After 2 years of full time employment at an B-Side Entertainment, an independent film distributor, whilst also moonlighting on wildlife documentaries, this fall I returned to working strictly as a freelancer. When you add those 2 years in the office on top of recent projects for National Geographic Television in the rainforests of Borneo and Peru, I was ready for some time off. One of the luxuries of freelancing on the camera side of the industry is that when you are at home between projects, your time is all your own. However, too much time at home can drive someone like me a little crazy. I love my hometown of Austin, Texas, but I thrive on travel and adventure, so it is difficult sometimes to be satisfied with life as a homebody. Easy solution, a good old-fashioned American road trip.

My roommates and I were already scheming about traveling between Christmas and New Years, so when some other mutual friends suggested a road trip out west, it was a no brainer. We first headed straight out to Los Angeles to stay with a friend, and then spent the next week working our way back home with stops in Joshua Tree National Park, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, White Sands National Monument, and Carlsbad Caverns. It was vacation, so I managed to keep the camera in the bag some of the time, but at other times I couldn’t help but get a little click happy.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip and some timelapses I shot just for fun.

Joshua Tree Sunset from Skip Hobbie on Vimeo.

Joshua Tree Campfire Timelapse from Skip Hobbie on Vimeo.