I was revving up the engine of the tiny Hyundai up the inner edge of a sharp hair-pin bend, struggling to time the gear change just right so that I wouldn't lose momentum and stall on the steep ascent. This was my first solo road trip in a foriegn country with chaotic traffic in a car with manual transmission (aka a stick shift), and this location which looked intimidating from the air, was a place where I was pushed to the limits of my driving skills.
I had spotted this sinuous segment of tarmac years ago while scouting Google Earth for strange places on the planet. I had parked this location in my mind, not giving it a second thought until I was planning a trip to the very location, the Dades Gorge. The drive up to it had been fairly smooth, and apart from dealing with the unpredictable traffic, with pedestrians and animals using the road as their personal highway, wasn't too challenging.
But once the vertical walls of the canyon closed in, leaving no room for the road to straddle the fast flowing river, it was forced to climb up the red sandstone to higher grounds. And that was where I found myself on that fateful day. Thankfully, I pulled through, praying that my path downhill wouldn't be so nerve wracking.
When I did reach the top, I turned back to capture the scale of this deep scar on the earths surface, with the tiny remnant of human civilization winding through it.
Dades Gorge
Morocco
Fleeting Time
During the dark days of winter, I often sit down introspecting my life that year, and get to question the ephemerality of time. This year has been a little different undoubtedly, and the pandemic has played a major role in it. Time seems to have flown a bit too quickly without much to show far, and yet the time spent in social isolation has gone far more slowly that I would have preferred. As much as I tried not to, my daily rhythm has certainly been disrupted.
This image was taken during a fall road trip two years in New England. And while I clearly remember the time I spent driving around the backroads of Vermont, I can't recollect even an ounce of what I had done during the indoor days at the start of the pandemic restrictions. Thankfully, I preserved some of the most memorable moments in my 2021 calendar created in support of the National Park foundation; you can buy it here: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/sathish-jothikumar/2021-photography-calendar/paperback/product-gpj74q.html
There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it can't come soon enough.
Woodstock
VT USA
When Out of Officee
A few years ago, I decided to take a break from work and go back to school for a couple of years. And while that was a high loss of opportunity cost (compared to staying at work), I never regretted that decision. Apart from those two years being a life-changing decision, I got quality time to take leisurely trips and enjoy the outdoors, do backpacks in amazing destinations and tick off a few bucket list items.
Driving cross country was one of them. Revving up my Civic through those sinuous mountain roads while enjoying glorious sunsets with vistas of endless peaks was nothing short of sublime. That trip made me realize that there is so much out there to see, and I have but experienced just a fraction of it.
Perhaps one of my most memorable trips was to the heart of Italian Dolomites. I spent a week climbing steep rocky terrain, hiking through incredible landscapes and witnessing incredible sunrises and sunsets from rifugios aptly placed on mountain-tops. And while the days were exhausting, the urge for photography kept me going. The Dolomites are like nothing else.
Looking back at those pictures from mountainous north of Italy, memories come flooding back to me of this amazing trip, replete with the delicious food paired with crisp local wines, friendly company, towns and cities steeped in history and culture, and so much more. It pains that I cannot travel and retrace my steps at these destinations, but I hope that fortunes turn in the future.
But this trip, and the many others I took during a two year break from work, taught me that gathering experiences by immersing yourself at a location, and expanding your worldview is perhaps as important, if not more, than the pedantic knowledge obtained through books and lectures.
Driving Around Iceland
The problem with driving around Iceland is that you’re basically confronted by a new soul-enriching, breath-taking, life-affirming natural sight every five goddamn minutes. It’s totally exhausting.
- Stephen Markley
Every turn, every mile, and every day brought out a new scenery to stare at, a new waterfall to wander to, a new mountain to be amazed by, a new glacier to gape at, a new terrain to traverse, and a new landscape to shoot. The long days of driving around this tiny island, while tiring, was anything but boring. It was a wonderous destination with jaw-dropping beauty, a magical place I would love to return to.
Ring road
South Iceland