California Test

And then there is California.

California, USA | 2014

Landscape, Travel, & Lifestyle

Over the past decade as we’ve worked on travel assignments, we sometimes find ourselves getting way too wrapped up in the work and forget how crucial it is to STOP being utterly consumed with the shot list, and that PAUSE, EXPERIENCE, AND APPRECIATION can often merit much better results rather than an exhaustive shot list. Rumi said “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” These words have been validating since I’ve always felt that the reason we do what we do is to not only to tell our clients’ stories or for the personal experiences, but to also to share something with people. I feel like the power of art is in the artist’s ability to make somebody feel something different and in my experience the most powerful shifts happen when we get ourselves outside our regular environments. And if it’s our desire as artists is to translate experiences into evoking visual assets that inspire people to feel something different then we ourselves need to do be doing and feeling something different.

We often think we have to travel thousands of miles to experience the most beautiful corners of the world. Believing that life is all about experiences and connections, we used the opportunity of a few assignments as an excuse to to do some extensive traveling through Northern California this last year. Armed with only the necessities and simple gear package that we could fit in a small 4 cylinder wagon, we ended up ticking over 20k miles, shot over 50K frames, stayed at 8 delightful AirBnB homes, had over 20k of gear stolen, 2 bear encounters (nothing but oversized raccoons), 1 mountain lion encounter (nothing at all like an oversized raccoon) and at last check consumed over 700 shots of espresso (twitch).

The experience was amazing not only because I was able to refine the way we plan, organize and effectively shoot an area of the world but to learn once again why it’s important to shoot more as a traveler rather than just as a hired contractor on assignment with an extensive shot list. Disciplining myself to NOT think just in frames; to savor, appreciate, experience…this is where I begin to see the subtleties, discern the differences in cultural nuances and begin to love the history and gain valuable insights into other people’s worlds. When I would not allow myself to get caught up in the logistics and just feel the technical aspects of the camera that I’ve always known…THAT is when I’m able to really and the shutter really starts to click meaningfully. Ultimately, when I allow myself to be a traveler and seek genuine experiences, THAT is when I find that I’m much more able to capture the fresh perspectives that make our work much more meaningful and impactful.

We hope that some of these still and moving pictures will give you a glimpse into the landscapes we fell in love with as Edward Abby did, and beautifully articulated this way:

“There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California”

- Edward Abby, American Writer (1927-89)

LAKE TAHOE
JENNER
GUALALA
NOVATO