all our friends. We'd heard such good things about Sayulita, near Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, so we decided to check it out. We packed up both our families and headed down, right at the beginning of the season. While it was still a bit humid and hot, the place was incredible. We found our perfect venue, right by the ocean, and will be getting married in November, 2016.
My friends Ryan and Whitney and their pup, Brooks, just got featured on the Vanity Fair website with this image I shot of them down by South Street Seaport in NYC.
Last year, I was excited to join the Creative Advisory Board of Light.co, a company in stealth mode, but focused on building technology that would allow for small cameras (be it compact or mobile), to create images that could rival DSLR quality.
This week, Light finally announced their debut, the L16 compact camera. I had a chance to play with the camera and review some of the specs and images and suffice to say, I'm very impressed with what they've achieved in such a short amount of time.
I won't go into too many details, you should visit their site and check out the videos.
What do you think? Will you guys be picking one up?
The Hamilton roller was such a great piece of gear to have on this trip as it combines a padded equipment compartment with a duffle bag on top - perfect for those trips when I need a little of both and don't want to lug it all on my back (I am getting old, you know?).
Wanted to share a few select images from a recent set of shoots for the release of the new design for Allen Iverson's shoe, The Reebok Question. Shot in and around NYC.
