Rick Smolan

Photojournalist, Entrepreneur, Storyteller and NY Times bestselling author. Check out my new (beautiful!) book INSIDE TRACKS: Alone Across the Outback http://bit.ly/InsideTracksBook

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Behavior scientist Jon Levy studied The Science of Adventure for years and what he discovered will change everything http://thndr.me/mfFVZe

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"The clothing I wore was perfectly practical. Sandals are absolutely the best footwear to wear in the desert. If you wear shoes, the sand forms ridges under your feet and your feet sweat and it’s awful. One of the very nice things about doing that journey was that I kept peeling away everything that wasn’t absolutely essential. So, I ended up with two sarongs, one jumper, one pair of woolly socks and battered old sandals. It was a liberation getting rid of so much stuff, both physically and metaphorically."- Robyn Davidson #Australia #Outback #cameltrip #AustraliaTravel #kodachrome #mypov #35mm #backpacking #camping #naturetravel #fromwhereistand #photooftheday #TravelPhotography #TravelwithPurpose #transformativetravel #TravelAustralia #travelingexhibit #nationalgeographic #feminist #handywoman #sandals #camels #deserttrek #robyndavidson #tracks #feet This photo is from INSIDE TRACKS, a smart phone enabled book that's a love story, a dog story, a mystery and an epic adventure. http://bit.ly/InsideTracksBook

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"Although Robyn began the trip eating dehydrated food, later she began to appreciate native bush foods relished by the Aborigines, such as #kangaroo and #witchettygrubs, fat gooey moth #larvae that taste like #almonds." #Australia #Outback #cameltrip #AustraliaTravel #kodachrome #35mm #TravelAustralia #newjersey #theartschoolatoldchurch #foodporn #MikhailZakinGallery #backpacking #camping #naturetravel #nuts #TravelPhotography #TravelwithPurpose #transformativetravel #1977 #1978 #TravelAustralia #travelingexhibit #digitalsilverimaging #Hahnemühle #nationalgeographic #UNWomen #feminist #bugsforprotein #eatbugs #protein This photo is from INSIDE TRACKS, a smart phone enabled book that's a love story, a dog story, a mystery and an epic adventure. http://bit.ly/InsideTracksBook

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Robyn Davidson traveled from Alice Springs to the West Coast of Australia (1700 miles) in 1977. She traveled with her dog and four camels. This picture was taken at the end of her journey. 

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Its great to see people so inspired by my photography and Robyn Davidson’s camel trek!

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"Robyn’s #three #adult camels carried the supplies necessary for her, and their, #survival. Each morning she loaded 230kg of gear onto the #animals, including #handmade water drums, tin trunks of #food, clothes, tools, her #swag and dog biscuits for Diggity. In the early days of the trip it took her over two #hours to load the camels." The mountains in the distance are Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) represents female spiritual power, whereas Urulu (Ayers Rock) represents male. #Australia #Outback #cameltrip #AustraliaTravel #kodachrome #35mm #TravelAustralia #newjersey #theartschoolatoldchurch #MikhailZakinGallery #TravelPhotography #TravelwithPurpose #transformativetravel #1977 #1978 #TravelAustralia #travelingexhibit #digitalsilverimaging #Hahnemühle #nationalgeographic #UNWomen #feminist #theolgas This photo is from INSIDE TRACKS, a smart phone enabled book that's a love story, a dog story, a mystery and an epic adventure. http://bit.ly/InsideTracksBook

[ricksmolan]

I’ve been blown away by the terrific artwork posted by followers of Robyn's story online.

I was thinking it might be fun to run a CONTEST and invite anyone who has created artwork inspired by Robyn's trek (this could include paintings, drawings, songs, and especially children's artwork).

Please post your entry onto any social media network using‪ #‎InspiredByRobynDavidson‬

I'd love to put together an album for Robyn, so it would be great if you could email me a high resolution image of your artwork to [email protected]

THE REWARD:

In May when Robyn is in the states, she and I will look through all the artwork and chose one winner to whom we will send a copy INSIDE TRACKS signed by both of us.

We look forward to seeing your work! ________________________________________________ The Art piece above by @carolnjning is a great example of what we are looking for

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I photographed my college friend and talented actor Vincent Patterson during an anti-war march on Fifth Avenue in NYC in 1970.

We all knew Vince was talented but never imagined way back then that one day he would become Madonna and Michael Jackson’s choreographer (directing and choreographing Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour), as well as directing and choreographing Jackson's "Bad" tour as well as conceiving and choreographing Smooth Criminal and choreographed other Jackson music videos, "Black or White," "The Way you Make Me Feel," "Dirty Diana," "Speed Demon”.

As a cinematic tribute to his direction and choreography in an array of electronic media, The Lincoln Center Film Society presented an evening entitled "Vincent Paterson, Master of the Media." In 2009, he directed and wrote Cirque Du Soleil's "Elvis" presented at Las Vegas' CityCenter.

I was stoked last month when Vince came to the opening of the INSIDE TRACKS exhibit currently on display at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City in Los Angeles.

(Looking for an inspiring gift for your wife, mother, sister, daughter or friend? Please check out my new “smart phone enabled” book, INSIDE TRACKS. Its a love story, a dog story, a mystery and an epic adventure. Available for $27 now on Amazon at http://bit.ly/InsideTracksBook)

Day # 2 responding to Doug Menuez’s B&W challenge

‪#‎fivedayblackandwhitechallenge‬ ‪#‎photojournalism‬

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I ran into Muhammad Ali when I stepped into an elevator in Tokyo’s Keio Plaza Plaza hotel in 1976 with my friend David Burnett, an incredibly talented photojournalist who had invited me to become part of his fledgling photo agency (Contact Press Images which he co-founded with photo impresario Robert Pledge).

In the elevator with Ali was Howard Bingham, Ali’s personal photographer. David and Howard were old friends and in the space of that 30 second elevator ride Howard told us that in a few hours he and Ali were headed to Korea to tour US Army bases for a week.

Howard told us they two extra seats on the plane and invited us to join them on the tour (that’s how things worked back then!). So off we went on a week long fascinating behind the scenes tour of Korea with the champ. At every base Ali would get in the ring a spar with a few soldiers. It was surreal and I kept thinking if we had pushed the elevator button 30 seconds later none of this would happened. I always thought about these wonderful moments of serendipity as the “fate stream”.

(Looking for an inspiring gift for your wife, mother, sister, daughter or friend? Please check out my new “smart phone enabled” book, INSIDE TRACKS. Its a love story, a dog story, a mystery and an epic adventure. Available for $27 now on Amazon at http://bit.ly/InsideTracksBook)

[ricksmolan]

In 1975 Time Magazine sent me to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to cover the 'Pine Ridge Shootout’, an armed confrontation between American Indian Movement (AIM) activists and the FBI. Two FBI agents had been shot and two prominent members of AIM, Russell Means and Dennis Banks, were being sought in connection with the shootings. I was one of the last journalists (and the youngest) to arrive on the scene and I was clueless. Everyone but me seemed to know what they were doing, where press conferences were being held and where to go to cover the story. I felt out of my league and in over my head. An older wiser friend of mine once said, "when you feel lost there is only one thing to do: eat pie". So I went to a small coffee shop, ordered coffee and cherry pie and by utter dumb luck struck up a conversation with a guy sitting next to me who turned out to be an NPR radio correspondent named Kevin McKiernan. Kevin had spent a great deal of time on the reservation, was trusted by the locals and was friends with Dennis Banks. He told me that an hour later Dennis was going to make a surprise appearance in front of Mt Rushmore to protest the FBI’s actions and proclaim his innocence. So while the rest of the journalists were attending a scheduled FBI press conference I ended up at Mt. Rushmore, a few feet away from one of the people the FBI was looking for. This all took place very quickly and I managed to grab a few frames before Banks was whisked away by his friends. My picture ran around the world and is still one of the images that appears in history books representing the protest. At the time there was widespread public sympathy for the goals of the AIM occupation, as Americans were becoming more aware of longstanding issues of injustice related to American Indians. American Indians were inspired by the sight of their people standing in defiance of the government which had so often failed them. Afterward AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means were indicted on charges related to the events, but their case was dismissed by the federal court for prosecutorial misconduct, a decision upheld on appeal. (Looking for an inspiring gift for your wife, mother, sister, daughter or friend? Please check out my new “smart phone enabled” book, INSIDE TRACKS. Its a love story, a dog story, a mystery and an epic adventure. Available for $27 now on Amazon at http://bit.ly/InsideTracksBook)