“do you want to have a beer?...” – One of yesterday’s campers invites me for a beer, actually I’ve been invited several times whenever I pass by them…
Once again I can’t stop, this time I’m driving back from my last shoot, and I’m urging to get back on time for receiving a new carpet the shop is delivering… Yes, I do have a home and I do go there sometimes… It’s also true that most times when going back I think more about the next time I’ll leave than regarding what I’ll be doing there... But I’m trying hard to have it decorated before retirement age…

I drive slowly through the last kilometers of dirt road, before touching asphalt after spending almost two days out of it…

Almost painfully, details and photo opportunities seam to jump in front of me out of nowhere, although it’s around noon the light looks as good as dusk or dawn… Just like the beer I was offered some moments ago I have to let go and force myself not to stop…

As my speed increases on major roads, fields with flowers turn into color patches that make me feel like I’m driving through a dream… I’d like to have the opportunity to remember whatever comes to my mind at these times… “Maybe I should record my thoughts as Galen Rowell did…”

Still, although feeling miserable with the departure I can’t help admitting how lucky one must be just by being able to live as I do sometimes…

“are you the owner of this land?...” – Two campers ask me if I own the land where they had just mounted their tents…

It’s almost the end of my second day in Noudar… I’m alone shooting in this remote place, and at this point I’m trying to entertain my mind until my last attempt at doing star trails is finished…

A good and bad thing in this location is that I can bring my car to almost every spot and use it as kitchen and living room while hopping that long exposures will make miracles on my film or digital sensor…

“heck, today it’s cloudy and there are no many miracles to be expected… Well this will be a fairly good reason to come back here…” - I think to myself while eating an orange under the moonlight… - “but at least I’m here, what else could I wish for?...”

Sometimes I tell myself that I should take advantage of these moments and think more about life, but my mind seams completely void of any thought… More than shooting I’m making use of my ability of not thinking about much for a change…

"no clouds, not to many flowers, spring is really late this year and considering the wind I wont be much lucky with macro's"... - A good thing about spring time is that I can leave the office and still have some time to drive somewhere and create images...
My mind is bubbling is ideas for the next days... And at the same time destiny seams to be organized in to conspiration for not letting me go out... The balance from what pays bills and gives me the chance to be what I am and the time I have for doing what I like is a constant field of conflict...

Every day, the sun raises and sets in a different way, tides change, big amounts of sand and stone move from place to place, seeing only a part of this feels like not witnessing life in itself... Today I'm in one of those days I can't keep from looking the rain falling outside and feeling that I'm loosing the best part of it...

"where are you?" - a friend asks the same old question when exchanging emails... It's a fact that for those that do not see me quite often it's difficult to know how much do I travel or not...
It's a fact that with time, trips loose their special character... Some people walk or drive to their jobs, I also do, but sometimes I also take an airplane... This is so natural that I even stopped warning my family of my whereabouts... The problem rises when the percentage of people feeling as I do is only a small slice of the world population, and others feel insulted by this detached behavior of mine...

Wherever I am and as thrilling as my adventures may be, there are always the ones I miss and remember about... And so are the places I always end up going back to when I get back home, these are my sanctuaries, and although I seam to always be creating the same old images when I go there, there's something different in the emotions I bring back home...

"i see that your photographic instincts are not driven by the beauty of what you're shooting..." - Valentin observed that although we where far from being in a perfect place I could still find what to shoot...
It may look strange, but if you look at my photo albums you probably won't find straight images of monuments or any man made land mark people look for when traveling somewhere... I don't know the explanation for this as I don't avoid these shots, I just think that there's always something else catching my attention.

My inner visions of India are more bound to people and movement than to any other detail... Even now after coming back home my biggest regrets are for not having the time to experience the contact with common people for more than a couple of hours...

The looking glass effect I described before, takes time to go away and a couple of hours outside the controlled environment of offices, cars and hotels is not enough to let go of initial fears and let destiny lead the way...