Landscape & Travel Photographs By Michael Anderson

"Then I started exploring. I worked hard all year so I could spend my summers backpacking and climbing in the Sierra. I walked over 1,000 miles one summer and spent a lot of time off the trail. I saw amazing things, was often solo and found that I had a hard time sharing the intimacy of my adventures with people that weren't there. But my stories were always more effective if I had a few good photos. My passion for photography was growing. I sought to capture the essence of what moved ME on those trips, and in doing so I also learned how to capture scenes in a way that moved OTHERS who were not there.
In 1989, I took my first trip to Mexico carrying a tent and a backpack and took buses or hitched rides with other travelers all the way down to Guatemala. It was a rough and tumble time in Central America back then. I ate at street vendors, bought groceries at the local tiendas, camped on the beach, slung up my hammock and was surprised at how cheap and easy it was to get around. I spent about $10 a day on that trip. I had just discovered the freedom of vagabonding. The experience changed my life and I continue to travel in this way."
One of my favorite authors, Rolf Potts says 'the more we associate money with life, the more we convince ourselves that we're too poor to buy our freedom. In reality long term travel has nothing to do with demographics-age, ideology, income-and everything to do with personal outlook. Long term travel isn't about being a college student; it's about being a student of daily life. It doesn't require a bundle of cash; it requires only that we walk through life more deliberately. Vagabonding is about using the prosperity and possibilities of the information age to increase your personal options rather than your personal possessions. It's about looking for adventure in normal life and normal life within adventure. Vagabonding is about time- our only real commodity -and how we choose to use it.'