A Photographer's Journey #1: Warrior Dash - Charlotte, NC

Typically this time of the year I am traveling and working at Renaissance Festivals where I have a "stable home" in a tent and stable work every weekend, exploring the area during the week when I am not working. But, for the most part during this time, I am doing little with my photography, rather than the in-between product photography and possible promo video or photo work. This year I am doing things a bit different.

For the last two years, before beginning my Renaissance Festival season at the Arizona Renaissance Festival, I am paid by a company called Gameface Media to photograph the St. George Half Marathon in St. George, UT. This helps as a way to recover from the dwindling savings I had as I "winter" at my Sister's from December to January. It gives me a boost to allow me to get to my first festival of the year in Arizona. At this point, I typically spend February til the end of November working these festivals. Then I begin my wintering yet again. Rince and repeat.

Well, a photographer needs to photograph and to pursue a future in such endeavors one must take risks. So, upon the completion of my second festival of the year in Texas, I arranged and scheduled to travel and photograph 21 races throughout the East Coast and Mid-west. This 4-month period of traveling will undoubtedly surface even more difficulties, but also allow me to visit the places I have yet to venture to while making a living.

The Plan

One of the challenges I have to overcome, or at least manage is continuous wear and tear on my 1999 Ford Explorer. While it has only 145k miles and is in good condition, man-oh-man the miles I will be putting on it. Not only will I have to deal with this potential issue "knock on wood", but I also face the joy of sleeping and living in a packed down truck not built for sleeping. Sleeping will consist of finding a quiet place at Walmarts, Rest Areas, Truck Stops, and the like. I chose early on that if I am going to do this, I will at least get an inexpensive motel room for the night before each of my races. This way I can have a good shower, charge and get my equipment ready, and a good rest. If I am going to put myself through all this, I might as well find some comfort as I do it.

While the majority of each race will occur on one if not both days of the weekend, that leaves a lot of time during the week. So, what do I do to past the time?

1. DoorDash: I will be a food delivery driver for DoorDash to make extra money and replenish anything I use for food, gas and other expenses so I can at least save.
2. Stringr: I will continue to work as a video journalist capturing any news-worthy footage for the media company Stringr for use by local News Stations and Newspapers.
3. WeGoLook: I frequently get requests in the area I am at to go out, using my smartphone to take damage verification photos of vehicles for insurance companies for a company called WeGoLook.
4. BallterTV: I go around in the local area doing live streaming of amateur sporting events, using their equipment. I just have to show up and film the game with their iPad camera.
5. AMC A-List: I decided to spend the $20 per month to become A-List status with AMC. Among other cool perks, I get to watch any 3 movies a week, whether they are regular digital, Dolby, 3D or the like. It helps to pass the time when I want to take some free time.
6. Explore New Things: Work aside, part of why I am doing all this, is to be able to see new places and to take the time to do that. For that, when I come upon a new area or a place I have yet to visit, I want to step outside my comfort zone and do it, no matter what anxiety turmoil of a new place surfaces.

Warrior Dash North Carolina - June 1, 2019 - race 1 of 21

Having just completed the Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Texas at the end of May, my first race of these 4 months arrived. With the obstacle course set for the following Saturday, I headed out right away on Tuesday, May 28th. Passing through Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina without trouble, I arrived in the Charlotte NC area Thursday, May 30th.

I began and will end my 4 months of races in this area. For the last 2 years I have worked the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville, NC. My race season will lead me back to this area at the end of September as I return for this year's festival. So, suffice to say I am familiar with where things are. It felt relatively comfortable hanging out in the area.

I spent the day I had in limbo there delivering with DoorDash. It is an interesting area, north of Charlotte. So much is spread out in these outskirt towns, but travel on the highways seem relatively easy. So, it made my extra time there enjoyable. After staying overnight at the local Walmart, I checked in at the local Super 8. After nearly 4 days of traveling and sleeping in my truck, the rest, showers and sleep was welcome. I took this opportunity to recharge my gear, and get everything ready for the big day the next day.

I was pretty nervous about this first race. For starters, I was asked to be the team leader. This is a good thing, as it provided me an additional $25/hr making my pay $75/hr for a minimum of 8 hours. My duties composed of making sure all the photographers had their cameras set up the way they should and got to the locations they needed and also was in charge of taking the promo photos. You wouldn't think this was much of a big deal. But, this was the Warrior Dash Obstacle Course. They wanted me to not only get photos of the sponsors, peoples interactions in the big area where the "party" was taking place but also to get shots at each of the obstacles. What you don't understand is that Warrior Dash is not

only a 1-mile marathon race, but also a 5k, and 10k marathon....with at least 12 Obstacles. We are talking about at least 6 miles for the 10k. Taking place at the historic Rural Hill near Huntersville, it was all grass and trees. You might wonder what the big deal was. You have to remember, this was needed to be done all on foot while carrying the camera equipment I needed with trails winding up and down slopes through the trees. I knew there as no way I would be able to capture all the obstacles and get all the requested sponsor promo shots, so I decided to get what I could get in the time I had, and do the best I could. I was already dealing with some health issues, including problems with my back, water retention, heart, breathing, that I was already worried, but decided to do what I could without killing myself....hopefully.

Historic Rural Hill
click to enlarge

With backpack and camera harness packed down with camera gear and water, I spent the next 7 hours hiking the trails and fields capturing mud-caked, sweat-drenched smiling faces, resting when I needed. The important part is, I kept going, kept moving, kept pushing myself, kept telling myself not to give up. Telling myself that it will only get better the more and more I did it. And you know what? I was right. I did not die. My back did not give out. I did not die of thirst. I did not fail. It was a big thing for me when it came to the issues with my health. My issues don't get worse when I do the activity. They get worse when I don't. I also realized that carrying a backpack full of water was actually better for me. It helped straighten my body out so I was not leaning forward due to the weight of my stomach. While carrying more, I could do more. So, I kept going. And after 7 hours of sweat and fatigue, and pushing myself to the limits, not only did I succeed at not giving in to my doubt, but I succeeded as a Team leader, and got the job done.

But, something I did decide to do, to allow me to do more and faster, is to go ahead and invest in a bike. It is the only sensible thing to do, considering all the other Warrior Dashes, Marathons, Rugged Maniacs and other races I will be at requiring me to move around. 

Next Stop: Kid's Obstacle Challenge - Raleigh/Durnam