In part one of our interview with Adventure Photographer Trevor Clark, we got to know a little bit about how he lives a location independent lifestyle on the road.

This second part will cover some of the tools, gadgets and equipment that make this life on the road possible.

From the obvious tools a photographer needs, to what tools make his lifestyle possible, Trevor tells us how he is able to live this life as a digital nomad. He also goes over some of the advantages and challenges of living this kind of mobile lifestyle.

What tools do you need to get your job done? And which are not really necessary, but make global work easier?

Well, we’ll start with the most obvious which would be camera gear and computer equipment. I use Canon equipment and shoot with the Mark III for fast action and the 5D Mark II for everything else. I do have a full size Mac Pro with a 20” Cinema Display in the van along with a Macbook Pro for taking my work out of the van (coffee shops, planes, traveling, etc.).

I would say that everything I have with me from drysuits to a wireless internet card are absolutely required. I don’t have space for anything that is unnecessary, so I keep it simple and only have what I will use.

That said, the most crucial technological tool for me is my iPhone. My industry is extremely competitive and always on a deadline, so being alerted of an email with a time sensitive issue while in the middle of nowhere or just while driving from A to B makes all the difference in the world. And, the GPS, internet and organizational applications seem like they were made for someone in my position. I truly run my whole life and business through it.

As far as programs, Skype is definitely becoming a very useful tool, in general, and even on my iPhone.

Does your work have to be turned in somewhere immediately or from on site locations? What kind of toys/technology do you need to be able to do your job from a location other than your home office/van?

That all depends on the situation. Like I mentioned earlier, there is always a deadline in my world, but sometimes it is after a trip is finished, sometimes it is the same day, and sometimes it is the same hour an image is shot. It really all depends.

The main thing I need for any deadline is a fast and reliable Internet source. Working away from my van, I just make sure I have a plan and if all else fails, I do the old-fashioned journalistic thing and find Internet, no matter what.

One time I even ended up in a couple’s bedroom (absolute strangers) at midnight, fixing their router so that I could use their internet to upload a set of images that needed to be ready for Italian distribution within the hour.

Technology will always fail when you need it most, so keeping the determination and willingness to think outside the box as an option is key for me.

With that in mind, I am also looking around at some satellite Internet options for the van.

When in another location, these tools allow you to work from anywhere, or do you normally have the office/van set up in each place?

I can do my work from anywhere, provided I have my laptop, camera gear and some hard drives with me, but having the van around makes it a lot easier. More room, more computing power, more editing efficiency. Right now, for example, I am basing myself on my brother’s sailboat in Hawaii and working from the laptop. He has quick Internet service so all is well.

Trevor at Work

How long are you usually away from home? What are some challenges you face when living in other places for long periods of time?

I am in the unique position of always being away from home, and always at home. My biggest challenge is when I move from one region or activity to another. Spending a few months at a time in one area, I grow accustomed to a routine, and even become a part of a community, and I love that.

The trouble is that I am also constantly moving on (because I have to) and starting over. This is all part of the experience for me, and over time I have built a great network of friends around the country that I re-visit, but the transitional periods can be a little tough.

Emotionally, it is just a change that I am used to, but logistically, I have to figure out new ways to survive in new places (where to park the van at night, finding athletes to work with, places to go and not to go, shooting locations, accessibility issues, etc…) until I become a part of the new community.

What are some of  the positive things about having this type of job or lifestyle? The good things about what you do?

That is a tough one. For me, there are too many good things about my work to really quantify. Most might think it is the lifestyle, but that is a direct result of my approach on my work.

I think it is the freedom to explore my own curiosities and also think of ways to make that work from a business perspective. I love taking some time to map out some goals and objectives for myself and my business, and then go do it. No questions asked and no huge life changes. Just start driving. There is power and freedom in letting go of what convention has taught us.

That and the fact that kayaking, snowboarding, backpacking, kiteboarding, etc… are all a part of my job description.

Is any of your time in different places spent on being a tourist, or is it usually all work? Do you have much time off to have vacations or personal time or do you even notice such a thing?

I am really never a tourist in the normal sense. Pretty much everywhere I go has a reason and a mission involved, so I don’t spend much time sightseeing or having lazy mornings. The standard idea of a vacation is not really in my plans either, but I am in the fortunate position (I think) to have no weekdays or weekends.

I work many more hours than your typical work-week, but it is by choice and personal drive. And because of this, if it is a beautiful day outside and I have had enough, I can go kayaking, snowboarding, sailing or whatever. I just make sure that whatever goals I had for the day get finished and any obligations I may have are fulfilled.

And shooting outside, though it is physically and mentally taxing, is too rewarding for me to think of as a normal day of going to work. That is the best part of my job.

Favorite place to visit so far? Any place you still want to go?

Another tough one. I love too many mountain towns to describe, and I keep finding more, so I’ll stay away from the favorites for now. And highest on my list of places to go would be Antarctica, Mongolia, Nepal and probably, the Moon. Yeah, it would be cool to go to the Moon.

Any advice to anyone thinking of doing more traveling work or lifestyle?

I would just say that whatever it is, if you are truly passionate about it, you WILL find a way. Go with your heart and forget about everything else. There will always be reasons not to do something; I believe it is the one reason you should that counts.

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You can find Trevor on his website at www.trevorclarkphoto.com. You can also follow his adventures on Twitter, or on Facebook.

Adventure Photographer Trevor Clark – Part 2 is a post from: Live Collar Free

“What do you do?”

We all get asked that common social question. Rarely does one’s job title paint an complete picture of who that person is as a whole. A more accurate question for Trevor Clark would be, “what don’t you do?”

Trevor is one of those who does what many people only dream about or believe impossible. A self-described Adventure Photographer, Trevor lives and works wherever a story takes him. Whether kayaking, sailing, snowboarding or any other outdoor activity, he is there to capture it and tell a story.

Trevor was kind enough to allow us to interview him. He was in Georgia, parking the custom 4×4 Van he lives and works out of most often, before flying to Hawaii to live aboard a sailboat for a few months.

He gave us so much good information, we decided to post the interview in two parts. We’ll go over his background and get a general idea of his lifestyle first. Part two will cover the tools and equipment that makes this lifestyle possible.

First, tell us a bit about yourself. Your job title or what you do or consider yourself to be.

Well, I would say that I am an adventure photographer. I am on the road 12 months out of the year working from a 4×4 Sportsmobile converted studio/van. My life and work are one in the same. I am a photographer first, but also a whitewater kayaker, sea kayaker, kiteboarder, back-country snowboarder, wakeboarder, sailor and all around outdoor addict. The activities I get into are a tool for getting me into the situations and stories I want to shoot. I am 26 years old, self-employed and mobile.

Can you tell us first a bit about what kind of work you do? Your work/school background? Was any of your education related to what you ended up doing?

My work is focused on documenting adventure sports and telling the stories of the people who truly live by them. Even a rapid can have a story, and I have found it is very rewarding to try to show these stories from an insider’s perspective. I rarely shoot something that I am not intimately involved with myself, and that has been a very conscious decision in my approach.

If there is something that I would like to shoot, but am not an active participant in, then I will do everything I can to get into it or somehow work on an understanding from the perspective of that activity. I focus on adventure sports, but more importantly, it is about the places those activities take us and the experiences we can have just by kayaking or skiing, or whatever the case may be.

I have a BA in Magazine Journalism with an Emphasis on Photography from the University of Georgia. Though in magazines, my photo program was newspaper based, and even though I never thought that was my path, it was a very crucial and necessary step in my development. The newspaper background has absolutely helped shape my approach, my thoughts and my need for a story.

After college, I did some traveling and guiding, then settled in with a newspaper group and worked with another photographer in the Lake Tahoe area to hone in on some skills and really make my big push toward shooting on my own.

What made you decide on this kind of work life? Was this something you always wanted or knew you would do, or something accidental?

I was lucky enough to do a lot of traveling and living abroad as a kid, and I would say that started my interest in people and places. Any time I would see images, I would think about what it must have been like to be in that image, to be there in that spot and in that moment.

I know I started associating feelings and emotions with pictures from an early age, and it also didn’t hurt that my grandmother (who I traveled to Australia to see) had a library of National Geographic Magazines dating back to the early 1900s. That said, I actually didn’t really pick up a camera until I was in college, but that was a very powerful day.

Since then, every ounce of my energy has been directed toward what I am doing right now and what I intend to do down the road.

Do you have a “home base” where you live or have an office? How often do you travel away from home for your job and projects, on average?

My “home base” is currently my 4×4 Sportsmobile converted Ford E-350 studio/van. I am on the road 365 days a year, but I am also always home, and that was the premise behind shifting my life into a vehicle. That said, there are travel circumstances that separate me from El Guapo (the acquired name for my van), but they aren’t all that frequent.

I think this year I will have spent about three to three and a half months away from the van, traveling and working from whatever vehicle, boat or other vessel I end up in.

What countries have you worked or done projects in while doing this type of work?

So far I have been localized to the US, Mexico and Canada in my professional life because that is about as far as I want to drive my office, but I have a few things in the works right now that might land me in South America, Africa or Mongolia in the next year.

Are there any other languages you speak fluently? In the countries you’ve traveled, has language ever been a problem?

I was actually born in Curitiba, Brazil, then moved to Sao Paolo, then Montreal, Quebec before my family finally ended up in Georgia. I grew up speaking English and Portuguese, then I traded out the Portuguese for French. Once we made it to Georgia, Spanish seemed like the next logical thing, so I jumped into that. I also minored in Spanish in college.

Of course, it has been a few years since my formal training ended, and I have not spent much time in any of these places since then, so I am definitely rusty. There is a solid understanding for me behind romance languages in general, so I can get along okay when I do travel abroad. That said, I would love to spend a sizable amount of time in any of those countries and focus on being more conversational.

Do you have an office in a home city besides El Guapo? Is it a priority for you to have an “office” at all for you?

I do not currently have an immobile office, but I am working in that direction. Ideally, I would still be on the road, and not a whole lot would change from a lifestyle perspective, but I would have somewhere to be whenever I feel the need to settle in for a little while.

Being that I still wouldn’t be around all that much, I would also like to have someone handling a few items part-time so that I could focus more on shooting. The toughest part is figuring out where to put down some roots.

If you could change anything about your job, would you? And what would you change?

Yep, I would have two of me, maybe three, just to even out the responsibilities a bit, but that’s it.

Part Two of our interview with Trevor Clark with be posted next week. We will talk more with him about the tools he uses to work and live such a mobile lifestyle.

You can find Trevor on his website at www.trevorclarkphoto.com. You can also follow his adventures on Twitter, or on Facebook.

Adventure Photographer Trevor Clark – Part 1 is a post from: Live Collar Free

Leaning back in the lounge chair writing, I found myself unconsciously humming along to the song playing somewhere in the atrium below. It may have been coming from one of the restaurants surrounding the fake walls of the reconstructed fort of St. Augustine below the balcony where I worked. The music in the huge air-conditioned space enclosing the back of the hotel was partially drowned by the sound of the several waterfalls, but I was pretty sure it was coming from near the sailboat.

Wait, working?

Being location independent for me means that I have structured my work to make my geographical location essentially irrelevant. I can write from anywhere. Most of the planet has internet access for email and online chores. Cell service is relatively cheap for the few times I need to talk to clients. My “office” resides in a backpack and has everything I need.

When my partner was sent on a 3-day business trip for some training at a nice hotel across the state, this freedom to work from anywhere showed one of its better qualities. It allowed me to join her on this pseudo-vacation.

With a regular job, I would not likely have been able to take the time off to join her through the middle of the week. I still had work that needed doing, but at least I could have my choice of two pools to enjoy on my breaks.

Her company was footing the bill for mileage, her meals and the cheapest room in the very nice hotel where the training took place. I had to pay for my own meals (like I always do), but otherwise work for me went uninterrupted.

The hotel had internet access to allow me to deal with emails, a nice balcony in our sixth floor room and other nice areas to relax while I wrote. Everything I normally have when I work was still with me, I was just in a nicer location for a few days.

They even upgraded our room for free simply because we asked. We travel as often as we can and have learned it doesn’t hurt to ask. They either say yes or no, so it’s either the same or better than not asking.

More work got done in those 3 days while I enjoyed the restfulness of the surroundings. The evenings allowed us time to enjoy the nightlife at the resort, and catch up with friends in the area.

It works best for me to change up the scenery every few days or so, even if that means simply working in another room. Staring at the same wall each day is not good for me, so sometimes the situation takes me to even nicer places than I usually frequent, and the ability to flow smoothly with these change of plans is priceless when we can work anywhere.

Unplanned Working Vacations when Location Independent is a post from: Live Collar Free