with Lorelle and Brent VanFossen

What do you write about?

We write about a wide variety of topics, mostly about travel, life on the road, and nature photography. Here, we answer some of your questions about our writing. If you have a question about our writing, or a comment, please post it in our comment section below and we’ll do our best to answer you.

What do you write?

Most of our writing is technical, and deals with photography, nature and travel. We write about a variety of subjects and for a variety of international magazines. Some recent article topics include marketing and selling your photography, editing your nature photography images, choosing a recreational vehicle for nature photographers and nature lovers, web page design and development, and articles about photographing in specific locations like Jerusalem, Florida, New Mexico, and Alaska. We also do a lot of interview articles, including two exclusive interviews with professional nature photographer and author, Art Wolfe, which attracted international acclaim. We have more than 500 articles on this web site as examples of our writing.

Recently we took a course in science fiction writing which ignited some interest in writing fiction and fiction in general, but that will come in time. Brent also writes computer games which are really book-like games called "interactive fiction." The reader becomes the participant, controlling how the story goes. In 1997 and 1998, the won top honors for his first published game, "She’s Got A Thing for a Spring," about his wife and her love of hot springs and nature. It also includes many of their adventures out in the wild. For more information on his game and interactive fiction games check out ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive.

Where can I find your work?

We are frequent contributors to Shutterbug and Outdoor and Nature Photography magazines, among many others. If you are interested in following the travels of Brent and Lorelle and getting announcements about our published work, contact us at lorelle@cameraontheroad.com and ask to be put on our journal email list.

Is being writers and photographers glamorous?

When we tell people what we do, their eyes often glow with envy and they ask if it is a life filled with glamor and excitement. We believe that glamor and excitement are a matter of perspective. Some people think driving the Alaska Highway very exciting, but when we were fighting with a burned out transmission in the middle of that highway, it wasn’t exciting, it was miserable. Driving cross-country can be exciting and glamorous unless you happen to be on Highway 10 through Louisiana getting the meat jarred off your body and your spine smashed to pieces with the horrible condition of the highway. Writing is a long and lonely business. The research does keep us in contact with people, but much of the time is spent in libraries and on the computer. The actual business of writing is tedious and interminable sometimes. Would we change any of our life because of this? Absolutely not. You have to take the good with the bad so we answer this question with this: "Some parts are edible, some suck." It’s as good an answer as any.

How do you submit your articles and photos?

When we sell our work to a magazine or photo buyer, we send our images through either the regular postal service or UPS or FedEx, depending upon how fast the client needs it. Our articles are sent via the Internet and upon rare occasions via fax or computer disk. For more on the business of nature photography, check out our Learning section.

How do you sell your work from the road?

No differently than a photographer would sell their work from their office or home. We are just more selective about who we send our work out to as they have to cooperate with our tour schedule. For information on selling your photography, see our article on Visiting a Publisher, in the Learning Section on Business. We also have articles on Working from the Road.

Have you written any books?

We are currently working on two books, with a third under consideration. One is about our travels on the road called Home Is Where Lorelle Is and the other is about the technical aspects called Taking Your Camera On The Road.

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