Drive: A Personal Narrative

A journey from childhood memories to finding my voice as a photographer.

Drive: A Personal Narrative from Geoff Ridenour on Vimeo.

Maybe It is was the three helicopters he went down in while serving in Vietnam. It might have been his memories of childhood and long road trips with his family. Whatever the reason we rarely chose flight. Travel plans with dad meant one thing; road trip. Dragging myself out out a warm bed and into the back seat of the family car fill my early childhood memories. I recall the feeling of drifting in and out of dreams as the  warm sunlight slowly began cresting the horizon, casting a magical glow over the landscape. All of this captured through the frame of that old rear window; compositions shifting in the blink of an eye, never constant, always changing.  This is how I discovered a passion I wouldn’t fully realize for nearly two decades.

I wasn't one of those straight out of high school, I know what I want to do, go to college, get the degree, meet the girl and have a family type people. I struggled. I struggled hard to discover my path in life.  It took over a decade of traveling the country bouncing from one dirty bar job to another to end up here. It strikes me now that I've always been looking through the viewfinder. Not necessarily one on the back of a camera but nevertheless through a frame. I’ve held many titles over the years, son, brother, roofer, bartender, waiter, student. None of these felt right. Perhaps that frame that I had spent hours staring out as a child had become something more. It had given me a new title; Photographer.

The Colorado Tintype

Living in Colorado provides for some amazing landscape opportunities. While my usual work flow is high end digital captures, I like to get out and shoot tintypes as often as I can.

This series was shot and processed last summer in Rocky Mountain National Park. There is something magical about watching the image come to life on the plate during the development process that digital photography can't copy. I look forward to sharing more of these as the series continues to grow.