road trip…..who does not just love the concept of a road trip…..my
motorcycle when i was 16 was the first time i physically expressed my
freedom…."travels with charley" and "huck finn"…were books that
allowed me to emotionally realize that freedom could, in fact, be
expressed……
listen….i have maxed out "road trip" as well as any person
alive….well, of course, neither i nor anyone could ever prove such an
outrageous statement…. but the point is this….I ACTUALLY BELIEVE
IT!!!!! and this ,my friends is gold…….
so, come with me…..i just got back last night from guanajuato ,
mexico where i was shooting some cowboy pictures for national
geographic…..i cannot tell you too much about this, nor show you any
pictures because of the geographic embargo on any photographers work
before publication in the magazine…..this is a fair deal….fair
because I own the work….we will talk about copyright etc. but mostly
we will discuss the "spirit of travel"….the "education of
travel"……the "total enlightenment" from travel….. and of course,
the definition of "travel" is about a state of mind rather than a
physical space…..
saturday i leave for bangkok….didier millet, editons didier millet,
is producing a book with 50 or so documentary photoghers….chien-chi chang, steve mccurry, eric valli, catherine karnow, james nachtwey and mike yamashita are some of my friends that i will join in thailand where we will all spend nine days documenting a story or two….i have been
assigned to do an essay on "bangkok night"……i actually did this
once before on a similar project "a day in the life of
thailand"….. anyway, please join me….i love to tell my students how
difficult it is for me to make/take an interesting provocative
work…..so, suffer with me!!!!
G’Day Dave ,The road is a state of mind?Amen! ,just finished a run down to Tennant Creek and back on the loosest brief I’ve ever had ” find green desert and file by friday Morning”.
Driving 987 km, almost in pain on what may or may not happen, amplified by no tunes as the stereo decides to pack it in 200 km out of Darwin.
Arrive Tennant Creek find green desert,via Gyrocopter flying auto electrician and The pics look good,one problem is that the wrong paper has logged onto my site looking for a hole to fill and used that days pics a day before the paper that commissioned them.
Ouch!
One more flight in the Gyrocopter,shoot the local Dam that is full for the first time in 50 years(at the moment all the rain is where all the people arn’t at the moment)
Nice !
Drive back to Darwin 987 km no time to stop till I reach home as I have to catch a flight to Sydney at 10.30 pm.
A thunderstorm passes over me and the rain is too heavy to drive,One warm beer from the esky……I love road trips!…No really!
glenn….damn, you make me feel like i have never left home!!!…but i did do one not similar but maybe parallel trip when i was shooting a piece on banjo paterson, that poet and lover of the land you regularly cross as no other!!! drove from sydney to somewhere out in the middle of nowhere (cannot remember the town) where there were green beatles covering every square inch of space except for the space taken up by the flies which managed to eat me alive, spit me out and then eat me alive again!!! i was shooting with a fuji 6×9 color neg which is kinda interesting ’cause i went to digi almost right after that….i think those damned flies made me do it!!! david
“When they sing of Australia ,They never mention the flies” .
I loved that piece,It gave me heart enough to try my own series on our Bard of the bush,Slim Dusty.
Are you a Fan of Banjo?
This could be a photographers prayer.
The daylight is dying
Away in the west,
The wild birds are flying
In silence to rest;
In leafage and frondage
Where shadows are deep,
They pass to its bondage —
The kingdom of sleep.
And watched in their sleeping
By stars in the height,
They rest in your keeping,
Oh, wonderful night.
This is from the poem “daylight is dying”
a small conselation is that I am sometimes published in Banjos old Paper ,The Sydney Morning Herald.
Off to the Alice tomorrow,Flying! Thanks Be!
glenn…..well, the town was winton i now remember…..my memory might have been “diffused” from drinking too many stubbies one night in the bar where banjo wrote “waltzing matilda” and then almost got shot for thinking the wrong things about the wrong woman…hmmmmm, imagine THAT in aussieland….
one of the things i loved most about following in the path of banjo, was how much folks today can quote him…almost everyone can and does…..i would love to see your work sometime….peace, david
Dave…Fear not! you are not the only bloke who has nearly gotten himself into trouble at the North Gregory Hotel with a sideways glance at the only woman in the bar.
Not many women in that part of the world so the boys tend to hold on to them tightly.
Winton’s not far from where I grew up,but I have been resisting the siren call of home,I haven’t been back to Western Queensland for a few years,looking forward to going back one day ,just to shoot and hang out.
I am off to the desert again so as soon as I get back I will definitely send you a link.
Cheers Glenn
glenn…..
yes, send me a link…..
ah yes, the north gregory hotel…..well, it was banjo who almost got shot…not me!!!
sometimes i do know how to behave!!!
well, the pub here in new york is pretty good…i think you need to come in out of the sun….come on over!!
david
Hey David,
If you want to go on a road trip your invited, come to a press conference of Grandmaster Melle Mel(the first hip-hop artist inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in March)who will be Read ‘n’ Rap ‘n’ Singing with the kids on February 28th at PS 241/Family Academy at 240 West 113th st in Manhattan at 1:00pm in the auditorium. He has written seven inspirational songs for elementary school kids.
oh maura…so sorry i missed this….i left for mexico the day before this event and am still in mexico…but , always let me know about these things…sounded so good…..i have good pictures of melle mel from vh1 taping two years ago….cool cool guy…many thanks…david
New York Huh? Who owns the pub there now?
I just returned from a journey down to the Simpson desert over the Lake Eyre catchment area ,Large plane,small car,large car,small plane in that order.
After a trip do you ever feel like you’ve been nowhere at all?
http://www.digitalrailroad.net/glenn
I would apreciate yr thoughts.
hey glenn….
nice work dude!!! almost missed you here, but pleased i had a chance to look at your website….must admit i was a bit rushed but the timor work was quite good as was your more personal work from the outback…i will go back soonest and take a closer look, but wanted to get this note off to you soonest….
cheers, david
Cool!
Thanks for taking the time Dave, I was back in Timor last week for a few days till I had to get myself to Yogykarta last Wednsday to cover a plane crash that involved a few Australian Journos , diplomats and Federal police.
Some mates were involved ,some jobs well and trueley suck.
I have spent the whole day out in the sun taking pictures of guys taking apart the wreck with a welder ,jumping up and down on the tail section to break it up.
I need a beer.
Ta for the wrap mate, and by all means drop me an e-mail if you feel like it.
campbell.photo@bigpond.com
Cheers Glenn
glenn…
i will certainly keep in touch as best i can….which will not be perfect…
i am about to start doing the layout for hip hop book and then print the show for my exhibit opening june 14 during magnum 60th anniversary blast..so,things will be crazy the next couple of months…and somehow in the middle of all of this, i go to italy and spain for the whole month of april…
if you come to the hip hop show, we will have more than one cold beer for you!!! sounds to me like you need it….but, i can see with your crazier than mine schedule i will probably have a few left over in the fridge…..
peace, david
Dave,
Good luck with the show,perhaps some blogging on the trials of the editing process would be in order?
I am trying to edit my own work from the last couple of years to set up a portfolio/website.My biggest issue is well what manner of creature am I?
Just what do you want the world to see about yourself?
My Shedule is reactionary rather than any planned thing so hopefully a few weeks in the scrub with some film while the Digis get fixed before the Timor elections in April.
Then I get really busy!!!!
HaHa,
Cheers mate,
Glenn
glenn….
yes, i was thinking it might be cool to let readers in on the editing process…i the next two weeks, i will be editing and laying out the book….i will post the experience which should be valuable…although, in my book publishing forays, no two books have the same “adventures”..
wishing you well mate…..safe travels
david
i´ve been looking back through road trips – which i havn´t done for a while..
mainly looking at the snaps, but also pausing to read.. fake watches.. the first time ´on a roll´ and 45 mins before a flight to thailand.
it´s brilliant fun.. and astonishingly open.. easy to see where burn came from if you missed it.. well worth a dig, so dig it
:ø)
dx
Hi David B…
was looking for the first BURN entries and found this here … Never been that far back and I did not realize good old RoadTrips was added to the BURN site …
Digging, digging … fond memories.
Road Trips was the first blog I ever, ever commented on. I admit it took some time to get used to. My (blogging) English has improved by now, which definitively is a nice side effect – less embarassing too.
:)
I thought this may be of interest (Glenn will love it!) A 2004documentary called “Kaikohe Demolition” about a demolition derby in Kaikohe, Northland, NZ.
The film was made on a shoestring and the derby is also VERY grass roots. If you watch the youtube link you’ll get an idea of the doco. A real slice of NZ rural life…
The doco was a huge hit here, because it showed many NZers a slice of life they didn’t know existed. After all; ¼ of our population live in one city, Auckland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa3vpf8p-iA
The first 10 minutes can be seen here;
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/kaikohe-demolition-2004