Shut up and drive..

Space Station motel Gila Bend USA.
MD

I have often thought that America was built with the photographer in mind. You load up your truck, or in my case a three ton van, fill up the tank for a couple of bucks and drive. You cruise for a couple of hours and its a joy. You get hungry, you pull off and stop at Peggy Sues Diner. You get tired you pull off and stop at a Motel. You see something you want to photograph you pull off and take a picture. You get the drift.
In good old Blighty, you squeeze your gear into the boot of a Mini, fill up with petrol and its sixty quid! You drive for five minutes and get stuck in traffic. If You get hungry, you look for a Wild Bean Cafe located in a garage and maybe buy a Ginsters Pasty and a bag of crisps although if you are lucky you might find a little Chef and get a pastry pie. If you get tired, chances are you will cause an accident. If you see something you want to photograph you consider if you may be arrested and accused of being a paedophile.
I have always found it difficult working in the UK, but of course thats not to say I dont enjoy it, even if it does end in a pastry filling. Its a challenge thats for sure, but I do believe that good work does not come without a bit of a struggle. All too often we see the same old thing with photography, usually a reworking of what has gone before. Thats one of the problems with places like America, they make it all too easy, old cars, big mountains, beautiful decay, golden light, all right there in front of you.
Sometimes we need to point the camera in another direction, not just in front of us..