While in Yosemite National Park climbing and sleeping in the boulders, a couple of things happened. First, I committed to my second seasonal job as an outdoor educator. Second, I met some famous climbers. Both of which pulled me in opposite directions.
The seasonal job was on the east coast in Baltimore and the famous climbers, Conrad Anchor and Graham Zimmerman, offered me a position at a diner just outside of Yosemite. At the time, all I cared about was climbing and seeing new things, so I wanted to take the diner position, but I also had a gut feeling that if I committed to the diner, I would have to stop climb and work all of the time. So, I stayed committed and headed to the East Coast.
Arriving at the Baltimore Outward Bound school with my bicycle, climbing and backpacking gear, and my Sony a6000 with a kit lens, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Heck, all I knew was that I wanted to see new places and the east coast was new. Additionally, I knew that if I committed and finished this apprenticeship, I would have enough money where I could ride my bicycle home to California. So, that was my goal.
Yoshie sharing the ABC’s of backpacking with a new group of students. Photograph by Dalton Johnson
Unloading my gear, I quickly found a few awesome places in this converted mansion we would be living in for the next three months. There was a bouldering room and a coupala (the name given to a watch tower kind of place at the top of the mansion) which would become my home. Now, it was time to meet the people.
I’m not sure why, or how, but I have always felt like an outcast. My mom has playfully called me “the king of misfits” as I am kinda like a stray cat who brings home the weirdos. And, ironically, I found the people at Outward Bound to speak a similar language. We loved the outdoors, getting dirty, and went to the beat of our own drum.
The kind faces met everyone with smiles. It was awesome, but where did I fit in? Of this, I was unsure. I am always unsure. For the most part, I am an overconfident human that is down for almost anything. Well, not anything, but most things. As the group of apprentices got to know each other, we found common threads. However, everyone kinda filled a niche of their own. Mine was using a camera and helping the Marketing Director, Ben Worden.
We had three months to learn the ropes of the Baltimore Outward Bound way of things. In a somewhat good metaphor for life, we were challenged to try everything at the school. We taught backpacking courses, rock climbing days, school group day lessons, worked in logistics, packed food and cleaned gear, we did it all. Then, a turning point came about for myself. I found myself wandering into Ben’s office just to talk, to see what he was working on, or share a creative idea.
Ben was always kind and encouraging, responding to my ideas like, “Heck yeah, I love it! You should try it out. Do you want to barrow one of our cameras?” While swiveling around in his chair to find the right camera and lens for the job. It was in that moment when something began to click for me. I actually enjoyed this. I was going out and taking photographs or recording video for fun. I officially had a hobby.
Two students refining their map reading skills while on a backpacking course with Outward Bound Baltimore. Photograph by Dalton Johnson
Growing up and throughout college, I was consumed by sports, so the idea of a hobby never existed. I forwent friendships so I could focus on getting out of my childhood town. Not because it was a terrible place or anything, but because I wanted to see more. I wanted to see the world. My sports dreams were over and I now had a hobby. So, I did what any washed-up athlete does when they find something new, get competitive with themselves about it.
Everyday, I went out and photographed. I did everything I could to be in a position to snap a photograph. My knowledge didn’t exist, so I just snapped away and review later. There wasn’t a goal to achieve, just a way to express myself. I wanted to tell a story or show an emotion. Heck, I just loved showing Ben my favorite image from the day and him smiling saying, “Dude! That is awesome!”
There came a point that I was spending so much time in Ben’s office that a desk was somehow put into his office for me to sit at and edit. I am not totally sure how this came to be, but I would just sit there and edit images everyday. Bouncing ideas off Ben and then going out with a camera to try to capture this idea. But, it didn’t stop there. Video came into the picture as well. This was another ball game that was challenging. There were so many moving parts, I was just unsure how to move forward. However, Ben was there to help me.
I told him that I wanted to try to do a video project, so he gave me a challenge to create a video about the life of an apprentice at Outward Bound. Without thinking twice, I accepted. For about a week, I chased down a variety of people in hopes of making the this video. Interviews, b-roll, a-roll (is that thing?), I really had no idea what I was doing. What I did know is that I had fun doing it. So, I kept pushing and here was the result:
Now, I know this isn’t very good now, but at the time, I was impressed! For my first ever video that I strung together, I was happy with how it came out. Additionally, Ben was as well. He helped get all of the branding and name plates for the video, I had no idea how to do that.
As my time as an apprentice came to a close, the time for me to begin biking back to California was quickly approaching. For that, I had no plan, which I was happy about. There is something about the unknown which appeals to me. Discovering along the way is better than planning it out and just following the road map you have made for yourself. I guess I might do this to protect myself from not trying something, for I knew what I was committing too, I most likely would not do it. However, setting a destination and slowing working your way towards it is romantic in the sense of self-discovery. I start feeling instead of thinking.
Just a week left until I would leave the east coast, Ben asked me, “Would you be interested in coming back next year to be a photographer?”
I thought for a second and naively contemplated, “Do people get paid to take photographs?”
“Yeah! You would get paid about 10x what you were paid for this apprenticeship.” Ben explained.
“Really?” I asked in disbelief.
“Well, not 10x but definitely double to triple.”
“I’m in!”
“Okay, you’ll have to set up a business over the winter. I’ll send you the paperwork you’ll need to do. After that, we can set a date and we will fly you back to the east coast for a project.”
“Awesome! Thank You!” I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.