The End... And A New Begining!!!

There's a photo that hangs in my grandparents living room of their home. Its a big black and white portrait of my grandfather taken at his cabinet shop when he was in his early days. He even built the frame that it hangs in. My grandmother told me that a unknown photographer just showed up one day and wanted to take his photo. Growing up I looked at it all the time and I still stare at it every time I go over there. When I was younger I remember looking at it and always wondering what the photographer looked like and what his camera looked like. That photo played a big part in my quest of becoming a photographer myself. So, who ever he is, Thanks...

That last night of my trip back home from Missoula camping at Beavers Bend I wondered if it was all worth it. Putting down my day job in the mist of economic low and moving to Montana to become a photographer. Easier said than done my friends. It wasn't all just sunshine and rainbows you know. One week before leaving my grandfather was in a bad accident that left him in a coma that no one knew if he would come out of or not. Second, I had all my photography gear stolen during the second half of school, and may I add a hard rain is goin to fall on the SOB that took my shit to. I will be back to Missoula!!! Lookin, listin, and smellin!!! The third and hardest blow of all was finding out that my mother had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer.
After hanging up from that tearful phone call, I deiced to give it all I had and catch this dream of photography that I was chasin. After all my mother gave me my first lesson in photography, little does she know. When I was about 7 I asked her if I could take a picture with our cheap family camera. She said yea, but that I could only take two photos, film is expensive she said. Walking around for an hour looking for just the right thing to photograph, which ended up being my stuffed animals!!! I took my first photos. So, I would say that was my first lesson in photography, taking my time and looking around before I just went to clicking away. I also remember thinking one day I'll have my own camera and I'll take all the photos I want. Well, that day has finally came and I have one bad ass camera along with the knowledge to use it, and I take all the photos I want to.
I love you Mom, and thanks for all your love!!


All turned out to be ok though, my grandfather is back on his feet and has the memory of an elephant, I upgraded my camera gear thanks to renters insurance and the donations of my fellow classmates and faculty of RMSP. And my mother is cancer free, stronger and more beautiful than ever.


Even after those three hard kicks to the balls, that took a lot wind out of my sails. I did manage to learn a few things.
I now have a new found skill. One that I knew I had all the time but needed help releasing, and a summer in Montana surrounded by talented photographers did it. I had a fire burning in me and RMSP poured the gas on it that turned it into a wildfire, and I don't ever plan on putting it out. My photo skills have grown by leaps and bounds in the pass 8 months. The seven weeks of my road trip back my camera was never more than arms length from me. I even took it with me when I stopped at stores to piss. Had to, the jeep is to easy to break into.

I plan to continue with my photography now that I'm back in Texas. Hell, I've just gotten started. Can't wait to see where all this takes me, and what comes out of it all . I need to get back to my day job for a bit though and go from there. In fact that's the plan, but I will still photograph on the side if anyone out there would like my services. I also need to say, I can no longer accept 12 packs as payment for my photography work. I will however accept the combination of 30 packs and cash money though... I'm a professional now people, that's just how it works...

Let me say one last thing!

Arriving in Montana I wanting to start a new chapter, so I did, and when I left there I had enough crazy ass stories, fun loving memories, and good friends to start a new book. Hell, a trilogy at that... That's why I have to get back there. The road trip back home with my new found skills was a blast too. The West is almost as wild as I am.
But back to the question. Was it all worth it? YOUR DAMN RIGHT IT WAS!!!
Anyways, lets look at some photos!!!
So turn the theme song Voodoo Child all the way up and lets take a ride, Wide Open!!!

RMSP Raft Trip...

I was recently looking trough all the photos that I took this summer and found some that were taken on a rafting trip on the Blackfoot River. During RMSP, the group that I was in decided to get together and raft, and what an adventure that was.
The day of the trip I met Donnie, he was our raft guide and river expert. He and I ended up becoming very good friends and shot countless games of pool together over the summer at my office in Charley B's located on the corner of Space and Time in downtown Missoula.
What made this trip such a circus was the ride there. I still laugh just thinking about it. We dropped all the cars off at the take out point on the river and then all 8 of us, a deflated raft, raft pump, life jackets, paddles, and of course the beer cooler loaded up into Donnie's Ford Ranger! Yes, I said a Ford Ranger... There was not one square inch in that truck that didn't have something or someone stuck in it. I thought the damn thing was going to blow up it had such a load on it, but hey, we're talking about a Ford here.
The road to the put in was a winding one lane dirt mountain road with no guard rails and deadly drop offs everywhere. A quarter of the way into the trip I turned to Melanie and told her that I thought it sounded like the exhaust was about to fall off. The truck was getting louder and louder with ever hill we climbed over, and I must say I was getting a little worried about what was going on with the Ranger.
We all keep a tight grip on something so we wouldn't fall out and kept laughing at the sight of all of us in the back of this truck. All of the sudden the exhaust system of the truck fell off and was dragging along the road under us, making a hell of a noise. At the time I had no idea what the hell had just happened, for all I knew the motor had fallen out because of the bind that it was in.
Wouldn't you know that all of this happened when we were going up one of the steepest slopes of the road. Donnie stopped the truck and instantly slide under it like Pete Rose with no shirt on to see what the malfunction was. All the sudden the truck started rolling back!!! I dove into the drivers seat and put my foot on the brake. I screamed at Donnie and told him he didn't set the emergency brake. It doesn't work he screamed back. Great!!! He tied the exhaust back up with a shoe string or something and we were back on the road with the truck sounding like a NASCAR!!!

East Bound And Down!!!

I had finally reached some warmer weather when hitting the Panhandle of Texas. There ain't shit up in that part of Texas either. I camped at Caprock State Park that night. It was hard for me to believe that I was back under the stars of Texas. I set up camp and was enjoying a cold beer when the wind picked up and started blowin like hell. I noticed to the wind was filled with dirt. A dust storm, Great, and I was about to ride it out in a tent. Sounds like fun doesn't it. Mother Texas welcoming me back with kisses of dust!!!
Dust was everywhere in the tent. I ran and got a tarp out of the jeep and tried to wrap it around my shelter to keep the dust out. I also grabbed two more beer to wash the dust out of my mouth. I climbed back into the tent, and found it was hopeless, some how dust was still getting in. I ended up having to drink two more beer just to keep from chocking to death. It was horrible!!!
That morning I woke up in a pile of beer cans and there was red dust everywhere. Well, everywhere but my lips and mouth, good thing I drank all that beer, it helped everything but my head. Hey, "everything" was covered in a blanket of red dirt, I looked at myself in the side view mirror of the jeep and my face was even red. I looked like an Apache warrior. Cool!!!

I loaded up and headed out. Sometime last night while keepin all that dust out of my mouth I thought it would be a good idea to cut across Oklahoma. Hadn't seen that much of the state, so off I went. And there's not much there to see I found out. Maybe if you like tractors and farming you would like it here. I hauled ass all away across to the South East corner of the state to a place called Beavers Bend. It's a favorite hideout of mine, I do a lot of canoeing and camping there, I also caught my first trout there. Yes, Oklahoma has trout fishing, don't tell anybody, it's a secret!!!
After makin camp, I built a small fire and decided to have a Moose Drool (It's a beer that's brewed in Missoula, MT). I brought a case of bottles back with me, I love'em and they love me. Thanks Charlie for the beer, keep up the good work at the brewery. Millions of us are depending on you, and I'll be back soon to replenish... I'd duct taped the case of beer closed and wrote on the top "Don't Open Till Texas". I figured Hell, I'm close enough, I'm pretty much in my back yard. Plus I'd snuck one out in Flagstaff. I thought I was going to die in that blizzard so I enjoyed a Moose Drool just in case!!!
That night sitting there by the fire my mind raced with all kinds of thoughts and ideas. What now??? That was the one that keep popping up the most. I've finally come full circle on my trip. I'd been on the road for seven weeks and traveled over 6000 miles, and only about 200 of those were Interstate miles. I came across the country on two lanes and back roads, I was on the slow train back to Texas. I'm glad I could share it with everyone though my photography, and this Blog I've come to love. Even thought I was Han Solo on the trip with the Blog and Facebook I still had a army of good friends with me. I just hate that y'all only got to see and hear a fraction of what all I seen and experienced.
I would like to thank everyone for reading and thanks for all the support that was handed out. It helped boost me up when I needed it.

Thanks Everyone and Cheers!!!
David

Oh, By the way, this isn't over yet. There's still more to come.

New Mexico!!!

After leaving Telluride, I headed South to Taos, New Mexico. Its a nice little artist town hide out in the North Central part of the state. Arriving there I just footed around downtown, I also stopped and payed my respects to a hero of mine, the one and only Kit Carson. He lived his final days in Taos and is buried there. He was a living legend among Frontiers Men and Mountain Men all along the country in his time. He was one hell of a guy who lived life wide open, just like this other guy I happen to know...
I did get to see the sun set in a way that I had never seen before. I drove to the out skirts of town to watch it. On the way out there I passed by the Earth Ship Homes. There homes out in the desert that are built out of recycled stuff. I'd seen them on the DIY channel a time or two, and I think there pretty damn cool... I wanted to tour the one that is open to the public but it was CLOSED. Anyways, back to the sunset!!!
I found a good place out in the middle of no where to watch the big ball of fire in the sky burn into the horizon. I had always heard about the sunsets and the beautiful afternoon light of NM, and its no lie, it's absolutely amazing. The best part is I had some strawberries in my cooler, so I enjoyed some nice cold strawberries with my NM sunset!
Getting ready to photograph the sunset, I started watching the sky start doing its magical change of colors. The sky behind me even started changing colors. Wow!!! I've been chasin sunsets every afternoon on this trip and never had I seen one like this... Colors were everywhere. Not just where the sun had set, but all behind and above me were colors of oranges, purples, and reds. It was crazy!!!
In photography, it was one of the best magic hours I've ever witnessed.



After Taos, I stopped in Santa Fe. I spent most of my time there going into Galleries and checkin out all the art and photography that the town has to offer. This is one GIANT art town. Everybody and there dog is an artist here, no shit, I seen in a local paper were a dog made a painting, and it fetched some big money. Maybe I need to tell Athena at RMSP about it, she had a very talented dog that was a great phodographer...
After eating some tasty Mexican food and drinking some locally brewed beer in downtown Santa Fe, I headed out to photograph.
I soaked up one last amazing NM sunset outside of town. This one was bitter sweet though, and I'm not talkin about the strawberries that I was still eating on, for tomorrow I would be back in Texas.
The trip was coming to an end... Almost home...
With that in mind, I dug deep in my ice chest for the coldest beer that could be found. I sat on the hood of my jeep till all the colors in the sky faded to black, and it was just me, the moon, and the cool desert breeze...

To Hell You Ride!!!

I’d tried to make it to Telluride a few days ago, but had to turn around 25 miles into the trip due to several avalanches coming down on the road making the mountain pass impossible to cross. When I reached the top of Coal Bank Pass a snow plow had the road blocked and the driver said “it could take hours to clean up”. I headed back down to Durango, and drove though blizzard conditions. It was 25 miles of white knuckle driving down a huge mountain with very few guard rails, covered in snow, with visibility of about 20 feet. It was one of those times when you ask yourself, how in hell did I get knee deep in this bullshit??? Well, good luck stung me and I made it down with no problems after stopping several times to clean the snow and ice off my windshield...
All bullshit aside, it was the scariest drive of my life!!!
Once back in Durango, I rubbed and kissed the dashboard of my jeep and thanked her for getting me safely down the pass. I then went to the nearest saloon, found a warm bar seat, and watched the Cowboys get their asses kick.



The next day was blue skies and sunshine. I went around to Lizard Pass, not wanting to take a chance on the road not being cleared at Red Mountain Pass. Making it to Telluride I found a motel and hit the streets. The small mountain town is boxed in by beautiful mountains and has a nice warm charm to it . Staying there for two days I meet some nice people, but I never really felt like I fit in. I’m sure it’s because “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO SKI” and this is a major ski destination. It was pretty damn good odds I was the only person in that town that couldn’t ski. I was worn out from the roads and hiking around, so I caught up on some rest and just chilled around town. After riding the free ski lift “ The Gondola” over the mountain to the next town of Mountain Village several times to drink beer and listen to all the rich folks from all over the world talk shit and flash their money. I decided it was time to pull the pin and roll out .
Damn, I wish I could ski though... Oh well, “ Where’s the beer? I’ll learn to ski later...”










Back over a hundred years ago, word around the campfire has it now that when miners packed up and headed into the mountains of Telluride to find their dreams and a pocket full of gold. People would tell them” To Hell You Ride” as they rode off. Supposably, because the road there was hell to travel, and that’s the way the town got it’s name.
I don’t know, but I do know hell froze over for me to get there. The ride out of hell was beautiful though, driving along what is known as “The Million Dollar Highway”. 13,000 foot snow covered mountains, half frozen pure flowing rivers, and million dollar views everywhere I looked. This land is big magic the Indians may say!!! And they would be exactly right, this part of the country is paradise, and then some!!!

West Coast - Southwest Mix

If you happen to be one on the lucky ones that has

Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child (Slight Return) on your computer or your Ipod.
Then play it, go to the top of the Blog, and don't start scrollin till the drums come in, HARD and HEAVY!!!