But for now, let’s look back in photos from the first four months of The Random Way Home. New York to San Francisco. These photos are more of a personal account from my adventure and more of a behind the scenes look at how I crossed America. AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It all started on a ridiculously cold cloudy day at Coney Island, New York. The starting point for this monumental trip across the world.

Heading south, I reached Washington D.C in 6 days. And my first 200 miles cycled. Feeling rather proud with myself I took the week off to catch up with friends and have a look around the nations capital.

One of the many great meals I had. A table of devoured blue crab from Baltimore, smothered in Old Bay Seasoning. Delicious.

A great find, thanks to my friend Todd. This is the Great Allegheny Passage/Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. This 300+ mile bicycle path connects Washington D.C with Pittsburgh. One of the many surprising highlights that I found along the way.

Trying my hand at a competitive eating competition. Here, I try and eat the worlds largest grilled cheese sandwich at Melt Bar, Cleveland. 5lb of cheese!!! I failed.

For me, the most exciting part about travelling are the new faces you meet and friends that you come away with.
L – R: Tiffany, Mike, Christine, Matt. The Minneapolis crew.

A world Community of Cyclists. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a good idea to cross America by bicycle.

It wasn’t always an easy ride. I had a few low points to deal with. Some of the worst floods in North Dakota history had to happen as I was crossing it. This is the town of Minot, The whole downtown section was underwater when the banks of the Souris River broke.

Escaping North Dakota. Doing battle with 30 (gusts up to 45) miles an hour head winds. In 9 hours I only managed 33 miles before I called it quits. “I’ve done 150 miles already” said a beaming cyclist who was sailing the tailwind in the other direction.

It was hard work taking photos and video on route, just the thought of stopping, getting the camera out, getting off the bicycle and taking the shot seemed like such hard work. All I wanted to do was peddle and get on with the day. Still, rest stops were a must and every 10 miles or so was break time. Here, fellow cyclist Graeme and I watch a storm front roll in from the South West of Montana, approximately 10 miles out of the town of Glasgow.

Lucky Shot. I nearly shat my pants when I was awoken by a monumental thunder storm that rolled into the small farming town of Chester, Montana.

Montana had the most incredible panoramic views. In some places you could watch gloomy clouds and threatening storms drift by up to 20 miles away.

One of my favorite days on the road. I will never forget magnificent views as I climbed the Going-to-the-Sun-Road in Glacier National Park. The 3 hour ascent up to the continental divide was hard work when your carrying 25kg of gear on a bike. But still, smiles all round as I approach the summit.

Reaching the top of the continental divide was one of the biggest tests for me. I didn’t know if my body was up to the challenge. Not realising that my legs had become incredibly strong after the past 2 months I surprised myself that is only took 3 hours to ascend it.

Another day, another mountain pass. In a week I cycled over 4 mountain passes in the State of Washington.

Washington Pass. Conquering the highest point on the Northern Tier bicycle route. It’s now downhill all the way to the pacific ocean.

3 months of not shaving can produce some quite interesting facial hair.  Other than it’s nearly impossible to eat a burger without getting the BBQ sauce all over it. No, the worst part about owning such a monstrosity are the flies that get tangled up in it when you cycle into a swarm of them. Mmmm lunch.

I have a love/hate relationship with the trains of the US. They would never fail to make you smile or punch the sky when they gave you a blast from their deafening air horn as they slowly crawled by, hauling freight on their mile long wagons. But on the flip side, getting woken up in the middle of the night as these monsters thunder pass my tent. Ground shaking, screeching of wheels and the explosive bangs & crashes as the carriages get shunted around, this made a very restless nights sleep on many occasions.

Ahhh. The simple things in life. Setting up camp next to a river and watching the sun set over the North Cascade Mountains. Solitude at it’s most pleasant.

It was harder to find places to wild camp in America. But when you did, you could find some truly wonderful spots you could call home for the night.

I had done it, New York City to Anacortes, Washington. Atlantic to the Pacific coast. 2 months 29 days, 4000 miles done by bicycle.
My first shave in 3 months.

Heading down Highway 1 in California is a great thrill and is a must for any cyclist. The crashing surf, the splendid campsite an abundance of good seafood and micro breweries to keep you entertained.

I thought once I peddled all the way to California I would be greeted by warm & sun drenched days. With miles upon miles of golden sandy beaches where bikini clad babes lay tanning themselves to a crisp. But no, none of that, each morning in Northern California I was greeted by a thick bank of fog until I reached my final destination of San Francisco.

Still, without the fog bank there would be no Avenue of the Giants.

Disaster struck in San Francisco. My nearly bullet proof/built like a tank Rolhoff hub wasn’t Random Sam proof. After 5000miles on the road the hub developed 3 cracks on the flange. But luckily the only place that can fix them in the whole of America just so happens to be in San Francisco. In two weeks time I’d be back on the road heading to the boarder of Mexico. Or would I?

Nope, this is where the cycling ends, for now. As San Francisco would be my last stop for the foreseeable future. Why? because Julie came out from NYC to join me on a two week road trip. In those two weeks we took in the Lost Coast, Yosemite, Area 51. Oh, and she asked me to marry her. I said yes :)

Yosemite Valley.

Married in Vegas  by Elvis on 30/09/2011.

And now, 9 months on from leaving the West Coast I find myself preparing to get the train back out there, pick up my bicycle and cycle home. to New York, with my wife. x

Stay tuned :)

I’ve decided to photograph it this way to show what our eyes would rather forget, that the mundane and forgettable views also have a beauty in them.

I’ve always been keen to explore new ways of  photography, this time I would merge the world of photography with the art of video, to create a time lapse of the city. Producing video is really an unknown territory for me, and has been a complete learning curve. Of course, if I ever make another time lapse movie, then I should have a better understanding of all the proceeders.

The music was composed, performed and produced by Jonathan Overend for drumhellermusic, copyright control 2011.  This is an edit of a track from his soundtrack album, The Man Who Knew Too Much.  Further info at: www.soundcloud.com/manwhoknewtoomuch (Geek note: the live keyboard is a Pianotron, recorded at Pioneer Studios Colchester, one of only three such known machines in the UK)

I give you London, my city and my home for the past 11 years.

A few technical facts.
Film shot on a Olympus EP-1 Mirco 4/3rds camera.
Over 10000 photographs used. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and then joined together using Quicktime 7 Pro.
Film edited in Final Cut Express and graded with Magic Bullet.

One place that has fascinated me for years is a little corner of London’s Hyde Park. Speakers Corner is situated on the north eastern side of the park, up near Marble Arch. It is a place intended for open air public speaking, debate and discussion, but these days there seems to be a lack of real debate. Instead, it seems to be replaced by certain colourful characters, spouting off who’s god is better.

What draws me to Speakers Corner is it’s a haven for photography. It’s a place I can go and practice my photos skills, whilst watching peoples body languages as they interact with each other.

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough. – Robert Capa.  Which is a very true statement, and at Speakers Corner you have the ability to get up close to your subject, I mean, really close without them even noticing you, as they are to engaged in their causes and beliefs.

If you are interested in documentary or street photography and feel a little intimidated, shy or getting caught pointing a camera at a stranger, then Speakers Corner is a great place to practice. Give it a go, you might surprise yourself.

I have been lucky enough to ‘join in’ on a fair few in my photographing life, whether I stumbled upon them accidentally as I wonder the streets or making a point of being there to capture the days events as they unfold.

The Occupation Of Palestine – 2009

C.N.D Protest – 2006

Mayday 2010

This won’t be the last time I live in this buzzing metropolis, I can guaranty that. But for now I give you London, through the eyes of The Random.

Part 1
Chaos Movement

8 Months ago I would try my hand at Solargraphy. But what is a Solargraph? Let me explain.
A solargraph is a long-exposure photograph which shows the path taken by the sun across the sky. Normally a solargraph will be left to expose from 6 months to one year.

I constructed my cameras from empty beer cans with an aperture of roughly 0.25mm. I exposed the image straight on to a a single sheet of B&W photographic paper.
Three of these crude cylinders were hidden at various locations on Mersea Island -  My home town.

7 months 22 days later I went to collect them, only to find one missing, which I had placed on someone’s beach hut. The other two had quite surprising results inside them both.

This camera was duck taped to the top of the chimney on my parents bungalow.

This one is from harbour area of Mersea. Or as we locals call it: ‘The Hard’.
*Note: The sea in the lower half of the picture is a complete blur thanks to the movement of the boats and the tide rising up and down.

For more information about Solargraphy, along with an excellent ‘how to’ section, please visit solargraphy.com/.

Never the less, today did trigger off great memories of the German World Cup back in 2006. A week after the final, I along with my friend Stu headed to Germany for the final Berlin Love Parade. A day of dressing up and dancing around like  flipping idiots for the weekend. Berlin was still basking in all it’s glory from putting on a world class event so the atmosphere was tipping over the edge even before the parade had started.

Without trying to sound to much like an old man, but it does seem dance music has finally given up all hope and dug itself an early grave. The good old days of clubbing have gone, all we are left with are some awesome memories and some great times. I’m sure dance music  will come back one day fighting hard, But by then, Stu and I will be sitting in our old peoples home, dribbling & shitting ourselves, trying our best to wave glow sticks around, and raising our arms trying to reach for the lasers for one last time.

Photos taken on a borrowed Lomo A (Thanks Hannah) And then crossed processed.

Click for detail.

Click to make large. Enjoy.