I was sat in a blue bus on it's way north to a desert town by the sea, several months deep on a journey through Peru.
Playing on a dinky TV was a Jackie Chan movie with Spanish subtitles. The chairs were covered in poly-corduroy and smelled ever so slightly like a stale cupboard. The bus was fairly empty, except for the large family on the other side of the aisle. The daughter was transfixed by Chan's on-screen dance. I looked out the tinted window, to see an expanse of desert lit by the afternoon sun. On occasion, we would pass burning piles of trash, the lighter parts of which had been strewn like confetti across the Pan-American highway and surrounding desert. To my left, over a series of smaller dunes with rocky crowns, lay the Pacific ocean.
The forward motion of that bus - it's direction and intent - flipped me straight into that present moment. A wave of joy rose through my body and welled up in my heart, so great my chest felt as if it could hardly hold the vast expanse of it. The sheer pleasure of being "there" (which really meant HERE) made me grin from ear to ear. I still think of it when I get sad, not because the location, the smell, or the view was so astounding (it also was, in as much as it was a completely unique combination of factors, something I had never been witness to before), but simply because I was so completely present.
Photography is adventure. A chance to see that great wild expanse of the world. From the most beautiful mountain peaks to the most sordid underbelly of a human metropolis. It is a reflection, and as such, a powerful tool. A tool that can be used to inspire into action, to evoke joy or sadness. To solidify serendipity.
For years I have wanted to work for National Geographic. It has played a huge role in my life, in expanding my view of the world, educating me about the lives of others (human, animal and mineral). A single photo stuck in my mind for years: one of a monk sitting in ruins surrounded by roots that looked like melted wax. It led to one of the most transformative journeys of my life, to the heart of Cambodia and the temples of Angkor Wat, something that will stay with me to the day I die. If a photo I take could move just one individual in the way that National Geographic cover moved me, I would be happy. That is my intent, and the motivation for all the work I create.
