Road Trip Photography Book

American Road Trip Photography

Photo Book - The Open Road

Last week on the drive home from Wyoming I listened to a great podcast with Rick Ruben and Rich Roll. Rick is such a unique and inspiring individual with an immense amount of knowledge from a lifetime of varying experiences. Of the many nuggets he dropped on the show, this one stuck out the most - “The audience comes last, in service to the audience. The audience wants the best thing. They don’t get the best thing when you’re trying to service them. They get the best thing when you’re servicing yourself. When you’re true to who you are”.

That’s an invaluable statement for any creator to hear and it sums up exactly how I feel about photography, for personal projects as well as commercial work. Very rarely do you see commercial work that has any great effect on people or the world of photography, because it’s watered down generic imagery that’s sole purpose is to sell a product and feature the companies logo as many times as possible. Nobody wants to take a risk. They want to play it safe and not ruffle any feathers. Seldom does an ad campaign come out with historical significance or staying power. They are about now! How much can we sell now!!?? So what does this have to do with a photography book? Everything. If I or any other photographer set out to make a book strictly with the audience in mind, it would suck. The intention would be glaringly obvious and the images would reflect a direct lack of caring. The title of the book might as well be Money Grab.

Roadside Meditations is a niche subject that’s not for everyone, which you could argue is the case for any fine art book. If it were for everyone, it wouldn’t be worth a damn. To further Ruben’s above quote, I’d like to share how my latest photo book came to be. A few years back I began collaborating with (now) photo editor/consultant Alexa Becker (Germany). At the time she was working for Kehrer Verlag and I was trying to pitch her one (maybe three?) different book ideas, none of which landed. Her interest in my work seemed genuine though, so I kept in touch. And at one point I reached out asking simply for a consultation on my “America” series. After a half dozen back and forths through Zoom, she pulled a few outlying images from my edit and asked if I had anything else that might go along with it. I did, so she began assembling a side edit. A while later she had the beginnings of Roadside Meditations, and told me to forget all about the America series, because “this” was the book! Turns out she was right, and all the roadside images I made thinking they were just accents to the bigger series, was IT all along. The point is that I never had anything in mind for the photos. I wasn’t making them for anyone but myself, and maybe one or two of them might find their way into a book, print, whatever?? Well, here we are a year and a half later, and a large shipment of books is scheduled to arrive from Germany in less than a half hour. So much has happened since then. I’ve continued shooting images that would fit into a Roadside Meditations Vol. 2, but that’s not the intention. The images are only made because I’m drawn to make them. And it would be a bonus if another book happened to develop. Vol.1 isn’t out in the world yet, so there is nothing to say people even want it, but I’m still a firm believer that “the audience comes last, in service of the audience.”

Click here to purchase a copy of Roadside Meditations

Fine art photography book Roadside Meditations by Kehrer Verlag and Rob Hammer

Fine Art Road Trip Photography Book

American Basketball

Basketball Hoop Photography - Sports Culture

You’d think that working on a series for an extended period of time would make it easier? Like practicing a sport, hobby, or any skill you strive to be better at. It’s quite the opposite though. As time goes on, it becomes harder and harder to find scenarios that fit the bill, because the bar keeps rising. In this case we’re talking about basketball hoops. Unless a hoop is better or more unique than what I already have, then it gets passed by. So this past trip only produced 2 images that I’m really happy with. More importantly though, after 10 years, it’s still fascinating to see where the game of basketball pops up. It’s everywhere.

Click here to buy a copy of American Backcourts

California 395

An image that fits nicely into my “Roadside Meditations” series/book but I never paid much attention to it until today despite making it in June of last year. Funny how that works. If you live in Southern California and like the mountains, then the 395 is part of your life. I’ve personally been traveling this road for 12+ years now and always find something new to love about it. Normally that comes with the changing light as is the case with this image. If memory serves, I was in the middle of doing an 8.5 hour drive from Tahoe to San Diego when this scene presented itself and forced me to pull over. Something about the light, lines, color, and textures that really add up.

Bull Sale - Nevada

Bull Auction - Western Photos - Nevada - Bull Sale

Cattle Ranching - Culture - Photography

Been spending a lot of time up in Nevada outside of Lake Tahoe for a commercial client, but it’s grown into a lot more than that. I really enjoy the country up there and have taken to photographing various aspects of it. Not the land so much, but everything that goes along with it. The ranches, horses, people. etc. One morning I was shooting with a girl who owned a couple wild mustangs (will be posting those images soon). We finished shooting by about 9 am, so I had the rest of the day to kill, with the commercial shoot following the next day. Was pretty beat from not sleeping much the night before, so I pulled off into the local firehouse parking lot to make a tailgate sandwich. That’s where the day took a turn. Two guys in a truck rolled up and asked if I knew where the bull auction was. We talked for a minute or two, and next thing you know I was at the bull auction. Figured why the hell not? It’s a world completely foreign to me, so why not check it out. I have no plans on buying a bull, but it sure sounded like a fun event to photograph.

If I haven’t said this before, the camera is a passport. One of the many things I love about photography. It’s opened doors and taken me to places I never would have thought about. And the older I get, the more curious I become about interacting with and documenting other people and other cultures that are the opposite of my own. It’s so much fun to learn how other people live in different parts of the world. Sure, this part of Nevada is only 8 hours away from my home in San Diego, but it’s a different world. I used to be obsessed with the need to travel to far off countries in order to experience other cultures. Exotic travel is great, but there is so much culture right here in America that can easily be taken for granted.

I loved being a silent witness at the bull auction right from the start. The people were so inviting when I introduced myself and told them what I was doing. Everything about the event was stimulating. The sights, sounds, and smells. I’m from a small town in Upstate New York, and prefer to spend as much time as possible in the country/mountains, but have never seen anything like this in person. Hope to be showing you a lot more of this in the future.

Click here to see more of my Western photography

FINE ART HORSE PHOTOGRAPHY

Starting new projects is so exciting. It’s also one of my downfalls. I don’t like being behind a computer, always preferring to be out in the field creating images. Which means that I don’t do enough marketing, emailing, social media, cleaning my disaster of an office, etc. I can’t help making images though. It’s addicting. After publishing America Backcourts I had no intention of stopping that series, but also wanted to wanted to start something else. The problem that I’ve learned over the years though is you can’t force a series. It has to find you or it has to come naturally. That’s the only way it sticks. You can’t shoot something because it will get likes or because you think it will do well commercially. You have to love it. As it stands now, Horses appear to be my next thing. Maybe not just horses, but the lifestyle and culture that surround them as well. I grew up in New York close to Saratoga Race Track. “The August Place To Be” as they say. Love the track. Still do and am fortunate enough to now live near Del Mar Race Track. The atmosphere around tracks is great, but the horses are the thing that tie it all together for me. That’s where my affection for horses started, but now I like the “working” aspect of horses even more. The way they are used on ranches and for transportation is especially interesting. As much as love the action though, there is something really special about the still shots. The quiet moments, like this one. If you can’t feel more relaxed by looking at an image like this, then there’s something wrong with you.

Stay tuned for more horses……

Click here to purchase a fine art print of this image

America

Last month I watched an on-line talk given by a photographer that I very much respect. He dished out a lot of great information, and briefly mentioned something about another photographer that he very much respected. The remark was about a book that photographer was about to publish, and the speaker said "I already know what it looks like". He hadn't seen the book, or any of the images, but was referring to the fact that the photographer was very predictable. And that stuck with me. He also didn't mean any disrespect at all, was just stating a fact. After thinking about it for a while, I realized how important it is to constantly be charging ahead in different directions. That's something I've always believed, but it was cool to hear from his perspective. As a photographer, you'll always have your "bread and butter", but it's boring to rest on that. Branch out and try new things. Develop portfolios in areas that your audience is expecting. Challenge yourself even if it means failing miserably for a while. In the long term, I believe that's the only way to make it. 

Last month I did another cross-country trip from San Diego to as far as Plymouth, Massachusetts. Time on the road was shorter than I initially planned for, but it's always great. Shot a lot of images that are probably a lot different my norm, and people might not connect with them right away, but whatever. Some of them are certainly winners. I enjoy looking at them, and can see this stuff developing into a much larger portfolio. My main objective on this trip was to wrap up shooting on the barbershop project. So all of this "America" stuff was on the side, but I love it, and am always eager for more. 

Click here for more AMERICA. 

 

 

 

American Photography

My America gallery of images is the one that gets the least attention and interest from people/clients. Which I find strange because sometimes I think it's my best stuff?  Either way it's something I've been shooting for a long time, and will continue shooting forever. Lately I've been getting a lot of images request from clients for other bodies of work, which is always a gift because it forces you to go back through old hard drives, causing me to look at images I haven't seen in a long time. And whatever it is about time, that factor has made turned me on to images that I thought were worthless in the past. That might be a problem, but then again it might just be part of the process. Regardless, I'm happy to have stumbled upon these images that have been during road trips from as far back as  2011, and as recently as a few months ago. Can't wait to get back out on the road. 

Poway Rodeo

Poway Rodeo

Poway, San Diego, California

Getting outside your comfort zone is a beneficial thing in all aspects of life. Without it growth is not possible. The rodeo in Poway was last week, and I thought it would be a fun thing to shoot. Certainly something I've never done, but was very drawn to. So I reached out and found someone who needed some coverage. Like most things I shoot, my focus was not so much on the action, but behind the scenes. The little things that add to the culture but aren't really noticed or seen by most people. I loved everything about shooting this event. Being back where the riders were was awesome. Such a foreign culture that I've never experienced. And all the auxiliary stuff was great too. I got there really early and just wondered around the grounds, where I ran into a lot of characters. Everything I shot was natural light, and after the sun went down it was cool to see how much the color temperature of the "house" lights changed so quickly as they fell off. Learned a lot, most of which is that I'd shoot something like this again in a second. The grittiness of it is right up my alley. And everything felt so authentic. These aren't showy athletes on multi million dollar contracts. They are cowboys being cowboys.