Photo by Ryan Soderlin
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So call me crazy.
My brother says I’m pissing career away. He might be right.
Effective January 11, 2003, I resigned from the Lincoln Journal Star. I will no longer be a working photojournalist. I’ll no longer live in a city. I’ll be a farmer.
A farmer?
I’ll be a councilor.
I’ll be a traveler.
I’ll still visually document my life.
What am I going to be?
I’ll be a professional adventurer.
I’m going to be a rambling man, a drifter on a lonesome highway. I want to see the world. I want to experience things deeply that I currently only see superficially. I want my hands to be smeared with the dust of the earth as I wipe the sweat off my brow. No longer will my office be at 926 P. Street. After now, it will be the whole world.
The world is my oyster and I’m going to find myself a pearl.
Specifically, I’m going to go on a series of expeditions. I have the first couple planned.
To start, I am going to spend from this Tuesday through May working with my grandparents on their farm and ranch. It’ll be calving season in the beautiful Sandhills of Nebraska. They have a 450-head cattle operation on about 3,000 acres of land, on which they also grow corn and alfalfa.
In June I head out to the beautiful Atlantic Northeast where I will be head of photography at Camp Runoia. I’ll have the pleasure of passing along my knowledge and passion of photography to kids in a beautiful, scenic area.
Then it’s a “Finding America Road Trip”. With camera in hand, I plan to hit such locals as Boston, New York City, York, P.A., Washington, D.C., Raleigh, N.C., Savannah, GA, Palm Springs, F.L., New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Salina, K.S. (of course!), Lincoln, N.E., Arnold, NE, Denver, Albuquerque, Grand Canyon, Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Ore, and Seattle, eventually making my way to my folks’ home in Hermiston Oregon.
Afterwards, I plan to do what is the driving factor in all of this, I’m going to spend some time out of the country. The details of this adventure are yet in the air. I’ve been thinking about joining the Peace Corps for quite some time.
But for now, I’ll just sit back and see where life takes me.
