344 - Spring Creek

WE DID IT. WE’RE FINALLY MOVED INTO THE VAN AFTER WEEKS OF REPAIRS.

So the journey begins. To celebrate, we drove all the way from Missouri to South Dakota in one day, and end up camping in this killer spot called Spring Creek. Literally no one else around- just pure, unaltered BLM land.

There was even a babbling creek right behind us.

Yet before I could start posting my new adventures on YouTube, I had one more daunting task.

I had to tell my YouTube audience I’d moved out of my Prius- which was the reason half of them were following me in the first place.

See, a couple years ago, I had a Prius build out video go viral, and it sent a lot of attention to my channel. It became a pillar tutorial in the Prius build out community, as it revolutionized minimalism in the car. (Not to brag or anything ;)

But now, I had to sit here and tell them I’d moved into a van. The very thing I’d talked so much shit about during my time in a Prius. It almost felt like I was betraying the Prius culture- but I had no other choice.

I’d been dating Haley for two plus years now, and we’d been saving up to travel on a massive road trip. We both hit our monetary goals, and the time had come to move in. Although I was nervous because I’d never lived with a girl before, I knew it was the next step in our relationship. So I dived in head first.

Flash forward to present time, I stepped out of our moved-in van at camp, and took in my surroundings. I figured the best bet for a solid announcement video would be near the creek. It was calm, peaceful, and would help ease my mind.

Long story short, I filmed the entire video, and took one last look outside before I stepped in the van to edit. I saw this one lone tree- with beautiful moss flowing down the tree next to it. And the lighting was damn near perfect.

“Real Fucking Quiet Light”

[1/160s ~ f/9 ~ 62mm ~ ISO 400]

Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4

(Want a Print? Get one here.)

The photo turned out absolutely beautiful. It was a shot that represented the exact state of modern landscape photography culture- quiet light in intimate scenes. Jesus fuck that last line sounded cheesy as hell.

On the opposite spectrum, the announcement video I filmed came out like total shit. After editing, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it came off like I was flexing an Airstream Sprinter Van and talking down on the very culture that helped give me wings.

I sat on the video a few days, and just ended up re-filming it. Once I was able to sit down and think about what I needed to say, it came out much more thoughtful. Here’s the final announcement video.

Honestly, I almost didn’t make this an official shoot, because I spent so much time on the announcement video instead of actually doing photography in the area. But that one photo took me out of the high stress I was feeling in the moment, so I felt compelled to include it.

I guess that’s the reason I do photography in the first place.

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I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.

Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.

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