Ulrik Gliese - Visual Arts - Traveling and Photographing with Small Kids

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000"> <TABLE WIDTH="600" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR><TD> <P CLASS="thirteen"><B>Ulrik Gliese - Visual Arts - Traveling and Photographing with Small Kids</B></P> <P CLASS="eleven" ALIGN="left">California, July 1996 and<BR> Southwest US, June - July 1998</P> <P CLASS="ten"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9809medium.jpg"></P> </TD></TR> </TABLE> <TABLE WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR><TD> <P CLASS="eleven">I have often heard, that when you have kids, this and that is not feasible. My experience is that, although this may be true to some extend, it is more a function of mind-set, desire and motivation. Certainly, a number of things will become less practicable and it will not be possible to do these things in the same "ideal" way as before. However, this should not stop us from doing them. It should not make us put our passions on the shelf. To me it seems much more desirable to adjust my ways and expectations, and then continue to do what I really enjoy doing together with my children.</P> <P CLASS="eleven">My wife, Marian, and I had our first child, Sara, in 1996 and our second child, Alexander, in 1997 and have been traveling and making art before, in between and after. Naturally, the challenges are different under those very different conditions but it is feasible under all three to go on exiting and productive travels.</P> <P CLASS="eleven">While living in Denmark, we went on trips to the western US about once a year and continued to do so after we had Sara in 1996. The first travel after we had her was done when she was only 4 months old. We went on a short two-week trip to the Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains.</P> <P CLASS="eleven">Traveling with a baby turned out to be fairly easy and only required few changes on our part in how we did things as compared to before. The easiest part about traveling with a baby as compared to children that are a few years old is that you can carry a baby and that it takes less effort to supervise. This gives you a fairly high degree of freedom to do other things. Naturally, there is more stuff you need to carry on your travels such as diapers, more clothes, a car seat and a stroller. This makes the travel slightly more cumbersome but it is well worth the extra effort to go instead of not going when you are passionate about traveling. We definitely had a very enjoyable and productive trip.</P> <TABLE align=center WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR HEIGHT=100 ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="bottom"> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="ca9601.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/ca9601tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="ca9602.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/ca9602tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="ca9603.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/ca9603tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="eleven"> </P> <P CLASS="eleven">In 1998, we had the opportunity to take a few months of parental leave from our jobs. This wonderful period we used to enjoy our children, to make images and to go traveling. We had been in the US Southwest quite a number of times before. However, all of those trips had been of rather short duration and we really wanted to go back to some of the places and spend more time to really experience the area and to make images. So, we decided to go on an extended camping trip in the area. This was quite ambitious as it involved traveling from Denmark to the US, driving around a lot, lugging camping gear and doing sometimes primitive camping together with all the extras that come from bringing along a 2 years old child and a 7 months old baby. On top of that, we had to bring painting tools, canvases, large format camera gear and film. However, the desire and motivation was there and we had a challenging and great experience.</P> <P CLASS="eleven">To make things practicable, we brought some stuff with us from home but bought a lot of the camping gear and supplies, and all of the canvases and film in California before heading out on the trip. We knew that we would be able to replenish common supplies such as food and diapers along the way but that this would not be the case with the canvases and film we needed to do our work. This presented some very special challenges. We had to pack a lot of bulky canvases in the car, and, trust me, during the trip we became very good at packing everything into the car. We also had to carry a substantial amount of unexposed as well as exposed 4x5" sheet film all the time in an area that is often times very hot. To make sure that the film did not get damaged, I brought along a cooler just for all the film and had to make sure to find places to get the cooling packs re-frozen every second day. Fortunately, it all worked out very well.</P> <P CLASS="eleven">On the trip we started out from California and traveled over the Sierra Nevada into Nevada, through the central part of Nevada, through the southern parts of Utah and Colorado, through the northern parts of New Mexico and Arizona, and then back to California. For most of the trip we camped and often times at campsites without facilities and water. Every week or so we stayed at a motel or campground cabin to get cleaned up, get our clothes washed and get things back in order.</P> <TABLE align=center WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR HEIGHT=100 ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="bottom"> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9804.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9804tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9801.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9801tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9802.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9802tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <TABLE align=center WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR HEIGHT=100 ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="bottom"> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9812.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9812tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9820.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9820tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9821.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9821tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="eleven"> </P> <P CLASS="eleven">We made the choice to camp in order to get a more intimate experience of the land we traveled through. Camping with a baby and a small child absolutely presents some challenges, and camping at primitive campsites in an area that is often freezing cold at night and boiling hot and dry at day adds an extra dimension to those challenges. The solution is to come as prepared as possible. We brought excellent sleeping pads, very warm sleeping bags and extra warm clothing for the children to make sure that they did not get cold. In addition we carried lots of drinking water at all times and were thorough with cleanliness around our food. The hardest part about camping instead of using motels was the frequent setting up and tearing down of camp. It wears on you and with two small kids it becomes very cumbersome at times. At times, camping was hard on us and the kids and pushed our nerves to the edge but many times it brought us very wonderful moments and experiences that we would not have gotten otherwise  It was well worth the extra effort!</P> <TABLE align=center WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR HEIGHT=100 ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="bottom"> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9806.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9806tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9808.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9808tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9811.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9811tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <TABLE align=center WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR HEIGHT=100 ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="bottom"> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9815.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9815tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9816.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9816tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=100><A HREF="sw9818.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9818tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="eleven"> </P> <P CLASS="eleven">Naturally, when you travel with small kids, there are things that you cannot do and things that you cannot do in the same way as if you did not have the kids with you. For us, the most substantial limitation was on our hiking options. On travels, before we had children, we had been enjoying strenuous hikes, steep trails and rock scrambling. Much of this we simply had to let go. Instead we focused on much less demanding hikes where we could bring our children. Some of those hikes became demanding in other ways because we had the children and my large format camera gear with us. One thing that we for sure learned to master on this trip was the creative use of lightweight strollers. It is amazing how rough trails such strollers can be used on. By accepting the limitations and creatively working around them, we managed to go on quite a number of exciting hikes together as a family instead of hiking individually or not doing it at all.</P> <TABLE align=center WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR HEIGHT=100 ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="bottom"> <TD WIDTH=300><A HREF="sw9819.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9819tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="eleven"> </P> <TABLE align=center WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR HEIGHT=100 ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="bottom"> <TD WIDTH=150><A HREF="sw9814.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9814tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=150><A HREF="sw9810.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9810tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="eleven"> </P> <P CLASS="eleven">Our possibilities for working with our art were also being limited as small kids have to be supervised all the time. Without the kids, we would have been able to work most of the time and at the same time. Instead, we had to take turns at working and at looking after and playing with the kids. We also had to accept that the overall time available for work was limited due to all the many added practical matters that comes from traveling and camping with small kids. These things limit the work that can be done on such a trip, but work can still be accomplished. When you love working with your art, it is definitely much more enjoyable to do a little rather than not doing it at all.</P> <P CLASS="eleven">By accepting that many compromises had to be made in order for everything to work out well, we managed to have an amazing trip. We experienced intimate family life, closeness to the nature of a place we love, challenging and inspiring hikes, and great joy from being able to live and work with our art on a daily basis.</P> <TABLE align=center WIDTH="300" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR HEIGHT=100 ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="bottom"> <TD WIDTH=150><A HREF="sw9809.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9809tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> <TD WIDTH=150><A HREF="sw9822.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/sw9822tiny.jpg" BORDER=0></A></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P CLASS="eleven"> </P> <P CLASS="eleven">It is all about how you want to arrange your life. I strongly believe that a good life is a life arranged harmoniously around all our passions as well as the many practical matters we all have to deal with. This may not always be easy. In the course of our lives we will certainly encounter many obstacles and unforeseen life changes that may make this seem impossible. However, the biggest obstacles are our own perception of how things should be and our tendency to live our lives in ways dictated by everybody else but ourselves. When we let these obstacle dominate, life tends to become dull, burdensome and frustrating. It does not have to be this way! Instead listen to yourself, adjust the way you do things as well as your expectations in accordance with your own desires, and enjoy the balance you will achieve between all the various and wonderful facets of your life.</P> <P CLASS="eleven">So, with that, take charge, live your passions and build harmony between the many things you want to accomplish, and you are on your way to a good, exciting and inspiring life.</P> </TD></TR> </TABLE> <TABLE WIDTH="600" BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR><TD> <P CLASS="eleven">   </P> <P CLASS="eleven">   </P> <P CLASS="eleven">This website makes extensive use of frames and your viewing experience will be much better when using a frame capable browser. 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