So, the random assortment of contents titling this info splurge aren't completely ridiculous. About a week ago I stood in my room at 3 a.m. prepared for a 10 hour drive and 3 day stay in Charlottesville, VA. I was going up there for the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph, a festival put on my a slew of National Geographic photographers and other photojournalists/art photographers in the U.S. Staring down into Caleb's cooler I couldn't help but laugh at how I considered the random assortment of things as sufficient supply for a 3 day sojourn. First of all, the tiny blue cooler reminded me of Sunny Ds and watermelon fights after Biddy-Ball soccer games in elementary school. Second of all, the fact that I intended to sleep in my car for 3 nights and grub on morsels of granola bar and yogurt with the occasional well ripened (and probably bruised) banana seemed mildly comical, but exciting. I did sleep in the back of a compact car for 3 nights. And for some reason I can't explain, it was one of the most awesome experiences ever. The whole ordeal was uplifting while sort of challenging, but still strangely satisfying. There's something about knowing you can live on next to nothing if you really need to that really puts a strange contentment in you sometimes. Occasionally I'll just be put off by the decadence of our culture and really think about how in the world can a guy like me really even think on the same plane as someone who has nothing? Is it even possible? I feel like we can at least get close to the same level when we really take an unbiased look at luxury and considered what we truly do and don't need, and then force ourselves to see it through with action - to prove it in a sense. Would we be willing to sleep on the sidewalk for a night to understand the homeless? To go hungry for a day, 2 days, or whatever, to know hunger and live more frugally simply because we know people need what we always have? Anyway, the festival was amazing. Sally Mann, William Albert Allard, and Eugene Richards were the highlighted speakers, with appearances and lectures also by Dave Harvey, Alex Webb, and others. Most of the people there (literally, most) either knew someone or were directly affiliated with work for National Geographic or some other major print giant the employs the worlds best photographers and writers. It was kind of surreal standing next to people whose work I've studied and written papers about. Leicas were EVERYWHERE. One guy, I swear, had 2 digital Leica cameras - one around each shoulder. That's somewhere around 2 grand per arm by the way. The atmosphere was amazing and the people incredibly encouraging. The family atmosphere that pervades the photographer's community is incredible. Everyone there who was somebody knew everybody else who was somebody and acted as if they were brothers and sisters, while the envious and aspiring photographers with D70s and digital Rebels got to stand awkwardly by, throwing up quick, nervous handshakes and congratulatory remarks while the well paid photographers would have probably been darn easy people to talk with. At this point I was kind of glad I only brought by grandfathers old kodak and a Holga. I got to meet Eugene Richards and talk with him about is work. I also walked a drunken Ashley Gilbertson to his hotel after he nearly fell over by trying to reach for his matches. Gilbertson has won Capa awards for photojournalistic coverage of the Iraq war over the past 6 years and gave an awesome talk about embedded photojournalism. Overall the experience was incredible. I learned its not so much about your ability to take an amazing picture first and foremost. Of course, that's a must, and it should be developed continuously. Ultimately, though, the best of the best got to be the best of the best because the freakin went balls to the wall and got out there. They dropped weekends, summers, hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars on projects, cameras, plane tickets, print costs, WHATEVER in order to get pictures they stand behind and then show work that they stand behind to the right people. Awesome. Here's to being poor but determined.