A photographic journey through the American Southwest.

This album was shot at the tail end of 2021, but the story begins a few years earlier. After losing a job I didn't love, I was offered $50/day to join a small team out west creating a travel website. I flew out to Santa Barbara on a whim and started working. We rambled over sand dunes and mountain passes for a couple of weeks, documenting the remoteness of obscure little towns. We were telling stories through photo and text, and publishing it online. I had no idea what I was doing, but the underlying instincts and passion were there. When I got home, I saw a vision of an entirely new career path laid out in front of me. That's when I began freelancing as a photographer and graphic designer.

In late 2021, with travel still largely restricted by Covid, I engineered a new roadtrip through the west. This time I knew my way around the camera and I intended to do the scenery justice. I saddled a rooftop tent to my car and enlisted two co-pilots. My uncle Dave—stateside at the time from Barcelona—would join me for the journey west. At L.A.X., my girlfriend Ani would tag in, and we'd make our way back home. A Desert Bloom is a climatic phenomenon where the vegetation of a dry, dormant landscape comes alive after a period of rain. Like one of these blooms, this photo-journal represents both a personal creative rebirth, and a rejuvenated adventurous spirit following the Covid years.

Chapters: