Interview on She Explores

I was delighted when I was asked to be a part of the "Women on the Road" series from She Explores. I love that Gale has dedicated a portion of her website to celebrate women on the road.  She also writes about her adventures from her Sprinter Van.  Want to get inspired?  Read the interviews on her site and if you'd like to read mine, click HERE 

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Vanscapes

As some of you know, I took a trip of a lifetime to New Zealand in April for three weeks without Max to wander around solo in a van.  After a 13 hour flight, I took my two very full bags on public transportation when I arrived and after I was dropped off, I walked to the van rental company.  What seemed like forever, we went over the rules and regulations of the van until it was time to take the keys and start my journey.  

I drove out of the lot with hesitation since I am not familiar with driving on the left side of the road.  In fact, I missed my exit because I was afraid of making a right turn.  Eventually I followed another car and made it on the freeway going north.  I pulled off the highway before a toll freeway to a gas station to practice pumping gas (as if I have never done that before) and to pay the toll on the kiosk.  After I pumped gas, I moved the van around to the parking lot of a fast food restaurant.  I went in to grab a sandwich and when I came back to the van, all of my bags and everything I brought with me was stolen.  Just like that.  Everything.  Camera, clothes, etc was gone.  All I had left was my wallet and iPhone and luckily I grabbed my passport from my backpack and put in my purse as a last minute, "maybe I should take this with me" thought. 

I waited for police, filled a report, spent night at police station so they could fingerprint the van in the morning and then the next day... I was finally on my way, for real this time.  

I really wasn't that upset.  It was just "stuff."  The thing I was most upset about was my hand written travel journal.  I am pretty particular about clothes and can wear out an article of clothing if I like it.  Of course I packed all of my favorites and swimsuits. Ladies, you know what I mean when I say a good swimsuit is hard to find.  I bet the one you consider your favorite is a few years old because it fits just right.

I digress... Since I had my iPhone on me, I took all of my travel photos with it like I do when I travel the states and post on my Instagram account ( @alisontravels ).  It wasn't a big deal to me to use it since it's the camera I use the most these days. 

The first day on the road, I found a spot out in the country with fields of sheep (the photo shown above).  I got out of the van to take their photograph but they all scattered and ran away once one of them saw me and got spooked.  So I went back to the van and sat in it for a while to see if they would come back.  I leaned back (hiding from the sheep in the van) and took a photo from the inside and couldn't believe how beautiful it looked.  I was actually in the place where I've seen so many beautiful landscapes.  I've arrived.

From that photo, I continued on and used the passenger door window as a photo frame to all of the beautiful surroundings I came across.  My new visual travel journal would be images taken from the drivers seat of the van so I could remember what it was like and hoped that by doing so, it would give my friends and followers a sense of being there with me, along for the ride.

I also did this with the sliding door and displayed my toes to give it a human element.  

Aline Smithson wrote a nice article for her blog, Lenscratch that you can read HERE and David Carol wrote a nice piece about the sliding door views on PDN's Emerging Photographer that you can read HERE. Thank you both for sharing this series!

I hope you feel as if you took a little tour of the country with these images.  It's a beautiful country with wonderful people.  I will never forget it.

National Geographic

It's still hard for me to believe that my image and National Geographic are next to each other in this screenshot photo.  Last December, I went to my first portfolio review in New Orleans, LA.  I was nervous about showing my personal series to top names in the gallery, museum and art world. What would they say? How would they react to my process? It's always a bit daunting to show your personal work to the world but as I am learning, it's the most rewarding thing you can do.  Sure, people might not like it and that is why it's "art."  It's subjective.

I decided to participate in the reviews since my work was selected to be shown at the Ogden Museum of Art in New Orleans in conjunction with PhotoNOLA.  I felt that would be a nice opening line when presenting my series to reviewers.  I am a shy person so this is not the most comfortable setting for me.  I'm sure it's not for most...especially for the first time.

The first review was exciting since it really set the tone.  I walked up, introduced myself and said it was my first review ever.  It didn't seem to phase him and he was positive about everything, giving me both positive statements and some constructive criticism.  This is why I am doing what I decided to do.  I wanted honest feedback.

When I met Kurt (writer of the National Geographic article), I had a day of reviews under my belt and I have to say that I was my most relaxed self with Kurt.  We have 20 minutes to present with each person and when I met Kurt, we talked about our dogs for about the first ten minutes. Then it was, "oh yeah... here's my work..." I could have been so relaxed because I felt that nothing would come out of the meeting.  I mean, he was representing National Geographic.  I didn't think my work fell into the realm of the holy grail of travel images which is Nat Geo. So, when he contacted me a few months later to feature it on their photo blog, "Proof", I was completely shocked and so very honored.

Being vulnerable and putting my work and life out there to be seen and judged has brought me more gifts then I could have ever imagined.  Thank you.

To read the article, click HERE

Here's a photograph of me with the images displayed at the Ogden Museum of Art in New Orleans (photo courtesy of Christa Blackwood):

How it started

If you are new to my blog, welcome!  I've been writing here off and on for about five years now.  I haven't been writing as much as I would like lately but I am hoping I will change that someday.  The Photo Brigade published a story I wrote about living in a van and some tips on how to do it if you are thinking of a similar lifestyle.  I also share how I ended up living this lifestyle and what I did to get here. 

To read the article, click HERE

Bingo Culture on Slate.com

Last week, my "Bingo Culture" series was featured on the front page of Slate Magazine.  What an honor it was to have my images shown to bring some light back on the game of BINGO.

To see the article, click HERE

So long, 2013

It's the first day of the new year! Normally, I would start to think forward (which I will after this post), but I wanted to take a minute to remember all that I did in 2013.  Thanks to Instagram, I can scroll through all of my photos and remember what I did.  I would usually do that in blog posts, but I haven't been making time for these posts as much as I have done in the past.  I am so grateful to all of my friends and loved ones in my life.  I am also thankful to the new friends that I met this year!

Here are some of my most memorable moments of 2013.

In 2013, I…

Drove through Big Sur on Highway 1

Spoke about my work at Open Show, Venice Arts

Awarded 3rd place for "Brothers" at Photo LA

Started my new series, "Reflected Identities"

Visited Death Valley for the first time

Photographed the Cover of Airstream Life Magazine

Hiked to the Hollywood Sign

First Place Winner for Instagram Series in PDN's Emerging Photographer Magazine

Images wheat pasted in Denver for the month of photography's "The Big Picture"

Went to Sequoia National Park

Selected for MOPLA Smashbox Show

Camped in the Alabama Hills

Slide Show Series Grand Prize Winner at the Palm Spring Photo Festival

Photograph published in Sunset Magazine
Celebrated 4 years of life without Alcohol on April 5th

Interviewed for the Candid Frame

"Brothers" photograph and story in Popular Photography Magazine

Photographed WW2 and Korea Veterans visiting the war memorials in Washington D.C.

Photographer for Airstream's Alumapalooza Festival

Photographs in Musee' Magazine

Lived in Portland, OR for two months

Published in Square Magazine

Had my heart broken

Learned the Wet Plate Collodion process

Watched my best friend get married

Licensed images to a big Agency

Spent a month Wandering around the Pacific Northwest

Selected as a finalist for Critical Mass

Took Film Images and used the darkroom to develop and make prints

Put on a wetsuit for the first time

Published in Seities Magazine

Selected for the Art of Photography Show

Attended Life Is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas

Watched Numerous Sunsets and a few Sunrises

Lived in Austin, TX for a month

Photographed Max in a cotton field and in snow

Met some amazing new friends

Visited White Sands National Monument

Backcountry Camping in Big Bend, TX

Had 5 Images shown in a Museum (Ogden Museum of Southern Art) in New Orleans

First Portfolio Review

Took Portraits of 40 Friends for my series

Published in Black&White Photography Magazine

Four Shows in a row at the Center For Fine Art Photography in Ft. Collins

Spent Thanksgiving with Strangers

Interviewed for a Documentary

Spent Christmas Camping with my Mother

Visually, here's some of my favorite images from 2013:

My favorite moments of 2013 from Alison Turner on Vimeo.

Follow me on Instagram here:

http://instagram.com/alisontravels

I hope you have the best year ever in 2014!  

Looking for more?

Here's what I did in 2012, 2011 and 2010