Denver at Last

There isn't a rental car I haven't stood on. This one in Portland, ME late last week.

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks, now moving into the homestretch -- ending up in the Twin Cities next week.

Election season gives me a chance to polish up on my campaign PR photography and for the last several weeks I have hopped all around the nation on and off two buses campaigning for business, both of which end up at the political conventions where I will have a role documenting the work of corporate America and their participation in the political election process. Georgia, Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, DC and Maine.

I have always enjoyed the experience at being witness to the process in the United States of electing representatives to office no matter how insane or unfair it often seems. It's a crapshoot, a drawn out job interview with the American people and a test at self marketing. And it's a ton of fun because the folks you are working with and campaigning in and around -- whether for or against -- are really passionate. Although not as close as some, I am grateful to be as close to the action as I am and to witness another page in the history books.

Outside the box

During a break in the shooting we were entertained by kids in the hot tub!

If It's Tuesday it must be Kalispell

12 August 2008

Pop tarts and mint tea. Happiness is a hotel that has a window open to fresh mountain air.

That wasn't the case when I started my day in Metairie, Louisiana. The window part. So humid the condensation fogged the inside of the glass. Nor was the Hampton Inn any more accomodating when I began this trip last week in Atlanta before city hopping across the South, shooting assignments as I went and lugging my worldly wares in and out of airport security. Sometimes I think my name has been replaced with Bag Check.

Hey, Just call me ETD, I say.

Such has been my story for the last eight years, four months and six days, give or take a time zone. Actually, Travelin' Jack has been around a lot longer. But for the better part of the last decade I have had the extreme privilege of getting paid to practice my craft while I did shlep around this wonderfully diverse nation. And sometimes the world.

From post-Katrina camping alongside an airport runway near Bay St. Louis to the poshest suite at the Boca Resort and Club you could ever imagine, I have had my share of adventures along the way. And the photographs I have made, the best ones, the ones that tell the stories with color and energy and beauty, are my personal tribute to the adventures I have had.

So why now?

Blogging is not just a progression of technology for me, nor just marketing for that matter. Perhaps it is my effort to pay tribute to these past years while documenting the transition to the next bend in the road that inevitably will occur. Perhaps it's simply just time to start telling the story because I'm just having too much fun and somebody has got to hear about it.

Nevertheless, it is my promise to communicate here my passion for photography and imagemaking; the good, bad and the ugly. It's about the journey afterall and hopefully not so much about me. It's just not my style.

Rather, it is a group effort, supported by my friends, my family, my dear partner in life ML. And not to mention my colleagues and mentors. They're all the cast and crew often appearing in a cameo or a starring role.

So I invite you to come along for the ride. Join in our fun and share with me my passion for adventure, imagemaking and admiration of all the beauty there is in life.

And as always, thanks for reading.

iw