Front Seat

Most of March was spent on the road.

I just laughed after writing this because since moving into my van over a year ago the road has been a constant friend.
And my steering wheel.
I've lost count of how many kilometers we've driven, how many weird backstreets and clifftops we've pamped (cross between parking and camping); but haven't forgotten or taken lightly the amount of good times living this life has offered.

When a few projects aligned back to back in South Australia (after literally just returning to Sydney) I thought of budgeting plane tickets into the quote, but then thought of the opportunities the road would bring. As Dip would say ‘Once more into the fray’.

To rewind somewhat, most of the early 2000’s were also spent on the road.
I somehow landed a job where the boss didn’t really want me to be there, but would comply when I wanted to be there, but wouldn’t put up a fight when I asked for three months off only to return and get straight back to work again.

On each trip I’d take a camera and a dozen rolls of black and white film to shoot whatever moved and the waves in-between, looking forward to getting home and having the photos developed so I could relive the trip through the 6x4” pieces of matte photo paper.

The Kodak film was super contrasty with high detail, a personal favorite to leave nothing but the story with no pretty colors to look at - to teleport me back into the trip. I’d sometimes wait a month or two after returning to have them processed so I could feel the buzz and look forward to the next trip while slaving in a factory for $7.62 an hour. I actually have two rolls of Super 8 film in my mum’s fridge from a trip in 2004, I’m waiting until I can’t remember what’s on them before processing the film…if it’ll be any good by then - or if the technology is still available.

Before leaving for the 4,400km March madness trip I looked around at a mates party and for once noticed how many people were glued to their phone, shooting selfies and group shots with an immediate critique and/or re-shoot before uploading to Instagram. I'm the last to judge others for their selfie reshoot needs, but this made me think back to the joys of waiting sometimes months before having a chance to see what the photo was like.

I decided to shoot the trip in the ways of old, black tape over the camera screen, shoot whatever and whenever, no looking at the photos until a few weeks after returning in the hope to get the buzz of being back on the road while now, well, I'm still on the road.