Episode 1 (Part 2): In Which I Embrace Chaos and Dream a Little Dream

Three toddlers are intent on climbing up the slide of my sister’s backyard jungle gym (at the same time, of course). I have my camera in one hand, while the other is poised to prevent falls from all the exposed edges my mom can’t reach.

My husband is in the inflatable bouncy house with the three older kids, playing the buckin’ bronc for their rodeo (quite willingly, I might add—and he wonders why they’re always so keen to jump on him when he arrives at family gatherings).

This is the chaos that epitomizes my family gatherings these days. I absolutely love it.

As I said in Episode 1 (Part 1), I was anxious to practice my newly acquired photography skills back home, but there’s no time to think about aperture and exposure when you’re in the middle of all that joyful chaos.

I set my camera to a high shutter speed, turned on burst mode, and snapped away.

My nephew was quick to dub me the “picture lady.” Along with “World’s Best Aunt,” I think it’s a title I’ll embrace wholeheartedly. I’ve looked through the pictures several times since that weekend, and they make me smile every time.

No matter where you go in the world—even Italy—it’s hard to beat that pure, simple happiness.Indeed, as much as I love traveling, my favorite memories most often happen not in the most exotic or extravagant places, but in the simplest and most ordinary—backyards and living rooms, gravel roads and corn fields.

I think I’m only beginning to discover how the focused eyes of a camera can capture, preserve, and even elevate these everyday sights and moments into extraordinary experiences.

(Or maybe just extra chaos).

This realization is, in part, where Backroads Brummer stems from.

The idea came to me, in fact, on a backroad on the way to my sister’s house for this weekend get together.

Josh and I were riding along with my parents from their farm near Lindsay to my sister’s house near Elba. After stopping to see my grandma in Fullerton, road construction forced us from the highway onto Valley Road, which winds along the Loup River. It’s a much slower route, but I’ve always loved this road—you have your typical Nebraska cornfields, but also pretty trees, creeks, a homestead built into some bluffs.

With photography on my brain, I loved it even more. As I took in the scenery through the backseat window, I wanted to take pictures of everything. Not just the bluffs and pretty creeks I always appreciate, but also the fence posts, the road signs, the ever-ubiquitous cows. I noticed details that I would normally skip right over.

And I thought: why shouldn’t I stop and take pictures of these things? And not just on this road, but on any old backroad in Nebraska, Italy, maybe even Kansas. Maybe.

In fact, maybe I could just make a job out of that: I could write about and photograph these backroads where I feel at home, and discover even more of my favorite place in the world.

This little nugget of an idea quickly spiraled—as many of my ideas do—into grandiose visions of commissions (however those work), sponsored travel, paid reviews, advertising revenue.

A small dose of more rational thought nipped the wildest aspects of that pipe dream in the bud, but the roots remained. A blog about photography, and—more importantly—life on the backroads.

After rolling things over in my head for a few days, I only came up with more reasons to go for it, such as:

1. I’m a writer. Blogging seems like a natural course of action, and a good way to keep my writing muscles in shape. I’ve thought about starting a blog before, but I never thought I had anything to write about—until now.
2. As I’ve mentioned already, I’m really digging photography. I may never be a pro, but the ability to truly capture a moment and a feeling, even if it’s just to preserve my own memories—that’s powerful stuff.
3. Going public with both of these pursuits, and giving them a focus and an audience, will help ensure that I don’t fizzle out due to aimlessness.

Plus, I think the world needs a little more backroading.

Anyone who says there’s nothing to see in Nebraska has clearly never wandered far from the interstate. One of my favorite memories from my trip to Ireland five years ago was a whimsical detour up a mountain to find an elusive waterfall.

So before I could talk myself out of it, before I started over analyzing and becoming overwhelmed by all the logistical challenges that might appear, I sat down and started writing.

And now here we are, at the beginning of something—a journey, an adventure (there are so many literary references and clichés I could call on here, it’s almost too easy), a discovery process, a learning experience.

A detour, perhaps.

A welcome detour to places yet unknown.

…

…

…

Alright, that was pretty cheesy. I decided to start a blog, in other words.

I know I’m going to have some fun in the process—and I hope you do, too.

---

Author’s note: This post was originally published on my former photography-related blog, backroadsbrummer.com, which no longer exists.