Travel

Click HERE to read about my journey in Iceland

Some thoughts on Solo Travel... CLICK HERE TO READ

My Favorite Apps Click on link above to read

                                                              My Favorite Campsites

Psst... I moved to a new website and blog. To see my latest post on my Favorite places, click below http://alisonturnerphoto.com/blog/2015/3/19/my-favorite-places MY FAVORITE PLACES 

Hello!  Thank you for your interest in my photography and travels.  I have switched my blogging to a new site so I hope to see you there! Please Click HERE to be redirected to my Blog and Website! www.MyWestyLife.com If you'd like to send me an email, click HERE See you over there!

Each year, I write a post with everything I accomplished during the year.  I do this partly for a personal journal to remember what I did and also as a reminder of things I've achieved for moments when I feel as if I am not doing enough. The year started out slow but it picked up in April when I headed out to New Zealand to live in a camper van for three weeks.  As you might have read, I few hours into the trip I ended up with just the clothes on my back and the items in my purse, which luckily included my iPhone and passport. Looking back, it was the highlight of my year.  During that trip, I was notified that my portrait series, "Equivalence" was written up in the National Geographic blog, Proof .  Also, during the trip I started taking photographs from the van window and named the series, "Vanscapes" which was featured in PDN and Lenscratch , which subsequently lead to several websites picking it up. The remainder of the year was spent on different road tri...

I was delighted when I was asked to be a part of the "Women on the Road" series from She Explores. I love that Gale has dedicated a portion of her website to celebrate women on the road.  She also writes about her adventures from her Sprinter Van.  Want to get inspired?  Read the interviews on her site and if you'd like to read mine, click HERE 

I would love to send you updates, events, news, and travel stories to you via email!  I won't bombard you with email, but just some updates every now and then with things you might be interested in.  You can always unsubscribe if you decide later that you don't want to receive updates. Just sign up below!  It's that simple! Sign up to receive my Newsletter             If that's not working, click HERE

As some of you know, I took a trip of a lifetime to New Zealand in April for three weeks without Max to wander around solo in a van.  After a 13 hour flight, I took my two very full bags on public transportation when I arrived and after I was dropped off, I walked to the van rental company.  What seemed like forever, we went over the rules and regulations of the van until it was time to take the keys and start my journey.   I drove out of the lot with hesitation since I am not familiar with driving on the left side of the road.  In fact, I missed my exit because I was afraid of making a right turn.  Eventually I followed another car and made it on the freeway going north.  I pulled off the highway before a toll freeway to a gas station to practice pumping gas (as if I have never done that before) and to pay the toll on the kiosk.  After I pumped gas, I moved the van around to the parking lot of a fast food restaurant.  I went in to grab a sandwich...

It's still hard for me to believe that my image and National Geographic are next to each other in this screenshot photo.  Last December, I went to my first portfolio review in New Orleans, LA.  I was nervous about showing my personal series to top names in the gallery, museum and art world. What would they say? How would they react to my process? It's always a bit daunting to show your personal work to the world but as I am learning, it's the most rewarding thing you can do.  Sure, people might not like it and that is why it's "art."  It's subjective. I decided to participate in the reviews since my work was selected to be shown at the Ogden Museum of Art in New Orleans in conjunction with PhotoNOLA.  I felt that would be a nice opening line when presenting my series to reviewers.  I am a shy person so this is not the most comfortable setting for me.  I'm sure it's not for most...especially for the first time. The first review was exciting since ...

If you are new to my blog, welcome!  I've been writing here off and on for about five years now.  I haven't been writing as much as I would like lately but I am hoping I will change that someday.  The Photo Brigade published a story I wrote about living in a van and some tips on how to do it if you are thinking of a similar lifestyle.  I also share how I ended up living this lifestyle and what I did to get here.  To read the article, click HERE

Last week, my "Bingo Culture" series was featured on the front page of Slate Magazine .  What an honor it was to have my images shown to bring some light back on the game of BINGO. To see the article, click HERE

It's the first day of the new year! Normally, I would start to think forward (which I will after this post), but I wanted to take a minute to remember all that I did in 2013.  Thanks to Instagram , I can scroll through all of my photos and remember what I did.  I would usually do that in blog posts, but I haven't been making time for these posts as much as I have done in the past.  I am so grateful to all of my friends and loved ones in my life.  I am also thankful to the new friends that I met this year! Here are some of my most memorable moments of 2013. In 2013, I… Drove through Big Sur on Highway 1 Spoke about my work at Open Show, Venice Arts Awarded 3rd place for "Brothers" at Photo LA Started my new series, "Reflected Identities" Visited Death Valley for the first time Photographed the Cover of Airstream Life Magazine Hiked to the Hollywood Sign First Place Winner for Instagram Series in PDN's Emerging Photographer Magazine Images wheat pasted in...

I have so much to be thankful for. As I type this from my iPhone, I am thankful that I am in a warm place and have all the things I need. In addition to my basic needs, I wanted to take a moment to list some things I am thankful for. This is just a list from the top of my head right now and I know I am failing to list so many things. This is what I'm thankful for today. I am thankful for: - My Mother and family for understanding my traveling lifestyle and is supportive no matter what. - My friends who reach out to me and make an effort even though I am out of sight. - the amazing community I have met through photography. - my partner in crime, Max. He keeps me smiling even during times when everything seems to fall apart. - my ability to roam the country and do what I want on a moments notice. - to all of the amazing women who have opened up and allowed me to photograph them for my series this year. Thank you Cat, Traci, Jamie, Cal, Carrie, Jo, Iowana, Shanta, Ariana, Carrie, Teri...

When people find out about my current or past travels of living on the road, a lot of the time their response is, "you're living my dream!"  I am always flattered that someone would want to choose the lifestyle of traveling like I do.  Lately, I have been responding with, "you can do it too and live your OWN dream."  Most often, that is followed by, "I would if only..." If only. Those, "if only's" are choices. Choices we made in our life that we want to, or need to keep.  Maybe you bought a home that you feel you can't leave, or kids, or a marriage, or your job, or your pet... Those are all great reasons to stay put and not do anything different in your life (not that there is anything wrong with that life) except be envious by posts of other people living a life that is YOUR dream.  The question is, "do you really want to live your dream?"  If you do, what is preventing you from making the choices needed to pursue that drea...

As you might imagine, I've taken a lot of photographs the past five years while living on the road.  Here are just a few iPhone images of my life on the road the past year with Max.   Here's a 15 second glimpse of what we did... 15 seconds of my past year on the road from Alison Turner on Vimeo .

I hope you are enjoying your summer!  So many things are happening around here that I haven't had the chance to let you know what has been going on.  I have been so fortunate to be selected for the following exhibitions and publications!  I am thankful for you for your continued support and I hope to see you at one of these events. Upcoming Shows: August 2nd - September 15th - Photo Center NW "Musings: 18th Annual Photo Competition"  August 2nd - 31st Black Box Gallery "Color Photography Now" August 2nd - August 31st Seities Gallery, Alberta Canada - Featured Artist October 4th - 26th - The Center For Fine Art Photography "Center Forward" October 12th - November 17th - The Art of Photography Show - San Diego, CA Recent Publications and Events: "Reflected Identities" featured in Square Magazine Featured in Museé Magazine Slideshow Selected for Slideluck Potshow in Ireland Seities Magazine - Featured Member 

I love Sunset Magazine. It's one of the magazines that I keep around to refer back to for design or trip ideas.  After I tagged "sunset camps" to one of my instagram photos I took of myself in Death Valley, they contacted me to license the image to place next to the editor's note in the July edition of the magazine.  If you're on instagram, you can see this photo along with others at @alisontravels Thank you Sunset Magazine!

This marks my 4th year of photographing Alumapalooza for Airstream.  Each time, I meet someone new and instantly connect with them.  It's not hard to bond with other people who have the same love of travel, and these campers do it in style! I love photographing candid moments and portraits of the people who attend the event each year.  Photographing Sandy and Ed with their wedding photograph to celebrate their 30th year together, was inspiring. Also, I enjoyed listening to stories of each person who stepped foot in front of my lens.  All of you are amazing and inspiring to me. I have to say that the best part of the trip for me was what Kirk said to me.  He's pictured below holding a copy of a photograph I took of him at Alumapalooza two years ago.  Last year at Alumapalooza, he decided to quit drinking. He knew that I didn't drink and said to me, "if you can do it, I can do it!"  He did just that.  June 1st was his year anniversary of not drinkin...