Horizons Unlimited Virginia

It was an absolute delight returning to the Horizons Unlimited Travelers Meeting in Virginia last weekend!!!

I’ve been attending this event since before it moved to its current home at the Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center outside Appomottox. However, I wasn’t able to attend last year. Being back among this amazing group of friends, comerades, and adventure riders was a real treat! I was there as both a presenter, and as the event photographer. My friend, Jason, and I put on a presentation about our Destination Congo trip…which is a crazy story full of great life lessons, riding cheap motorcycles 1000 km through the swampy jungles and across the sandy savannas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in support of Dr. Paul Law’s medical mission. Check out the video recap here: https://youtu.be/c1RCmG-1Ago.

For the photography, I kept things simple and lightweight. Afer all, we traveled there on our motorcycles, which don’t have a lot of room for luggage! I used the Nikon Zf with a Nikkor Z 24-120 f4, and a Nikkor Z 40mm f2, along with the DJI Mini 3 Pro.

Wailin’ Wayne Weekend

When I travel with the Moto Photo Adventures team, we stumble onto some pretty interesting sights. Whether it’s the town of Mt. Airy, Andy Griffith’s home town, and where the town of Mayberry is based on…the abandoned Athens Lunatic Asylum…or the ghost town of Thurnton where a once booming coal industry has long since dried up…there’s always something interesting to photograph along the way.

I carry a pocket-sized Nikon Coolpix A, that has been converted by Kolari Vision Infrared to “see” infrared light. Plus I always bring my trusty Nikon Zf, a retro-styled full-frame mirrorless camera with impecable image qualtiy. For aerial shots, I carry a compact DJI Mini 3 Pro drone. And of course I’m always grabbing snapshots with my phone when neither of those are handy. 🙂

Here are a few of my favorite shots from our latest trip to the Wailin Wayne Weekend in Ohio. We had an AMAZING time, catching up with old friends, and making new ones along the way…

Palmetto ADV Rally

This weekend I had the pleasure of participating in the 3rd annual Palmetto ADV Rally! It was so fun re-connecting with old riding buddies, and meeting new ones. Our YouTube channel of @MotoPhotoAdventures was well represented with Jason, Steve, and I all being there together. We led a couple of the group rides to showcase how beautiful the lowcountry is, stayed up ’till all hours solving the world’s problems around the campfire with our fellow riders, and supporting our awesome sponsors like Moto Camp Nerd, SC Moto Lawyer Rick Stewart, and ADV Gourmet. Plus we were able to reconnect with our fellow YouTubers, Greg Simpson at The Bearded Grump and Frank Cone at One Old Man Riding! What a great weekend…we’re already looking forward to the 2025 PAR!!!

The Sunburn Circuit

Photography. Motorcycles Travel. These are my three biggest passions in life!

Most of you know that I started riding motorcycles at a young age in Africa, where I grew up. A motorcycle was my main means of transportation in college and in my early years in the work force. But then “life” happened and I took a hiatus from riding. Several years ago, I fell back in love with riding motorcycles and haven’t look back!

I started a YouTube channel with my good friends, great riders, and fellow photographers, Jason, and Steve: https://www.youtube.com/motophotoadventures. We even built a website around the whole Moto Photo Adventures theme at: https://motophotoadventures.com/. We’ve been picked up by a number of sponsors, and appeared on a couple podcasts. It’s been a TON of fun!!!

Last week we took off on another crazy adventure. The idea was to get out of the cold weather and head south to Key West…somewhere warm. We called it the Sunburn Circuit. Little did we know that a massive cold front was heading towards the southeast and we’d be shivering in our tents as we camped along The Keys and through the Everglades! 🙂

Unfortunately Steve couldn’t make it at the last minute. So our friend and fellow YouTuber, David Mays jumped on his bike and met up with us. You should check out his channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/aMAYSingLife. We missed having Steve. But we still had a fantastic time, exploring some amazing sights, and capturing some fantastic memories as we circled around “Gator Country.”

Many thanks to all our friends and family who have supported our little side-hustle. If you haven’t already, Subscribe to the YouTube channel and get ready for episodes of the Sunburn Circuit to hit the internet!!!

Natalia and Andres in Key West

Photographing proposals is one of my favorite things to shoot! So when a random couple came up to me in Key West last week, let me know they’d just gotten engaged, and asked if I would take a few photos, I jumped at the chance!!!

Jason, David, and I were in Key West photographing another one of our Moto Photo Adventures episodes, which you’ll be able to watch on our channel at http://youtube.com/MotoPhotoAdventures in a few weeks. As we walked around, enjoying the sights, photographing the chickens and tourists alike, we happened upon the famous Hemingway House.

As we gathered outside this popular tourist stop to get a glimpse of the 6-toed cats, and inquire about tour costs, Andres must have noticed my more professional looking camera. While Natalia was at the booth buying their tour tickets, he told me that he had just asked Natalia to be his wife! How cool is that?!? And the best part is, she said YES! He asked if I would mind taking a couple photos for them to commemorate the occasion. And of course I too said YES!!! 🙂

We only had a couple minutes before they were to enter for their tour. Quickly switching from my “travel photographer” hat to my “couples portraits” hat, I captured a few fun portraits for Natalia and Andres while everyone watched. They were so much fun to work with!!!  Andres was tall and strong…his khaki pants and penny loafers an indication of his laid-back demeanor.  Natalia was stunning with her flowing hair and beautiful Bimini-blue blouse.  It was an an absolute delight to spend a few minutes with these two amazing people before we headed down the road to find our campsite for the night.

Many thanks to Natalia and Andres for allowing me to have the honor of photographing their first portraits as a newly engaged couple.

Moto Photo Mexico Adventure Ep5

Day 1…let the adventure begin!!!

Moto Photo Mexico Adventure Ep4

I’m stressed. I’ve been going non-stop from dawn till…well…REALLY LATE. But I’m getting very close to having everything buttoned up for the Moto Photo Mexico Adventure to begin tomorrow morning.

One big item to check off the list was FINALLY publishing Ep4 in the series! In this video, Jason and I showcase all my camping and travel gear, as well as how I store it on the bike for these fun trips.

Tomorrow the adventure begins!!!  See you in the next video…

Moto Photo Mexico Adventure Ep3

The next installment of Moto Photo Mexico is here!  This one is all about the electronics, gadgets, and technology that I’ll be bringing with me on my adventure.  Only 4 more days to go!!!  🙂

Moto Photo Mexico Adventure Ep 2

Episode dos of the Moto Photo Mexico Adventure series is out! This one is all about the farkles and fittings that have helped transform Trinity, my Honda CB500X, into the perfect bike for this amazing trip!!! 🙂