(The new "office" and old windsurfing van / home for a few weeks.)

The return to van living.  My last update left you all with images and tales of living a life of comfort on a cush sailboat in Honolulu, HI.  I even named warm weather as my toughest adversary.  It was pretty hot, but honestly, that is weak sauce.  I deserved any amount of razzing and “tough life” comments that came my way after that one.  The truth is, I actually WAS pretty comfortable, and that was my toughest adversary.

Sounds crazy, and might even insight more razzing, but let me explain.

The feelings of routine comfort and I have never really see eye to eye, and probably never will. Routine is something I have tried to step away from for as long as I can remember, and as nice as it is to have somewhere to be and somewhere to go back to, I find it keeps me from the world I work so hard to be a part of.  The world of random happenings, chance meetings with great people and the beauty and power of the unexpected.  That is the world I love, and there is nothing I won’t do to stay in it, making photos.

So I did what any sane person would do when they have it made.  I left.  I jumped ship, flew over to Maui and moved into an “old windsurfing van.” It is more stalker-ish and creepy than anything I have ever been associated with, but I love it.  The second I moved in, I felt instant freedom.  Freedom to go wherever, whenever with no concerns for planning around any one place I have to be.

No qualms with the sailboat or with my brother, I just needed to be mobile again. After all, it is all I know.

On another note, Maui has been great.  I have connected with a few great people here and have enjoyed some of that unexpected.  I have had beers with local fisherman on a rock for an evening, been pounded in the surf while shooting one great waveskier, almost kiteboarded my way back to Oahu, slept in houses and on driveways and beaches, had an in-depth paddling conversation, eaten sand-blown chicken wings, listened to an amazing Ukulele player, laughed with new friends and welcomed an old buddy into the Maui van life for a few weeks.

It’s all part of the beauty, as long as you leave yourself open to it.  Change is scary, and so is the unknown, but the fear of not photographing and experiencing everything I can plays heavier on me than the thought of changing my entire situation.  Maybe I’m crazy, but it’s all I know, and I love it!

(Tom Albritton throwing down on his skimboard at Sandy's Beach.)

(Waveskier Tyler Lausten watching the surf in Paia Bay.)