Photography and Travel Taking Your Camera on the Road

About

By Lorelle VanFossen

The VanFossen trailer in Alaska. Photo by Lorelle VanFossen Take two photographers, four cameras, a stack of field guides, and a spoiled old cat. Put them in a 30 foot fifth wheel trailer, well greased. Mix in 50,000 miles, 1500 rolls of film, a new transmission, 6 tires, 6,000 gallons of gas, a cracked windshield, 14 oil changes, 2 tune-ups, 2 sets of spark plug wires, new truck brakes, 1 computer monitor, 3 hard drives, and a motherboard. Pour through 23 National Parks, 26 states and provinces and stir for 22 months. Bake in the Florida sunshine then freeze in the Canadian Rockies. Defrost and sweat for a year in North Carolina and then pour into a new mold in Israel for several years. Shake and bake them in the Middle East for five years, then leave them sweating in Mobile, Alabama, until….well, with this recipe - who knows?

The end result is two people who still love each other, 70,000 photographs and more experiences and lessons about life on the road than ever desired. We believe in learning from the mistakes of others and invite you to learn from our adventures, bungles and blunders, especially if you are planning to take your camera on the road. We invite you to learn from us within these web pages, which are part of our two upcoming books, “Taking Your Camera on the Road” and “Home Is Where Lorelle Is”.

…ING

We believe in the action of living, being, doing, telling, learning, all the “…ings.” So we designed our web pages with the “ings” of our life in mind. We’ve also designed our web pages with the visually impaired and disabled in mind. Join us as we are learning and exploring this diverse world.

Home Zone

We’ve made a lot of changes in our pages and you can find what’s new in these pages in the What’s New section, accessed from our left margin menu. If you would like information on how we put together these pages, check out the story behind our web pages. We also have information on copyright protection of which these pages are covered and protected. At the bottom of each page you will find ever-changing quotes pertaining to the article. Some of these can be found on our Quote pages if you would like to read more of them. Our site is fairly vast and we’ve included a Site Map to help keep track of what you’ve seen or are interested in.

The Doing Zone - What Are They Doing?

As travelers, nature photographers, writers, and just regular folk, the VanFossens are out doing a lot. They do everything from teaching nature photography courses and leading photo workshop tours to teaching self defense programs for women and writing courses for the editorially inclined. They do all this while living on the road full-time. Find out more about what they are doing and have done.

Programs and Workshops: Lorelle and Brent offer workshops and programs on photography, writing, travel, self defense prevention education courses, and computer workshops such as Internet Tips and Tricks and web page design. For more information on current projects, check our course schedule.
Press Room: We’ve opened a new Press and Media Releases Room for you to catch up on what we’ve been doing.
Brent’s Computer Game: She’s Got a Thing for a Spring: Brent wrote a delightful award-winning computer game based upon our wildlife adventures and travels.
Who are they?: Who are Brent and Lorelle VanFossen and what are they doing on the road?
What are they doing?: From a 1996 press release, you can learn about what we are doing on the road and why we sold off most of our possessions and hit the road full-time.
Where are they going?: Keeping track of ourselves is hard enough, so we’ve provided maps and information so you can keep track of where we’ve been, where we are, and were we may be going next.
What are they writing about?: We write about more than just nature and travel photography and you can see examples of the different things we write about here.
What are they teaching?: We teach a wide variety of programs, mostly dedicated to nature and travel photography, but we also teach workshops and classes about the Internet, designing web pages, self-defense and personal safety, and more.
Gallery of their images: We love showing off our beautiful photography and showcase some of our favorites and best sellers here.
VanFossen Scrapbooks: We’ve put together a scrapbook of some of our adventures, friends, and family in our scrapbook so you can see that we do have some fun on the road, too.

The Going Zone - Going on the Road?

Where are they going? When it comes to “going” on the road, there is a lot to consider. What kind of vehicle is best for traveling? What kind of trailer should you take on the road? How long will you be gone? What should you pack? Where do you want to go? What are you going to do when you get there? Thinking of taking your life and camera on the road, Brent and Lorelle share their traveling experiences and expertise in the Going Zone.

The Learning Zone - Learning and Teaching

We enjoy sharing what we’ve learned with others. It’s an important part of our mission statement. In the Learning Zone we share some of our knowledge about cameras, photography, nature, working on the road, and the business of nature photography.

The Living Zone - Living on the Road?

The Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem. Photo by Lorelle VanFossen How are they living on the road? Check out the Living Zone to find out how they are living on the road and get some advice about taking your life, work, and camera on the road.

The Being Zone - The Art of Being

Imagine giving up your safe life at home and taking your business and camera on the road. Imagine living in strange places, the view outside your window changing weekly. What does it take to be that kind of person? Lorelle and Brent share what they are “being” as they take their camera on the road.

Life Makeover: Lorelle was coordinating a Life Makeover group in Tel Aviv and you will find some of her positive and motivational essays here, as well as information about the group. The year long program is now over, but you will find lots of helpful information here.
Essays on Life: We’ve added some new essays on what life is to us and our observations on the world around us. Enjoy!

The Asking Zone - Asking and Answering Questions

How do they travel? What are the challenges they face? Why are they doing this? How do you do this? Do you work while you travel? Or is your travel associated with work. We know you have a lot of questions to ask us. We’ve answered these and more in the Asking Zone.

The Telling Zone - What Stories are They Telling?

With all this traveling on the road, we’ve stocked up on stories to tell. Our adventures are fun, but mostly they are learning experiences and we share our stories from the road in our Telling Zone.