Playing Work

After two days "off the map", we are shacked up in a motel in Baker City, Oregon - a bit off course from our original plan (which was to go through Bend on our way to Corvallis, OR), but we got a little behind so we are taking the fast track to Corvallis.

Here is a sampling of all the amazing things we've seen during the past 3 days. We've covered so much ground, it's become a bit of a blur, so let's review:

The Badlands of South Dakota:



Big Horn National Forest, Wyoming:



Yellowstone National Park:






Teton National Park:





A stop in Pocatello, ID to see our friend, Christina, her cute house, and cute dogs:

(posted by Larissa)

As I stood beneath the looming shadow of the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, Minnesota, I observed the soothing flow of traffic on I-90 several yards away, and the cars slowly pulling in and out of the Dairy Queen parking lot across from the neatly trimmed lawns of Jolly Green's domicile. After months of anticipation, I knew in that moment that we had finally reached what Ryan so aptly describes in the current intro on our website as the "space in between."

It is this liminality that makes road trips so salient to our personal experiences as individuals and as a couple. We have officially and successfully separated ourselves from the doldrums of our day-to-day, our to-do lists, appointments, and social obligations. I am not implying that our lives are hard to bear by any means. But we realize how hard it can be for us, as members of our society, to truly travel/move/flee from our daily routines. It is the space in between that one must find from time to time that speaks to and galvanizes our lives when we are living our "normal" everyday existences. And the further and longer we travel from the routine into the space in between, the more cogent the effects will be on our well-beings.

In the following photos, we narrate the voices of Americana that we have been discovering along the way - those ironic, iconic, and campy artifacts of our lives as humans in this country.

(posted by Larissa)

Our trip has begun! We pulled out of our driveway at approximately 8:15 a.m. on Sunday, June 28 and drove away from our cozy abode. It felt strange to be leaving a place we always used to travel long distances to visit. Now, it is our home and (most likely) permanent dwelling place, so this time we take to the open road not to go home, but to test our mettle at traversing the open highways of our country again. We take to the open road to make sure we aren't getting too comfortable at home.

The trip yesterday was very smooth, and we were even able to make a last minute stop in Cleveland to see our friend, Kathryn, who we had not seen in 3 years. We had a nice salad lunch, ate gourmet chocolate that Kathryn gave us as a gift, and walked down to Lake Erie for a few minutes while our dog played in the whitecaps lapping the shore.

Outside of Cleveland, and headed out into the plains of the mid-West, we hit some wind gusts that sent our gas mileage plummeting. Our Honda Fit normally gets excellent mileage for a non-hybrid, but since we have a roof box the winds seemed to grab it and push us in the other direction.

We arrived safely in Chicago at my best friend, Emily's, apartment around 8 p.m. last night after a long day of driving. We had a lovely dinner with her and her boyfriend, Jon, at Hopleaf Bar (mussels, wine, craft-brewed beer, yum) - and then went straight to bed!

The open road is like a long-lost friend you forgot you had. Once you are finally with it, you realize how much you missed it. Ryan and my relationship began on the road, so when we return to it, it stirs up memories and emotions from almost a decade ago. With your dog and spouse as your only companions, and your car, packed to the hilt, containing only possessions you truly need, one can't help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction and exhilaration at what lies ahead.

Today, we head to the Badlands of South Dakota...

It's official, folks! The trip itinerary for our Creative Highways Project 2009 has been published. It is, of course, subject to change on a whim (we may make a left turn instead of a right way out there in the desert), but we will certainly be keeping you updated on our stops and photos along the way. Here is a summary of our trip:

June 28 – depart Mercersburg, PA for Chicago, IL to stay with Larissa’s best friend, Emily Adair Peterson. Urban fun, Vespa rides, perhaps a stop at The Hideout - and dinner out.

June 29 – Chicago, IL to Kadoka, SD, the gateway to the Badlands National Park and Wall Drug, both common stops on our past trips West.

June 30 – Kadoka, SD through the Badlands, and on to Bighorn National Forest, WY. Though not yet in the “Rockies”, this recreational area rises straight out of the central Wyoming plains and offers beautiful and dramatic vistas and higher elevation relief from the heat below. We’ve camped there before and love everything from the drive up to the explorations above.

July 1 – Bighorn through Yellowstone National Park (Yellowstone in the summer is a bit much to take. We can only take the bumper to bumper traffic through a wildlife area for so long - try it in the winter, it's glorious!), and on to Grand Teton National Park for more camping. The Tetons take our breath away.

July 2 – Breakfast in trendy Jackson, WY, then a drive to Bend, OR (via Pocatello, Twin Falls, and Boise, ID). Don't know if we'll have time to stop off for some climbing at Smith Rock, but it would be sweet. We were there in the fall before, though, so it might be a bit toasty to climb there in July.

July 3 – Bend, OR to Corvallis, OR to stay with friends, Kendra and Adam. Their dog, Jake, just had knee surgery, so even though he and our dog, Sadie, love to play, we'll have to make sure they only have so much fun! Kendra and Adam moved out to Oregon last fall so that Kendra could attend Oregon State University's graduate geology program. We're excited to see where they've been shacking up for the past year.

July 4-5 – Celebrating our furthest point West and our nation’s naissance on the Oregon Coast with Kendra and Adam. Mmmm, the misty Pacific sea cliffs, a camp fire on the beach, wine, the dogs, good friends - nothing like it!

July 6-7 – Bumming around Corvallis and Vicinity - hangin' with the dogs and Kendra and Adam.

July 8 – Corvallis to Walla Walla, WA for some wineries and Palouse Falls.

July 9 – Walla Walla, WA to Moscow, ID, our old Idaho hometown, where we lived from 2001-2003! We will spend two nights staying in downtown Moscow and visiting old haunts such as John’s Alley, the Moscow Food Coop, friends, University of Idaho (Ryan's alma mater and Larissa's former employer), etc.

July 9-11 – Moscow, ID and Vicinity

July 11-13 – Moscow to Lochsa and Selway River regions for hotspringing, camping, and general no-man’s-land-ing.

July 13-15 – Lochsa/Selway area to Riggins, ID for camping on the white sand beaches of the Salmon River, our favorite river in the world! You get a whole beach to yourself! Hope to find French Creek hot springs way up along the canyon walls where we went for Ryan’s birthday in 2003.

July 15 – Riggins, ID to the South Fork of the Payette River near Lowman, ID. More hot springs and beautiful vistas of the Sawtooth Mountain Range await! Just the drive alone is gorgeous.

July 16 – To Redfish Lake, the furthest point East that salmon swimming from the Pacific Ocean along the Colombia River travel - a gorgeous lake near Stanley, ID, nestled along the Sawtooth Mountain Range.

July 17 – Redfish Lake, through the Sawtooths, south through the Snake River plain of Idaho, and on to Provo, UT for a motel, clean-up, and gearing up for more camping.

July 18-20 – Provo to Joe’s Valley in the Manti-La Sal Mountains, and the San Rafael River - a climbing and bouldering mecca and a place we remember loving to camp – gorgeous.

July 20-22 – Joe’s Valley to Moab, UT area for some explorations of Arches National Park and the Canyon Lands.

July 22 – Moab to Boulder, CO in search of the Green Hornet sushi roll, which we ate there way back in 2000 (our first year together). We think we might be able to find it here. Will it taste as good now as it did then?

July 23 – Boulder to St. Louis, MO – we’re truckin’ now, haulin' home.

July 24 – St. Louis to Mercersburg, PA - home at last!


Click here for an interactive map of our trip.

(posted by Larissa)

We have a wonderful trip on the horizon! Starting on June 28, we will be packing up our Honda Fit and driving from Mercersburg, Pennsylvania to the Oregon Coast in 5 days, followed by several weeks of touring through Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado, and many points in between. From 2001-2003, Ryan and I lived in Moscow, Idaho, so this is our chance to return to one of our hometowns with our dog in tow (she was born and adopted out there), as well as explore some of our favorite haunts and new vistas along the way.

Though a personal trip in its majority (this was going to be our honeymoon 3 years ago, but we went to Maine instead), we will be using this opportunity for business purposes as well. Ryan is very excited to get back out to the Wild West and take photographs of all the wonderful things we'll see along the way.

The simple nature of driving across the country will allow us to step away from our daily logistics and focus on a few small tasks each day: drive, stop, take pictures, explore, drive, stop, camp, get up, drive, stop, etc. Our creativity will be re-energized as the artifacts of Americana and open highways of this land unfold before us. Some we have seen before during our many trips across the country while we lived in Idaho and Texas, and many we will look at with new eyes. Others will be new to us, but all will be stimulus for our creativity. Whether as inspiration for a new collection of photographs, or some new songs for Larissa's band, we are so excited to be able to spend four weeks outside our office, home, and town, and get out and explore our beautiful country.

We plan to document our trip on this blog, as well as Larissa's personal weblog, Good Life Project. We hope you will check back periodically to watch our progress and see some of the beautiful photographs Ryan will be taking.

We're making our travel itinerary now, so we'll keep you posted as things develop.

Happy shooting, and may your summer travels be gleeful and creative!

I've been thinking a lot lately about various forms of visual communication and have been fascinated with some recent projects that have been floating around the web. Have fun viewing these and let me know what you think of them. If there is anyone out there who is interested in collaborating on a project send me an email.

This first one is a self promotion piece by photographer, Sylvain Dumais. Fantastic!

Stop Motion | The Long Haul from DUMAIS on Vimeo.

I just saw this video by photographer, Noah Webb for the first time today and was astonished by the amount of work that must have gone into creating this. I can't help but think how a production as creative and interesting as this is bound to help both the musician, Sara Lov and Noah Webb.




This final video is a multimedia piece by Duckrabbit. It's such a simple concept but incredibly powerful and moving. The story behind this project is really interesting. Read about it if you have a moment.

INNOCENCE - Sri Lanka's Child Soldiers from Benjamin Chesterton on Vimeo.

I don't get sick very often, but last week I was pretty ill. Don't worry, it wasn't swine flu although there were moments when I thought I might die. Flu like symptoms tied together with the worst sinus infection I have ever had made for moments when I would have paid someone to hit me in the face with a sledgehammer.

I'm feeling much better now with only a few remnants of a cough, but I keep thinking about those days last week when I was incapable of moving let alone trying to run a professional photography business. Fortunately no shoots were scheduled last week and I was able to push the other things on my to do list aside. I can't help but feel a little concerned about the possibility of being stricken with a serious illness. What if, God forbid, I am diagnosed with cancer, or break my femur or lose my shooting eye. I hate thinking about these things but I feel it's in my best interest to be prepared for any of the above situations or any other combination of illness.

I am a very active photographer. What I mean is that when I'm on a shoot it's a very physical process from hauling equipment, lying on the ground, climbing up ladders, hanging off a rock face or just putting my body in many unnatural positions in order to get the shot I want. If I'm injured I can't do this. If I can't shoot then I can't make a living and if I can't make a living I can't pay my bills. Myself, Larissa, our dog and numerous people we are indebted to are screwed.

So what do I do about this? Well the obvious solution is to never get sick and to never get injured. That's my first plan. Not exactly bulletproof, but it makes sense. My back up plan is disability insurance. Larissa and I are in the process of putting together an affordable disability plan with our insurance agent that will help ease the financial burden of an illness or injury. It's not going to cover us for life, but it should help get us toward the other side of the healing process or help us until we can figure out another option for bringing in income.

I'm an optimist so my heart says that I'll never use the disability insurance we're paying for but I'm also a realist and understand the potential risks of not having a back up plan. So, as much as it hurts to add one more bill to the long list of others I think we're doing the smart thing.

Do you have a backup plan?