You've got a few hours to shoot - how far will you drive for an outing?

[TXFZ1]

Until I get to the intersection of good light and interesting subject!

David

[Corran]

I feel lucky to live literally 2 miles from where I work, but it does diminish the opportunity to see things on the trip.
On the other hand I commuted from the suburbs of Atlanta to downtown (42 miles one way) to a job for 4 summers. That was terrible.

Whenever I have a gig or reason to drive many miles away, yes I always brought the camera(s) and shot as much as possible before/after.

[Steve Smith]

Also, a quick drive isn't expensive with a car that gets top fuel mileage.

And note that US fuel is a lot cheaper than most of the rest of the world. Almost half the UK cost.

I won't drive very far but I will walk quite a few miles. Also, I live on an island 26 miles wide so after a while I have to either swim or get on a boat!


Steve.

[jp]

Part of what America collectively celebrated and relished since the 1950s has been the mobility (vehicles+highways+consumables) to conveniently drive substantial distances that were previously inconvenient or impossible. If you can put that to use for photography and have fun doing it great. I drive 7 hours (1-way) once a year to limerock park in CT to combine my interest in motorsports and photography. The vintage event is a heady and intimate experience compared to most motorsports spectating/photography.

Normally though, 90+% of the time, my outings are close to home. It's so much like Eliot Porter's summer island, his books made me homesick once. Thoreau found the majority of his inspiration within walking distance (though he did travel some), Porter was stuck on a little tiny island for the summer, Artists seek Monhegan (and other local places) out for the sake of solitude and being stuck in one place long enough to understand it to some extent. Staying close to home, I don't feel like I'm running out of places to photograph, but rather incrementally improving my photo abilities at the places I visit regularly.

[John Jarosz]

I'm resigned to my photography being done by car, there really is no other option. ULF or 8x10 is not airplane friendly, even 4x5 requires one to submit to all kinds of compromises. So a longer drive is what is required to do my photography. Beefing about it is ridiculous, it's the way our world works and there is no second choice (of a world).

I used to take 4x5 on airplanes, it was real simple. Now the people that govern airports don't even know that a 4x5 camera is a camera. We won't talk about film.

Gas is cheap, even my time is cheap compared to the potential rise in my blood pressure if I were to fly.

The secret is to accept the situation. Like somebody said - 'the trees 400 miles away look very similar to the trees outside my window'. I did move to a more photogenic part of the world. That has worked wonders for my health as well.

Now if there was a cheap(er) more reliable film source I would be really happy.

[BrianShaw]

The price of gas is the least of my worries. Not really but there are much greater worries - like figuring out how to get that half day off of work. Nice thought but not easy to do.

[Jmarmck]

Today, my boss told me to start occasionally taking a day or two off to go around the region and photograph agriculture and water themed subjects. I am pretty sure he did not mean LF as he is looking for a library of images for papers, proposals and what not. I intend to take him up on it but take the 4x5 anyway. Start thinking children of the corn kind of images..............or cotton bolls, palmetto plants, cypress knees, etc. Cotton, corn, peanuts and all the entrapments that go with them. Maybe the occasional barn and falling down sheds.

[Kirk Gittings]

Until I get to the intersection of good light and interesting subject!

David

[BrianShaw]

Today, my boss told me to start occasionally taking a day or two off to go around the region and photograph agriculture and water themed subjects. I am pretty sure he did not mean LF as he is looking for a library of images for papers, proposals and what not. I intend to take him up on it but take the 4x5 anyway. Start thinking children of the corn kind of images..............or cotton bolls, palmetto plants, cypress knees, etc. Cotton, corn, peanuts and all the entrapments that go with them. Maybe the occasional barn and falling down sheds.

What a great opportunity. I wouldn't be thinking about this offer, I'd be doing it before the boss changes his/her mind!

[BrianShaw]

p.s. If I were in your shoes and your locale I'd be hunting down a location I once saw about 20 years ago. On some small farm road between Bainbridge and Camilla was farmland (pecan, I think) but what I really remember is the large number of dead swine on the road in the morning. They were all over the place, and all seem to have had encounters with big trucks. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera at the time and all I have are those weird (but true) memories.