“Pull over! No, it’s a cardigan…”

That classic joke from the 1994 classic, Dumb & Dumber, felt like the perfect way to start this page. The film has been on my mind for a couple of weeks because I just made a nice little road trip from Los Angeles to Moab, Utah. Being on the open road made me think about the mishaps of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunn.

This 11 hour road trip was very needed and important. It was the first time I had left the state of California since before Covid rocked the world. It was also my first time to Utah. The reason behind the trip was pretty sweet too: an old work friend, now just known as my dear friend, whom I’ve known for 14 years and haven’t seen in 9…was getting married at Dead Horse Point Park out in Moab. How awesome…

Going to Utah for the first time, of course I was going to bring the camera. The shots you’ll see on this page are from along the freeways I-15N through Arizona and into Utah and also along I-70E. I could not help myself from pulling over (many times) to get out and photograph the unique mountains near and far.

What a great trip and introduction to a new state:

Like a painting…

To end: so many times during this journey, I was marveling at the mountains and sky. Though I just watched the documentary about him on Netflix, I kept thinking to myself, “Man, Bob Ross must have graduated to 3D modeling up in Heaven and the state of Utah is his canvas.” That said, very understandably, I always see photography and painting as very connected and interchangeable media, especially when it comes to landscapes. One of my joys in life is editing photography. When I get the time to play with the light and shadow of a raw image, and discover something completely new about it…that’s pure ecstasy. Ever so often, some raw images just lend themselves to looking and feeling like paintings. I like to adjust certain aspects of the image to lean into that painting vibe. Below are two examples (one detail) from the road trip.