Southwest Trip: Intro
When I got interested in travel photography years ago, I worked as a graphic designer. In the beginning, I treated photography as a hobby and creative outlet. But, at some point, I realized that travel photography combined two of my favorite passions—a passion for exploration and a passion for discovering the beauty around us through a camera lens. I also recognized that travel photography is truly what I wanted in my life.
I gave myself plenty of time to transition from graphic design into photography and started planning my future adventures. I put together a travel wish list over the next few years so that I had goals and enough time for planning.
My wish list had the usual suspects—Australia and New Zealand—as well as dreams to return to Europe to see how much it had changed since I left. When I was ready to start executing my plans, I visited the southwest only to find that my plans were entirely derailed. I was blown away by the unconventional beauty, vastness, and the variety of landscapes. I put all my plans on hold to further explore the region.
Discovering the Southwest
For the last seven years or so, I have traveled to the southwest at least twice a year. I have no plans to stop because it still feels that I have only scratched the surface. In the beginning, I started like most tourists by visiting the most popular spots. But, with every visit, I went deeper and deeper into exploring the less visited and less crowded spots.
This year, my plan was to explore the backcountry of Utah and Arizona by driving the dirt roads and camping in remote places far from civilization. While that was the plan, we (my wife and I) did not manage to execute it properly. The most obvious reason for our failed plan was the weather. The rain made most of the dirt roads unpassable leaving us to scramble to adjust our plans.
Although half of my planning did not materialize, I consider the latest trip to be the most successful and exciting. Every day changes and corrections to our itinerary kept us on our toes and allowed us to discover some amazing and unintended locations.
Please follow my visual diary where I outline my 12-day driving trip through the southwest.
