The Colorado River Aqueduct passes through the desert of Southern California east of Joshua Tree National Park. © John Trotter

For anyone out there interested in the working process of a Blue Earth photographer, I’ve decided to blog as often as possible about my current trip for my ongoing Colorado River project.  From wherever I can find internet access out in the field, I’ll send updates to my esteemed colleague Bart J. Cannon, at Mission Control in the great Pacific Northwest, and he’ll post them here for you (since you’re are in fact reading this) to see.  We each work in our own ways and we each describe those ways uniquely, as well.  I guess I don’t exactly want to demystify the undertaking for you because it would be a shame to eliminate all of the inherent magic that photography has always offered us, but I’ll try my best to make it interesting.

What are the origins of this trip?

When I decided to attend the July 11 opening of a two-person exhibition I was a part of at the Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento, California, it was a natural opportunity to double up and work on my Colorado River project, since I was already going to be in the West.  Originally, I’d intended to re-visit San Diego and other cities nearby that are heavily dependent on the river for their survival.  But a proposal from a French magazine to photograph in Monument Valley that materialized in mid-June made me decide to photograph my way up the river from Lake Powell instead.  And though sadly, the job fell through in the end, I’d made too many plans in that direction and have resolved to follow through with them.

So, I’m taking the Amtrak California Zephyr to Denver, where I’ve got a couple of cousins and thus a free place to stay.  From there I’m going to re-visit the Colorado River headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park, where I’d spent a few hours kicking around with my father late last year in the snow.

Did I mention that I’m going to be working from my bicycle?  It’s true.  It won’t be the first time.  Last fall I spent a week each in San Diego and Las Vegas, car-free, carrying my Mamiya 7, a couple of lenses and a bunch of film in my Lowe Pro sling bag all day long.  Why?  I guess I prefer to ask, why not?  I’ve been a cyclist most of my life, even racing on a French amateur team in my late teens and riding across the United States alone in my mid-30’s.  As the evidence of carbon-induced global warming and petroleum production collapse only continue to become more compelling I’ve begun to feel that it’s somewhat disingenuous to flit around the world with very carbon intensive propulsion to photograph the results of flitting around the world with very carbon intensive propulsion.

So, I take the train or the bus (preferably public transportation) or my bike, whenever possible instead of an airplane or a car.  I ride a Bike Friday a very ingenious folder, built in Eugene, Oregon, which fits into a Samsonite suitcase, for which I’ve never paid an oversize charge when I have had to fly with it.  Once I get where I’m going, I unfold it from the case, then pop a couple of small wheels onto an axle that attaches very quickly to the bottom of the suitcase to turn it into a trailer.  Shocked, unsuspecting bystanders have watched me do this as though I were some movie villain screwing a few disparate pipes together into a sniper rifle.  And then, to their continued surprise, I attach the suitcase/trailer to the bike, throw my other bag inside it and ride away from the airport/train station.  People: believe me - get rid of the gym membership because this is the future.  I’ve more than paid for the bike with the money I haven’t spent on rental cars.

And the thing is, I can see a lot better from a bike than I can from a car.

You might enjoy a photo Kevin German took of me assembling the bike in Charlottesville, Virginia.  The reason it took a half hour to put everything together while he was watching was because I’d left a R-pin for attaching a trailer wheel at my previous destination and took a few minutes to improvise my key ring as a temporary replacement.

Anyway, if you’ve read this far, check back.  I’ll let you know how the trip unfolds and though I’ve been shooting this project in film since its beginning, I’ll try to upload some snapshots from my compact digital Ricoh, as well.

All the best to you,

John Trotter

Trotter’s current project at Blue Earth is No Agua, No Vida: The Thirsty Colorado River Delta.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 4:25 pm and is filed under From The Field, News, Project Photographer. Both comments and pings are currently closed.