With stay-at-home orders going on around the world and COVID-19 scares happening daily, 2020 wasn’t a great year for traveling. It found many of us hunkering down, learning new hobbies at home (I took up wood-working!), and acting locally. Here’s a look at a few slices of life from the past year.

2020 Stats:

• Miles driven: 6,149
• Foreign countries visited: 0
• States visited: 4
• Rolls of film developed: 5
• Hours of music listened to: 344
• Books read: 4
• Woodworking projects completed: 0.75
• Liters of coffee brewed: a lot
• Photography prints sold: 8 (inquire here)

Without further ado:

Old Rag Mountain, VA

Old Rag Mountain II, VA

Two of my favorite kitties, Washington, DC

Cozy cabin hangs before COVID-19, VA

Neature, VA

Black Lives Matter I, Washington, DC

Black Lives Matter II, Washington, DC

Moon Halo, VA

McAfee Knob, VA

Lil Miss, film, Washington, DC

So much cold brew this year, Richmond, VA

Socially distant park hangouts, Washington, DC

(Safe) Summer vibes, film

Pony Pasture Trail, VA

Good food. Good people.

VFMA, VA

Starry skies, VA

Cheers 2020! Here’s hoping for a less hectic 2021, with more travels, more good news, and more trips into the wild.

From slowing down my travels and living a life less transient to achieving career milestones and adopting a four-legged friend, 2019 has been a year of depth over distance. Here’s a few moments in time from the past year.

2019 stats:

• Miles driven: 7,690
• Foreign countries visited: 1
• States visited: 8
• Hours of music listened to: 744
• Cats adopted: 1
• Alcohol consumed: 0
• Singing lessons taken: 12
• Musical ability acquired: 0.25
• Photography prints sold: 3 (inquire here)

Landscapes

Svartifoss, Iceland

Seljavallalaug, Iceland

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, Iceland

Icelandic coastline

Skógafoss, Iceland

On the road, Iceland

Yoda’s Cave, Iceland

Seljalandsfoss, Iceland

A sunny evening, Iceland

A sunny evening part II, Iceland

Campsite #12, Iceland (film)

Sunset, Iceland (film)

NYC, USA

Portraits

Behind the lens

50 mile finishline

Look up

A good man and his good boy

At the airport

Livin’ in the Big Apple

Brooklyn baking

Dermot Kennedy

Ziggy Alberts

A big, wide world

Two sweet, happy gals

The best dog there is part I

The best dog there is part II

Icelandic horses

Etc.

Best meal of 2019

The driver’s view, Iceland

Who needs hotels?

Alpaca

Cheers 2019

Looking forward to the ’20s on this beautiful planet

Another year, another lap around the sun on this beautiful planet.

It’s been a good year – full of the new and the familiar: new places, experiences, people, and opportunities, and familiar friends, work, challenges, and pursuits.

These are some of my 2018 wanderings.

Fun travel stats

• Miles driven: 6,451
• States visited: 16
• Foreign Countries visited: 1
• Hostels/Hotels/Couches slept on: 34
• Hours of music listened to: 1,158
• Books read: 10
• Concerts attended: 5

Washington, District of Columbia

The U.S. Capitol in the throes of winter

The U.S. Botanical Garden

An underground chapel beneath the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Chino the bro chilling with his owner outside Glens Garden Market

An excitable Chino being welcomed into his first DC home by one of his housemates

West Virginia

Water, stone, and light

The camp life. 100 feet away was the top of Canaan Mountain’s Table Rock

Elakala Falls, WV

Georgia

A couple humans standing under 6 million gallons of water and thousands of fish

Tennessee

An overlook of the Tennessee River near Chattanooga

Foster Falls, TN

Scotland, United Kingdom

Ducks on a lake. Taken off the side of a country road near Callander on my second day in Scotland

Scotland gave me my first experiences driving on the left-hand side of the road. It took some getting used to, but the wonderful scenery made the challenge worthwhile

Somewhere northeast of Edinburgh, this was a great spot to chill out before returning my rental car in Edinburgh

Ben Howard live at the Edinburgh Playhouse

Looking out over the city from the top of Arthur’s seat

Ferry to the Isle of Arran

Sunset on the Isle of Arran

Minnesota

Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, MN

The Mill City Museum and Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

The Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge

A little bit of serenity at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Illinois

Self-portrait at the Council Overhang, Starved Rock State Park

Ottawa Canyon, Starved Rock State Park

In a year characterized by road trips, here’s a shot from the driver’s seat

New York

Ben Howard live at the Hammerstein Ballroom

World Trade Center Transportation Hub

Virginia

The sun peaking through the clouds at Old Rag Mountain

Nature’s morning colors at Old Rag Mountain

Bonus dog pics

Sadie

Chino

Lil Scottish bro

Gear of the year

With the dropping temperatures outside, I’ve been trying to get more studio lighting practice indoors. Maybe in the future I’ll have the patience to list out all my favorite gear from 2018, but until then, here’s two shots of some of my well-used gear from 2018.

Camping gear

Travel gear

Cheers 2018

Here’s looking at you 2019

Soon after my return from Scotland, part two of my US roadtrip began – a three month tour of the Midwestern states.

Since I already covered the why and the how of the trip in Part I, I’m going to skip straight to the wheres in this post. But first, some quick trip stats:

• Cities lived in: 4
• Miles driven: 3,431

Now, without further ado…

Cleveland, OH

Cleveland Museum of Art, by Erik Drost

I admit, I came to Cleveland with low expectations. I only added it to my trip because it broke up the drive to Chicago. Turned out though, Cleveland was pretty great. It had cheap, tasty food, wonderful museums, nice people, and cool, laid-back neighborhoods, shops, bars, and restaurants.

One of my favorite spots in the city was the Cleveland Museum of Art, a huge, free museum with rotating exhibits, a permanent collection of over 45,000 works, and a gorgeous atrium. Severance Hall, the host of the Cleveland Orchestra, was pretty neat too.

While I’d love to show photos of Cleveland, my camera gear was stolen in Minneapolis. I lost my photos from Cleveland and Chicago along with the gear, so I’ll be using other people’s photos until the Minneapolis portion of the write-up.

Chicago, IL

The windy city, by Roman Boed

Despite the nickname “the windy city”, Chicago didn’t have many winds in store for me (thankfully). My experiences there mostly consisted of work, food, and catching up with family from abroad. The last two were wonderful. Good food (delicious deep dish), good dive bars, and great people. I didn’t explore the city enough to get a true feel for it, but the parts I did see were fantastic.

Minneapolis

Minnehaha Falls

Minneapolis in the summertime is a stunner of a city. The weather is beautiful, the lakes are open, the nature is abundant, the food is delicious, and the people are friendly. There’s not much more I could ask for in a city, and for that reason, I stayed in Minneapolis for two months.

I could go on about the museums, midwesterners, music scene, culture, cost of living, and more, but I’ll let my photos do Minneapolis justice.

From left to right, a Rise Against concert, the Rickmobile (and a wacky, inflatable, flailing plumbus), and the Mall of America.

The Mill City Museum, built atop the ruins of the Washburn “A” Mill. In the background is a glimpse of the Guthrie Theatre

The Mill City Museum courtyard, built to incorporate the ruins of the Washburn A Mill. Below the glass overhang lies a pile of wheat, where visitors can separate grains from their husks in a process called threshing (i.e. whacking wheat with a wooden flail)

The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, featuring the Spoonbridge and Cherry, Hahn/Cock, and LOVE sculptures, with the Basilica of Saint Mary in the background

Black Vessel for a Saint, at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

The Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge

A foresty nook at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

My Minneapolis home for two months

Omaha, NE

I had a chance to stop by Omaha as part of an impromptu roadtrip from Minneapolis to catch up with an old friend. I only stopped by for a night, but my brief impressions were positive. It seemed like a chill city with nice restaurants, neat nightlife, and kind souls. Would definitely recommend.

Oglesby, IL

Oglesby, IL is another town I only spent a night in, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t include photos from the nearby Starved Rock State Park. It was one of the coolest parks I got to explore on my trip.

St. Louis Canyon, Starved Rock State Park

Self-portrait at the Council Overhang, Starved Rock State Park

Starved Rock State Park

Columbus, OH

The start of the drive to Columbus

Columbus, OH was my last stop before the end of my roadtrip. I had originally intended on going as far west as Denver, CO, but my extra month in Minneapolis, and the thought of adding another 1500 miles to my trip, put that plan to rest.

Throughout my week in Columbus, I got a chance to explore the culture, food (free tacos!), and general life in the short north. It was a neat ‘lil area. Between a busy work week and general end-of-roadtrip exhaustion, I didn’t explore as much as I could have though. So if I get the chance to go back again, I’d probably give it a go.

Addendum – NYC

Ben Howard live at the Hammerstein Ballroom

While the car portion of my roadtrip ended after getting back from Columbus, the travels didn’t officially end until after a visit to NYC to see an old friend and a concert. Every time I go to NYC the city grows on me a bit more. It’s still a bit too much for me to want to ever live in, but it’s wonderful for a visit.

I went to Scotland this summer, drove around a bit, took some photos, hung out with some cool people, saw some live tunes, ate lots of food, and had a great time exploring the country. Here’s some fun stats from the trip:

Trip Stats

• Number of Days: 10
• Towns visited: 5
• Miles driven: 381
• Scotches sampled: 8
• Side of the road driven on: Left

Days 1-2: Callander

Ducks on a lake. Taken off the side of a country road near Callander on my second day

Panorama from near the top of Ben A’an. It was a scorcher out and by the time I got to the top I was exhausted, dehydrated, and out of water. Thankfully a kind Australian woman noticed I looked “like I was having a bad time” and offered me one of her extra water bottles. Total savior

A delicious Scottish breakfast, courtesy of my friendly guesthouse owner Andy. Unfortunately missing black pudding but still extra tasty

Day 3: Driving to Pitlochry

My trusty ride rental car. Driving on the left side of the road took a lot of getting used to on the first day, as did all the roundabouts. But, by the second day, I adjusted and it was smooth cruising the rest of the way

Views from the side of the road

More views from the side of the road

Some cute lil Scottish sheep

Day 4-6: Edinburgh

Somewhere northeast of Edinburgh. Probably in North Berwick. Was a great spot to chill out before heading back to Edinburgh to return my rental car

Ben Howard live at Edinburgh Playhouse. An absolutely amazing experience

Another live shot from the Ben Howard concert

Views from the top of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh

Hanging out with the bro on the way down from Arthur’s Seat

Days 7-8: Isle of Arran

Ferry ride to Isle of Arran

Approaching the Isle

The walled garden at Brodick Castle. A lovely spot to sit and chill out

Sunset on the Isle of Arran

Days 8-10: Edinburgh

The Lighthouse’s spiral staircase to the viewing platform up top. Stopped by here in Glasgow on my way to Edinburgh

This May I left my D.C. life behind to take to an open road.

Why?

My lease had just run out and, with a remote job and few obligations to tie me down, it was the perfect time to try a nomadic lifestyle.

How does it work?

I’m no longer rocking the man-bun, but otherwise this is a pretty accurate depiction

While I move around more now, I still have a job, work forty hours a week, and am available during business hours for conference calls, emails, and Slack messages. As far as my job goes, not much has changed.

When work ends is when the benefits of working on the road really come into play. I’ve been changing cities every couple of weeks, trading one AirBnB or apartment for another in new locales, and using my free time to explore. That usually involves hiking, checking out cultural attractions, and trying delicious new foods.

Last week I took a break from traveling to stay with my family after a vacation to Scotland and thought it’d be a good time to recap my first month of adventures. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish the post before leaving so now I’m finishing it up in Cleveland, OH.

Without further ado, my first month of life on the road…

Richmond, VA

Richmond was a pretty neat ‘lil city. It was small and easy-going but plenty big enough for wonderful shops, nightlife, and tasty food options (shout-out to Boulevard Burger & Brew and their Yard Bird sandwich). Pretty neat and friendly people too.

My main drawback for Richmond was not taking any photos there.

Atlanta, GA

The first thing I noticed about Atlanta wasn’t the city but the road leading to it. The highway was a colossal eight to twelve lanes wide. Not ideal but it is what it is.

The scale of Atlanta felt nearly as big. A bit too big. I often found myself needing to Uber from one area to another. That said, Atlanta had its upsides: solid food, plenty to do, and a decent aquarium.

6 million gallons of water, thousands of fish, and a couple humans too

Atlanta was also the location of my first AirBnB: a nice one-bedroom apartment with an awesome outdoor patio. I forgot to take photos of the apartment, but here’s one of the patio.

I mentioned food earlier, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a photo of my favorite spot:

A box of cheap, greasy goodness from The Varsity

Chattanooga, TN

Chattanooga… what a place. For a city with a population of ~180,000 people, it had got a lot going for it. For starters, it was incredibly easy to get out into nature. On a weekday I could finish up work and twenty minutes later be up in the mountains hiking trails.

A view from one of Chattanooga’s many hiking spots

On weekends, beautiful waterfalls and swimming holes were less than an hour’s drive away.

Besides the neat nature, Chattanooga had a surprisingly vibrant city life, with lots of food options and unique concepts. For example, the Chattanooga Choo Choo was a former train station converted into a hotel, with bars serving local beer out of rail cars and rooms within rail cars themselves. I wish I’d taken more pictures of the food and nightlife, but one of the few food pictures I got was a worthy one – Tremont Tavern’s delicious Jalapeño Jack burger.

Spicy goodness

Overall, you could say I was a fan of Chattanooga. It’s got great food, amazing and accessible nature, and lovely, friendly people. Also, shout out to Krystal and their 5 for $5 deal. Probably one of the best fast food deals in the south, with their nuggets, chicken sandwiches, loaded mini-hotdogs, and burgers.

Columbia, South Carolina

Once again, the greatest downfall of Columbia, SC was that I didn’t take any photos here. I was only in town for a day while visiting friends but from what I saw it’s a great spot. Good food, good people, and good nightlife. You can’t ask for much more. Well.. maybe you could. You could ask for Cook-Out, and Columbia would give you their $5 Cook-Out box with open arms.

Roadtrip Stats

• Miles driven: 1706
• Cities visited: 4

Last month I took a 2,000+ mile road trip down the United States’ west coast, from Seattle to Santa Monica, and saw a bunch of neat places along the way. Here’s a look back on the trip.

Fun trip stats

• Number of Days: 19
• Miles Driven: 2,134
• Photos Taken: 1,424
• Cups of Coffee: 25

Part I: Seattle to San Francisco

Seattle’s skyline, as seen from Kerry Park

Glass and light at the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum

Crossing the central basin of the Puget Sound on the Fauntleroy-Southworth Ferry

A river along the way to my first campsite of the trip: Hobuck Beach Resort

Cape Flattery, the westernmost point of the continental USA

Rialto Beach, WA

A wild, moss-covered tree in the Hoh Rainforest

The glacial waters of Hoh RIver, with snow covered peaks beyond

Ruby Beach, WA

Parking lot stargazing at Long Beach in Washington

Somewhere along the Oregon coast

Devil’s Churn, OR

Cape Creek Bridge, OR

Cleawox Lake, OR

My yurt for a night in the Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park. It was the nicest stay I’ve ever had in a forest

Cape Blanco, Oregon’s westernmost point and home to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse (not pictured)

Sea stacks, OR

A path through time in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

A zen moment in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

“Suh dude.” I spotted these elk chilling along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway exit

Somewhere along the northern California coast

Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA

Glass Beach, CA. If you look closely you can see the multi-colored flecks of glass on the shore

Sunrise over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

Part II: San Francisco to Santa Monica

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, CA

Monterey Bay Aquarium, CA

A sea otter saying hi at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Big Sur, CA

McWay Falls, CA

Highway 1, Big Sur, CA

Bixby Creek Bridge, CA

Big Sur, CA

Somewhere along Route 101, CA

Rancho Guadalupe Dunes Preserve, CA

My tent, courtesy of Featherstone, in Los Padres National Park’s Rose Valley Campground. Temps got down to the low 20’s this night

Route 33, Los Padres National Forest

El Matador State Beach, CA

Earth’s a pretty beautiful place. Last year I had the chance to explore new places on it and revisit old ones. Here’s a look back at some of my 2016 wanderings.

Fun travel stats

• Countries Visited: Netherlands, Germany, England
• New passport stamps: 5
  
• Flights taken: 10
• Trains taken: 6
  
• Phones lost: 1
• Hostels/Hotels/Couches slept on: 26

Favorite gear

More gear details available at the end of this post if you’re interested

Now without further ado, a non-comprehensive compilation of photos from 2016…

California

My favorite perspective of SF’s Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco’s Japanese Tea Garden. Much zen

An awesome local showed me a couple cool haunts around the city. This is her dog Zeus posing for a portrait in the haunted Sutro Forest

The remains of the Sutro Baths

In-N-Out Burger noms, animal style

Much love San Francisco

Germany

The Reichstag building showing off its colors at twilight

The Brandenburg Gate and tourists galore

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Cathedral

The Rathaus-Glockenspiel and its dancing figurines in Munich

Munich’s Olympic Stadium. No field tours (or grass) unfortunately

Nuremberg Sausages and a lot of love for German food and beer

Netherlands

One of Amsterdam’s many canals during Christmas season

Morning frost on a misty day in Amsterdam

City lights, Amsterdam

One of Brouwerij ‘t IJ’s many tasty beers. The Zatte and Columbus were on point

The Molenmuseum de Valk (a windmill museum) in Leiden

London, England

The London Eye

The Old Bailey, London’s and Wales’ main criminal court (and also the star of a great V for Vendetta scene)

Big Ben

Maryland

A lot of outdoors going on here, Catoctin Mountain Park

Views along the trail, Catoctin Mountain Park

Only the finest of noms: pan-seared, bacon-wrapped, beef hot dog cooked over a wood fire, served on a toasted bun

Breakfast goodness

Moon rainbow, Assateague Island

Stargazing at Assateague Island

West Virginia

Swimming cove along Seneca Creek. Not pictured: freezing water temperatures

Washington, D.C.

The White House

The talented folks of Queue (the band)

DC splores in the Smithsonian Castle Garden

Greenery at the National Arboretum

Virginia

Sunrise at Old Rag Mountain

Nature looking pretty neat

Farewell 2016. Here’s to another year of good people and new experiences in 2017

Addendum: Gear list

• Golden Fox chukkas – I picked these up after my beloved Clarks from last year fell apart from miles of abuse. So far they’ve held up nicely across dirty, rocky trails and stream crossings to cobblestone streets and sticky bar floors
• Hat – Not much to say here. Blocks the wind and keeps my head warm
• Koss Fitclips headphones – a godsend on long flights, public transit, and in hostels. They stay on my ears, sound solid, and cost ten bucks
• Anker Powercore 13000 – great for charging my phone at campsites and keeping the music going on planes, trains and buses. It’s half a pound and charges my phone 4-5 times over
• Power adapters – let’s me plug my electronics in no matter what country I’m in
• Toothbrush – got to keep the teeth clean
• Glasses – it’s nice to see sometimes
• Canon 6D – my trusty camera. I’ve been using it with the 35mm f/2 or 50mm f/1.8 lenses (also pictured) lately for awesome low-light performance and lots of creative control
• U.S. Passport – pretty handy for getting into other countries
• Dream Essentials sleeping mask – helps me catch some daytime naps on planes, trains, buses and in bright hostel rooms. Pros: contoured so it isn’t pressing on my eyes when I sleep. Drawbacks: it sort of looks like a bra
• Icebreaker wool long johns – so much warmth. Long john’s are the way to go on cold hiking trips and in chilly cities
• Levi’s jeans – comfy on city and nature splores and classy enough to wear out to restaurants and bars
• REI wool socks – warm, durable, and perfect for hiking trips
• Not pictured: iPhone for taking photos on the go and a Kelty Cosmic Down sleeping bag I picked up at a garage sale that’s so warm I have to zip it open on cool Fall nights

From stepping abroad overseas for the first time to camping expeditions and my first experience solo-traveling, 2015 was a great year of traveling.

Looking back, I could write tomes about the wonderful people, lessons and experiences from my travels but, this being a photography website, pictures seem more appropriate. These are some of my wanderings of 2015.

Some fun travel stats

• Countries Visited: Thailand, Laos, Qatar, Iceland, and Ireland
• Flights taken: 14
• Steps taken: ~3,410,404
• Miles walked: ~1,763

Favorite gear

These shoes have traversed over it all: dirt, mud, snow, ice, stone, volcanic rocks, grass, pavement, sand, various animal droppings, and more. I’ll be sad to see them retired in 2016.

The best camera is the one you’ve got on you, and the iPhone 5s did the job just fine throughout Thailand and Ireland.

Love this camera. It performs superbly in low light,  and the 24-105mm lens is a great do-it-all travel lens.

Now, without further ado, a (very non-comprehensive) compilation of shots from my travels in 2015:

Thailand

The gear that took me to Thailand for 23 days, all inside a 40L pack.

The streets of Bangkok

One of the locals enjoying the ride between Ao Nang and Railay perched on the tip of a longtail boat

Railay Beach. What a beaut

Kayaking around Railay

Ao Nang Sunset

Pretty neat hotel in Ao Nang

Getting up close and person with the elephants at Elephant Nature Park

Jungle trekking in Northern Thailand

Wat Rong Khun

Laos

Hanging out in Laos

Qatar

I didn’t take too many photos in my short stay at Qatar, but here’s a park

Nevada

On the road in Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon

Looks like a fine spot for some horseback riding

Utah

The Narrows, Zion National Park

Zion National Park, with some neat water droplets courtesy of the weeping rock.

Spruce Knob, WV

Spruce Knob lake, casually situated on top of a 3,840 elevation mountain – the highest peak in West Virgina

Delicious campfire burritos

Somewhere in the forests of Spruce Knob

Our rad campsite at Spruce Knob

We’re all made of star stuff

Iceland

The Open Road, Iceland

Kerið, a volcanic crater lake

Seljalandsfoss

Black Sand Beach, Vik

Dyrhólaey

Lil Icelandic sheep

Hanging out on top of the Sólheimasandur Plane Crash. PC: @keera_ana

Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

Icelandic horses, pure-bred through a thousand years of isolation and an Icelandic law banning the import of horses into the country.

Svartifoss, Skaftafell National Park

Grjótagjá, a lava cave and natural hotspring near Lake Mývatn

Hitting the open road in Þingvellir Park

Ireland

The Cliffs of Moher

Couldn’t help posting another photo from the Cliffs of Moher. They were breathtaking

A great road for some cycling on Inishmore

Petting some Connemara ponies

Hitch-hiking from Clifden to Galway with nothing but road for miles and my own 2 feet and the kindness of strangers to get me there

A secluded beach nestled among the cliffs near Dun Laoghaire

Colorado

Garden of the Gods

Untitled. Colorado has over 55 mountains that rise above 14,000 feet. This was taken on the drive up one of those mountains

Somewhere along the way to a 14,000 foot summit

Cadet Chapel, U.S. Air Force Academy

Flatirons

Dolly Sods, WV

Mile 2 of 22

Traces of Fall in a forest of green

It’s the little things. After hiking for 12 miles, nothing makes me happier than a warm fire and two packets of Ramen

River crossing

Washington, DC

Smithsonian Institute

Roosevelt Island

Nature showing off her Fall colors

The sun setting over the Potomac River

College Park, MD

So long 2015, I’m looking forward to another great year of travel and photography in 2016. PC: Dan Evans