VACATION VERSUS HARD WORK

People think that when I travel, I'm on vacation. I have to chuckle to myself when I hear this. When I get home, friends, family, and neighbors ask me if I had a good time, and while I love traveling and seeing great places, I tell them that I came home to rest because I'm exhausted from my 'vacation'. They have no idea, of course, how I spend my time when I'm traveling and shooting.

The photo you see here is one small example of what I deal with every day. I wanted this elevated perspective on Lake Bled in Slovenia because I had seen a picture of it like this in a brochure. There are no roads up the mountain to make it convenient to get the shot, so I studied maps of the area and asked the personnel at the hotel to identify for me the exact location where I had to go. It took about two hours to find the right trail, and then I had to climb over a steep, rocky trail to get there. I was rewarded with a wonderful (and salable) image, but to do this kind of thing on a daily basis over a five week period means that when I get home, I basically collapse.