There's a lot of places that I would love to visit and photograph. Exotic places that I can really showcase my capabilities as an artist in capturing their true spirit. I travel whenever I can, considering all my designing commitments and of course the resources needed for such photographic excursions. If only I can pack my backs and not worry about a thing, be out for weeks or months at a time without any worries...I would love that! I am busy with my jewellery designs and that keeps me tied down quite a bit, projects that can be in a span of a couple of months, sourcing gems, conceptualizing really breathtaking designs.

Some months I can barely get a day-off, meeting my crafts men to discuss the sketch to wax, or wax to finish piece stages. There's months that I have 5-7projects on the go and those projects wouldn't see completion until the next month or even the month after that. I just can't pack my luggage and leave anytime due to these commitments. I love creating photographs but not more than orchestrating a one of a kind wearable fine art piece.

A tight schedule is an understatement when I refer to my day to day activities, so those long 2-3weeks get-aways are such a treat. Every two years I try to go on a photographic excursion, I prefer roadtrips...I get to see more places while enroute to the destination. Back in 2006 I went on a roadtrip with my family to Seattle, Washington, USA. We visited a few major western Canadian destinations, Calgary, Banff, Kamloops, Kelowna, Whistler, Vancouver and Victoria. In 2008 we went and drive through the U.S. visiting 11 states, but our mainstays where Nevada, California and Arizona but  night stays on some other states such as Utah, Colorado where such treats. Roadtrips are always so much fun that I don't really get to sleep in the van, sights after sights just pops up and I can't just sleep through  good photographic opportunities.

Taking shots at 80mph is totally a different way of creating photographs, most fine art images are well thought out, camera on a tripod and the artist waits for that perfect light. At 80mph, absolutely no tripod and the art of anticipation should be mastered, since by the time you select your subject the foreground and the background changes  in a blink of an eye. I compose my shots looking at a distance and anticipate the shot as it passes by my window, sounds like it is just going to be a mess...well some shots you can't really make work.

So one my first roadtrip I kinda was in the learning stage of this "moving target photography" but my 2,500 images from that trip was mostly from our drive through the BC mountainsides. On our 2008 trip I was more prepared for this run and gun type of photography, but most of my images this time are actually more prepared shots when we are on a stop. There wasn't that many picturesque part of the trip while on the road, not enough to fill up my storage cards but enough for a lenghty post processing session by the time we came home. Mind you Nevada and Utah did offer really eye popping scenes but unfortunately most of our drive through these states where at sun down so it wasn't ideal for this type of shooting. It would have meant I would be shooting in very high ISOs and lenses wide open, it would have been very grainy and the focus would be very erratic. The drive through Colorado and Arizona however yielded some of my best photographs and all my Colorado shots where on the road at 80-90mph and I have a great collection of Arizona Sunrise as we were passing through Tuba City.

Waiting for the "perfect light" is what people tend to value a lot...what about creating photographs with what you are given. I unfortunately don't have the luxury of just waiting for the perfect light, I am on the road for 2-3weeks in multiple locations for my "photo excursion" . I make use of what I have and I can't complain at all, I have GORGEOUS images that people wouldn't even believe that I took them while the van is moving. I have enlargements that stretches a few feet wide that looks tripod mounted but if you've been on that same route before then you can relate to the challenge in creating these photographs. There's just no way you can set-up a tripod in the middle of the Colorado Highways. I love the thrill of anticipating that perfect shot, playing with the available light to create a stunning scene that would have been discarded if you slept through the ride. I have fellow artist that just admire my 2008 albums and not knowing that my "Arizona Sunrise" and "Colorado Highways" collections where all taken inside the van, I have a good number of fair size enlargements done with these images. My friends just simply couldn't believe that such images can be created while in a moving vehicle specially when viewing prints, it's different admiring photographs on a website because it is not at full resolution. You just have to see some of my prints to truly appreciate the beauty of these images.

Some of my favorite shots are sunset and sunrise but they can require a bit of effort, waking up early to capture that "perfect light". Most photographers do have to wait a certain amount of time before and after sunrise/sunset to get that magical image. And the fast changing light could mean if you slept in for 5 mins, you wouldn't get that ideal shot. The "Arizona Sunrise"(photo on the right) is a collection of 5 photographs created in a span of less than 5minutes, multiple shots where taken to choose the best 5 images, the fast changing light and the moving landscape made it really challenging. The San Francisco sunrise collection is a set of 5 images that were taken in the back of our hotel facing the airport and it is not much different procedure, I woke up very early to wait for the changing light to be captured at it's best. Sunrise and sunset are fun and always picturesque but it needs more than just "being there", well if you get lucky then I can't argue you can capture a gorgeous scene. Being there and waiting would no doubt even give you a much better photograph.

Photographing very popular sites can be very very tricky, because millions of images are all over the web and people have a pre-defined expectation of what it suppose to look like. One very well photographed location is The Grand Canyon, mind you it's huge so there's still a bit of a variety. We stopped by the Grand Canyon on our drive back home...not much of a stop, we were there for only  3hrs. I wasn't too pleased that we are only stopping so quickly. The Grand Canyon is GORGEOUS and with the right light it can look mystical, but the odds where against me...the light was too harsh, therefore the Canyons where very harshly lit creating really challenging circumstances. With only 3 hrs to capture it's beauty, I started by scouting the right perspective...there's tourist everywhere and it was so hard to avoid all these people. For me, I wanted to capture the best possible set of photographs I can of this American icon, I climbed through rocks just to get a little bit different perspective. It was very tricky and scary...since there's no net to catch me if I slipped. It would have been easier if I was prepared and had a different set of gear, but with my 15lbs of equipment I climbed rocks and I survived.  I created some gorgeous images. Not quite mystical nor magical because the mid-afternoon light was just not ideal. I created this "digital art" of the canyons by separating the image in 2 parts, editing them separately and joining them back together creating a High Dynamic Range image.

I love to visit all of these sites again, hopefully soon. I would love to stay at The Grand Canyon for at least a month and just go through the different areas. Camp out and just wait for that perfect light to make the Canyons appear magical. Oh yeah before I forget LA was quite a place to visit to shop and so is Las Vegas...both places are just urbanscapes that are just eye popping. Las Vegas casinos are just quite an attraction on their own, The Canal and The Forum Shoppes are just extraordinary...and they allow photography inside their premises...so it was so much fun!

This is my humble story on being an artist torn between two equally fun and exciting mediums that neither one can justify sacrificing one over the other. I love photography but I can only do it while on a break from my designing, I create my fine art images as I get a chance. This is how I see the world and the world is not always on a perfect light but it would always be beautiful.

click on an image to view the album it belongs to, click on the MOSAIC to view the 2008 US RoadTrip COLLECTION

View Dodgie Dator'smost interesting photos

DODGIE "DGZ" DATOR