Scottish Highlands, August 2015

Today the winter issue of Artful Blogging hits newsstands, and it features my photo essay “The Accidental Travel Blogger.” This is a dream come true for me, and I want to celebrate by sharing a few photos that go along with the essay and by telling you how this came about.

Being published in Artful Blogging is particularly meaningful for me because it brings me full circle in my development as a writer, blogger and photographer. Five years ago my family went on a road trip out west, the very road trip that is mentioned in the article, and the very road trip that got me into travel photography a little more seriously. To boot, it was on that very trip, on our stopover in Denver, that I discovered Artful Blogging while browsing in a Barnes & Noble bookstore. I picked it up because I had just begun blogging that year.

On the Colorado River by the Glen Canyon Dam, Summer 2011

I was immediately intrigued by Artful Blogging, and this led me to seek out other magazines by the same publisher, Stampington, such as Somerset Life, where I discovered Susannah Conway‘s work. Through reading her book This I KnowI happened upon Julia Cameron’s work, and reading that led me to a whole new understanding of the creative process (Morning Pages, etc.!).

Ever since that day of rummaging through Barnes & Noble in Denver, I’ve dreamed of getting my work featured in Artful Blogging. Amazingly, here I am. Dreams do come true! This was, by the way, not the first photo essay I submitted to them, confirming that you just have to keep trying. It also confirms my philosophy of getting published: If you’re really into a publication and read it for years, chances are your work might fit.

Here, then, for your enjoyment, is a sneak peek at my article “The Accidental Travel Blogger” in the Winter 2017 issue of Artful Blogging, and some of the images mentioned in the article that were not published with it:

Case of Keys Recovered from the Rubble
Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, Summer 2011
Artichoke Jar, Shuk Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem, August 2015

Xi’an Great Mosque Wall Detail, May 2016