Meet our new Jeep Wrangler. If you know anyone who owns a Jeep Wrangler, you probably also know their Jeep by its name. People who own Jeep Wranglers name them. It’s a thing. Some might even say it’s a requirement of ownership. Ours doesn’t have a name, at least not a permanent one. Not yet. Its temporary name is “Jeff”. Why Jeff? Well, as it turns out, the state of Ohio thought the first three letters of our license plate should start with JEF. Perhaps the person who assigns such things has an affinity for the name. Perhaps it was just dumb luck. Or maybe it was written in the stars eons ago and is part of a larger plan. Be that as it may, it’s a temporary name. It’s not that I have anything against the name Jeff, or people named Jeff, but it just doesn’t seem adventurous enough, and this Jeep was purchased with adventure in mind (and by saying this, I honestly mean no offense to the Jeffs of the world). Bonecrusher has a nice ring to it, but that might be a bit TOO adventurous. Its permanent name will come in time. For now, we’ll settle for Jeff.
Meet…Jeff.
iPhone Photo - Happy new Jeep owner.
By now you’re probably thinking to yourself “I thought this was a photography blog??”, and may have even double checked the URL to confirm you’re in the right place. Well, it is, and you are. So why are we talking about Jeeps named Jeff? To put it simply…because I’m complex (insert single raised eyebrow or confused face emoji here).
I have a lot of interests. The problem is, I don’t have a lot of free time to devote to them. I have a hard-enough time keeping up with my photography projects, so if I want to explore other interests, it’s helpful if they overlap with my photography. While the subjects of my photography cover a broad spectrum, ranging from studio portraits to landscape photography and even more recently, astrophotography, most of my photos could probably be categorized as Travel Photography.
Wikipedia defines Travel Photography as “a genre of photography that may involve the documentation of an area's landscape, people, cultures, customs and history.” Now, I understand most scholars don’t hold a high regard for references from Wikipedia, but I like this definition, so I’m going with it.
Until now, most of my travel photography has been a byproduct of vacations or the occasional local photowalk with some fellow photographers who live nearby. I’ve always wanted to travel to other locations with the specific goal of photographing them, but travel accommodations limited what and when (and sometimes even where) I could photograph. It’s always been a major creative constraint and really hit home with me during our last vacation to the Outer Banks.
Cape Lookout National Seashore - Minolta X-370 - Lomography Metropolis
During the Summer of 2020, we were fortunate enough to vacation in Sealevel, North Carolina. Sealevel is a small community location on Nelson Bay, a bay on the mainland side of the Core sound, the body of water between the mainland and the Outer Banks. During our stay, we spent an afternoon at Cape Lookout and rented a Kubota side-by-side so we could drive to Cape Point. I had explored this location on Google Maps, but I wanted to see it in person.
Cape Lookout National Seashore - Minolta X-370 - Lomography Metropolis
That’s when I saw it, or I really should say, saw THEM! Campers. On Cape Point. I had always known tent camping was allowed on the beach, and I had also known capable 4x4s were allowed to drive certain portions of the beach. I guess it had never really occurred to me, until I experienced the location in person, just how awesome it would be to spend the night on the beach. And just how beautiful the sunrise and sunset photos must be. I got a lot of great photos during our time on the beach, but I can’t help but think about the photos we could have gotten if we could have spent the night.
Cape Lookout National Seashore - Minolta X-370 - Lomography Metropolis
There was just one problem. The AWD SUV I owned, a 2017 Dodge Durango RT, while comfortable and capable, just wasn’t meant for off-road driving. It handled the Ohio winters beautifully, and barely flinched while climbing the paved roads of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, but it wasn’t built to handle the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks. It was too big and heavy, and lacked the proper ground clearance. Any attempt to reach this location in our current vehicle would have spelled trouble, and would have ended with a call for help. For this trip, we were limited to the 4-hour window of our Kubota rental. And while this was a fantastic experience, I wanted more. Enter Jeff.
My research for a vehicle to use for vehicle exploring coincided with the announcement of the new Ford Bronco. After watching a few videos from Ford, I promptly put down the $100 reservation fee to secure my place in line and began fantasizing about the places this new glorious steed would take us. Every day, I was searching for new information on the Bronco, deciding on how I would order my custom-built version, making it mine. I also spent a lot of time researching the similarities and differences between the new Bronco and its rival counterpart, the Jeep Wrangler. It’s clear the designers for the new Bronco had the Wrangler in its sights during the entire design process. And I didn’t do this research alone. I was joined by a frequent companion of mine, Impatience.
Impatience and I go back a long way. I dare say we’ve known each other since birth. It’s the only explanation for my tendency to have a difficult time waiting…for anything. And as it would happen, it was Impatience who reminded me that while it was now July 2020, it would be December 2020 before I could even place my order for the Bronco, and would likely be July of 2021 (and possibly January 2022) before I could take delivery of said Bronco. That’s a long time; and neither Impatience nor I were willing to wait that long. Think of all of the exploring we would be missing out on during that time! I decided to forego the Bronco, for now, anyway, and look for an alternative. I reasoned I could always test drive a Bronco when they actually hit the dealer showrooms sometime in 2022 and if I was smitten by one then, I could trade in what I could be driving in the meantime. “Google? Show me the 2020 Jeep Rubicons available in my area.” I’ve always liked Jeeps. I’ve owned a few in the past; one YJ Wrangler, an XY Cherokee, and a Grand Cherokee. Their “go anywhere” attitude just always appealed to me. Three days later, I found myself pulling into a Jeep dealership in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. A few hours after that, I was pulling out of the same dealership with…Jeff; a 2020 Bright White Jeep Unlimited Rubicon Recon, complete with both a hard top and soft top, 33 inch tires, and enough ground clearance and gumption to tackle any deep sandy beach. I could already picture us (me, my wife..and Jeff) cruising down the beach of the Outer Banks.
Cape Lookout National Seashore - Minolta X-370 - Lomography Metropolis
Now that I had a vehicle for exploring, I started researching exactly what the vehicle would need in order to go where I wanted to go, and to be able to spend the night wherever our explorations take us comfortably. This is when I discovered Overlanding. See? I told you I was complex.
Overlanding is a term you won’t find in a proper dictionary. You’ll find Overland, but not overlanding. And while they’re similar, they’re also very different. By the way, stay away from any Urban Dictionary during your research. I quickly learned, for instance, what an “Overland Squat Blossom” was. Do yourself a favor and don’t search that term. Your life will proceed much more happily without that little bit of knowledge. But the fine folks over at Overland Journal (https://overlandjournal.com) describe overlanding as such:
iPhone Photo - One of the many “Easter Eggs” found on the Jeep
“Overlanding describes self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations where the journey is the primary goal. Typically, but not exclusively, accommodated by mechanized off-highway capable transport (from bicycles to trucks) where the principal form of lodging is camping; often lasting for extended lengths of time (months to years) and often spanning international boundaries. While expedition is defined as a journey with a purpose, overlanding sees the journey as the purpose.
Overlanding is about exploration, rather than conquering obstacles. While the roads and trails we travel might be rough or technically challenging, they are the means to an end, not the goal itself. The goal is to see and learn about our world, whether on a weekend trip 100 miles from home or a 10,000-mile expedition across another continent. The vehicle and equipment can be simple or extravagant - they, too, are simply means to an end. History, wildlife, culture, scenery, self-sufficiency - these are the rewards of overlanding.”
I rather like that definition.
iPhone Photo - I chose the Rocon edition of the Rubicon.
Still wondering how photography ties in with all this? Well, the plan is to document our explorations in words, and in photos. In short, I want to be able to travel to places where the roads are much less defined…and sometimes nonexistent. I want to be able to camp wherever we decide to park the Jeep and call home for the evening. I want to be able to capture images of our journeys and share them with you fine folks. But before we can do that, there’s some work to do.
iPhone Photo and Editing - Jeff is an artistic SOB.
Work?!?! Well, that certainly doesn’t sound like fun! Or does it? This is the kind of work I don’t mind doing. This work entails researching what we’ll need in order to (briefly) live in the Jeep…whether the trip be a single overnight stay, or a week-long journey. And the Jeep needs to be able to carry itself, and us, along with all of our supplies, to whatever near or faraway location we decide to visit. Initially, I thought I would just document this “journey to the beginning” for my own enjoyment. Then it occurred to me that it might be fun to document it in photos. Finally, I decided I would just use venues already available to me and share it here, on my blog and other various social media outlets.
All of this brings us back to Jeff (aka Bonecrusher). I’m going to start at the beginning, document any and all changes made to the Jeep to make it exploration worthy, document the gear we’ll be using while overlanding, and share the photos taken along the way.
iPhone Photo - “Naked”…as they say.
I’ve already taken the first steps by securing us a place to sleep, which will be a tent perched securely on a roof rack on the top of the Jeep. I’ve also started researching what we’ll need for food and water, heating/cooling, sleeping, and relaxing after a hard day of exploring. One of the goals is to be able to carry only what we really need, ensuring we stay below a certain weight limit so we don’t put any unnecessary strain on Jeff (still leaning towards Bonecrusher). The Jeep isn’t a large vehicle, and our “roads” may sometimes be…challenging. While I don’t see us doing any serious rock crawling or mud bogging, we’re bound to come across some obstacles we’ll have to go over versus around.
And there’s got to be room for the cameras. See? I told you this was related to photography. I’ve been shooting mostly medium format film these days, and those cameras are seldom small. I’ll also be carrying my drone, digital gear, and GoPro with us. All of this, in addition to food, water and personal items, must fit into the storage space allotted by the Jeep and within the Jeep’s payload capacity. Like I said…the fun kind of work. I’ll detail the items we use and will share links on where you can get them. I’ll also share any information resources related to photography or overlanding I think you might find helpful
iPhone Photo - The LED light package delivers!
So, stay tuned. I hope you don’t mind the integration of the Jeep overland build blog post in with my normal photography blog posts. I’ve even been thinking about adding some YouTube content.
If you’re interested in learning more about overlanding, here are a couple of great YouTube channels to start with: Epic Family Road Trip and Lifestyle Overland.
Safe travels!