june 15, 2021
I was trying to go through my old catalogs last night looking for when I started shooting... well, like I shoot now. I have been an _______ photographer my entire life; whether it's been cars or cosplays or senior portraits or hockey, I've always shot something as my main subject. I know that today, I just sort of shoot... a lot of stuff, and a lot of derelict Americana and landscapes, but it's significantly more artistic than anything I'd shot for most of my life.
So I went through my galleries to try and find when I started shooting like this. Aside from a brief trip to SF in 2016 (which I don't even have the RAWs for anymore; hard drive died on me a few years back) there isn't much in the way of artistic photography until my van trip, and then it's obvious.
Immediately upon hitting the Texas/New Mexico border after passing through Amarillo, I found an abandoned gas station off the highway; it was, in a way, my introduction to the desert and the West. I don't know why it drew me in - I probably have 50 pics of this gas station - but it clearly never quite let go of its grasp on my mind.
