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All in Adventure Photography
Tuolumne Meadows sits at 8,619 feet and is home to the Purple Webber lupin, a rare wildflower for California. This sub-alpine meadow is apart of Yosemite National Park and hosts ample climbing, hiking, and backpacking opportunities. Enjoy this sunset timelapse shot from the meadow.
The real question is, “When was the last time you were upset after relaxing in a hammock?” As summer approaches and daylight extends well beyond that of a 9-5 job, what better way to spend your evening than in a hammock, maybe with a book or journal. For myself, living on the road my work hours are all over the map, but whenever I can find a place to hang a hammock and take in the view, I am in my happy place. Below are four of my favorite spots that I have hung a hammock.
While hiking around Lake Sabrina—just outside of the city of Bishop, CA— in the winter, I sat down to watch the sun poke out from behind the range in the distance. As the wind picked up, I hunkered behind a rock to write this poem. Lake Sabrina is a summer destination that keeps holds water for Los Angeles. In this poem, I review an internal dialogue I have with myself about the human race.
Let’s be honest, you have no idea what is going to happen whenever you are starting something. I mean, yes, you can read a book and theatrically plan for “what’s to come”, but reality hits hard once you step out the door and start hoping for the best. In 2017, I started to feel like I wanted to be a photographer, and around 2018 I was making some money. I mean we are talking a couple of hundred dollars a year, but who needs money when you are 24 years old? All I cared about at the time was making my way to living on the road!
On a monthly cycle, I spend most of my nights not sleeping and looking up at the stars. Moving across the sky throughout the night, I imagine an alien looking back upon us. If we spoke in the same language—odds are we wouldn’t—what would they say? Would they know our planet as the blue planet? Would we be friends?
As a photographer, my main focus is to chase light. A mentor of mine described photographers as the “Seekers of Light”. While I must admit, the majority of my work is focused more on the moment than light, I will say that my favorite photographs are those with unique light. Regardless, the purpose of the poem is to dive into what makes us human, keeping in mind the cycles of life. Hoping to highlight the daily as well as yearly cycles we all encounter, putting into perspective the one, hopefully long, cycle of life we are all living.
There was a burning desire inside of me to be on the road trying to become what I wanted to become, an adventure photographer, but I didn’t have the body of work nor the skill to be able to create on the spot. My savings account had roughly $3k from the winter of substitute teaching and I had just pumped most of my funds into a new water housing. I was equipped with two lenses, a 24-70 and a 28mm. The 28mm was the best thing I could buy that would fit into my new housing, so that is what I did.
It's almost impossible to neglect the reality that most of us are wasting our lives. Taking notes and accounting of my interactions with others, I look at and observe how we waste our lives. Often these observations make me as questions like; Why do we do this? Why do we allow ourselves to live an unhappy life?
When I first sat down to write this blog, I wanted to express the beauty and elegance longboarding holds. Erased line after erased line, the string of words could not match the self-expression and feminine endearment longboarding requires. My ego and masculinity wanted to force together words, hoping to create prose. Instead, I was faced with a challenge, similar to that of riding the nose or cross-stepping, to surrender.
Chaos, uncertainty, fear. Most would say,
“You’re lost.”
However, I am just now beginning to find myself.
This world is like a blur, moving so quickly, it is hard to focus.
Click here, double-tap that, swipe left… no right…
Hang up the phone and begin looking beneath your nose.
Taking that first step into the darkness of the night can be a daunting task. At first, frustration will be ever-present as you are inundated with vocabulary, the desire to buy new gear, and the hard reality that conscious practice makes perfect. This post is more about the periphery of astrophotography instead of a traditional “how to create astrophotography” manual that dives into camera settings or editing techniques. It's the things you don’t consider when starting that take the most time to discover…
Dalton Johnson seeks to answer the question, "Where does freedom live?" in his latest video from the UT desert. He spent a month climbing, canyoneering, and trail running around Moab, Utah. The visuals all come from the surrounding areas of Moab. In this project, Dalton visited Indian Creek, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park.
My name is Dalton Johnson and I am a wanderer with a camera, a pencil, and paper. Now, that may sound vague and entice you, but please understand, that means most would consider my days to be quite long and boring. Often you can find me by a river contemplating, dangling from a rope on the side of a cliff, struggling to breathe as I swim in alpine lakes, or walking for hours without an endpoint. The reason I am writing this letter is to spark your curiosity, foster your nurturing gifts, and to encourage you to spread your love.
As we age (I know, not what we all want to acknowledge) we begin to rely on our past experience. Fortunately, our experiences have kept us alive and thriving over the last “X” number of years. Unfortunately, this experience removes the natural curiosity we had as a kid, potentially blinding us from seeing this world as it presents itself to us. Our experience allows us to see “between the lines” and blocks us from being surprised by one’s actions. Yet, what happens when we can no longer surprise ourselves? Have we become stagnant? Well, that is possible, but there is an easy way to get out of that rut. Simply, be that annoying a kid again, and ask yourself “Why?” until you can’t go any further.
Most likely you have not heard of Ikigai, however, its background story and correlation to the Japanese island, Okinawa, which is home to the most centenarians in the world gives this Japanese practice an unparalleled lifestyle design resume. Living in the west, we have a consumer-based society, where our value is based on our belongings. That is not the case in Ikigai.
Having the mindset to live on the road means you are willing to work through the punches. As a digital nomad, these books will help you find yourself along your travels as well as give you a perspective that showcases how others have done it in the past. In the end, what you read influences your daily life, your thoughts, and eventually your actions, so read the books which will help you get to where you want to go!
The societal climate appears to be hot and toasty. Often, the rhetoric is negative and disapproving of our society, yet what are you doing to make it a better place? How are you creating an environment for others to see the good in society? Below are four ways to connect with other humans and improve your perspective on society.
We all have 24 hours in a day and you can choose to spend those hours however you wish. It does not matter if you work a 9-5 or live in a van. We are the creators of your schedules. We are the puppet master pulling our strings. Our actions are ours alone. Why not embrace the traveler’s mindset and get the most out of your 24 hours?
