Traveler Profile: andris

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Screen name:

andris

Age:

Gender:

Male

If you must know:

I'm taken

Travel status:

Traveling now

Hometown:

Columbus, Ohio, USA

Currently in:

Kathmandu, Nepal

Traveling Next:

Puerto Rico, Turkey, or China

Favorite places I've been:

Don Det, Laos, Prasat Preah Vihear, Cambodia, Koh Chang, Thailand, Mount Kanchenjunga, Nepal, Drakyul Caves, Tibet, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Places I want to go to:

Western China via Turkey and assorted 'stans. India.

About me:

Since graduating college with a Physics degree, I've spent time as a wildland firefighter, a State Department diplomat, an adventure trip leader, and an Asia-traveling backpacker. While that sounds more like the resume of a schizophrenic than a photographer, it's my sense of adventure that's the common thread.

That same sense of adventure is one of the two things that drives me to search out new things to capture through my camera lens. The other is my belief that a major problem facing the world today is an empathy deficit. I think photography can help decrease the deficit by allowing viewers to connect with subjects, and I want to be part of that.

Profile URL:

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/andris

Read more about andris

I'm fired up on:

Photographing, connecting, exploring

Tunes I rock out to:

I love music, but I worry that plugging in the iPod means unplugging from the world around me. Sometimes I find that the best way to pass the time on a long bus ride is to prop my head against the window and watch. When I do flip on the stereo, though, it's usually female singer/songwriters coming out of the speakers. Oh, or "Love Generation" by Bob Sinclair. You can't hear it and not feel good.

Travel style:

Light, fast, and somewhat at random

Quote:

"Traveling is the great true love of my life. [...] I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby--I just don't care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it's mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to--I just don't care." ~Elizabeth Gilbert, 'Eat, Pray, Love'

Sports I do:

Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking, Snowboarding, Canyoneering, Running

Favorite artist(s):

I've always liked Degas.

Favorite books:

"The Kite Runner," Khaled Hosseini. "Vagabonding," Rolf Potts. "My Secret History," Paul Theroux.

Who I'd like to meet on my travels:

Anyone and everyone

I want to make a difference by:

Take photographs that make viewers identify with the people in them. Focusing on the small scale, rather than the large.

Languages spoken, other than English:

French, an unimpressively small amount of Mandarin, and "Hello," "Thank you," and "Two beers please" in about 20 others.

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when:

Shivering in my bootleg down sleeping bag, curled up on the dirt floor of a nomad herder tent in Tibet, and trying to squeeze a little closer to the warmth of the yak dung stove.

Why I travel:

To make life simple again. To push my boundaries. To learn. To connect. To photograph.

Ideal place to watch the sunrise:

Peeking out the door of a backpacking tent, still tucked into a sleeping bag.

Ideal place to watch the sunset:

Sitting at one of those Thai beachfront restaurants with the 2 foot high tables, tall cold Beer Chang in hand.

Before I die I'd like to:

Have no regrets

Let's collaborate:

Surprisingly, your example is exactly right for me: "I'm a travel photographer looking to collaborate with travel publications that need some incredible images from around the world." I'd love to get involved in photography for non-profit organizations.

I'm also a technical generalist, and I can fix almost any computer problem in a few hours. I know the technical side of digital photography inside and out, and would be willing to assist working travel photographers for the experience.

My links:

www.andrisbjornson.com
www.collectivelens.com
blog.andrisbjornson.com

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by Barb | 2008/09/13

hey Andris,

do you have any examples of web designs that you have done? would you possibly be interested in doing some work for us and what do you charge?

Hope the walk home helped, and that the dancing was both inspiring and clarifying.

talk soon

by Barb | 2008/02/06

Wow,
Your photos are awe-inspiring!
thanks for sending me the link.

do you canoe much?

by andris | 2008/02/06

Not enough. My best canoeing memory is from a trip I took with the boy scouts to the Boundary Waters in 8th grade. Amazing place.

Ever since I spent a summer leading adventure trips for middle schoolers that involved a sea kayaking component up in the San Juan islands I've been thinking I need to spend more time in small watercraft. :)

Andris

by Tim Patterson | 2008/01/10

"Peeking out the door of a backpacking tent, still tucked into a sleeping bag."

Right on. And then rolling over and going back to sleep.

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