twenty 10 from Jay Goodrich on Vimeo.

Photographer and writer Jay Goodrich has assembled a collection of his work from the past year. Images were captured on location throughout Washington, Colorado, California, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Montana, and Wyoming.

My friend Jim Goldstein has a project on his blog every year where he asks people to submit their favorite images taken during the previous year. This year he inspired me to take it a little further. I finally created my first film, video, or what ever you would like to call it. I know there are plenty of mistakes, but I tried to go a little further and tell a little bit more of a story. Maybe I achieved success and maybe I didn’t. Either way I guess we all need to start somewhere. I hope you enjoy. One thing this project has taught me though is that I am pretty impressed with the capabilities of today’s software and computers. As a kid I never imagined that this would be possible from my office above the garage.

Rock Formations, Bisti Wilderness Area, New Mexico © Jay Goodrich

I have navigated through Denali National Park for 10 days and maintained my whereabouts. I have flown multiple aircraft across most of the United States and arrived at my destination without fail. This past weekend was a different for some reason, maybe some weird star was misaligned in the universe. I managed to visit a place that has been on my list for over a decade. A place I have researched and read about since then. I listened to all of the warnings and all of the advice. I brought plenty of water, the map I found online, the directions I found online, and my Brother-in-Law’s GPS, which happens to be the same GPS that I own. And what happened, that’s right, I GOT LOST!

Now getting lost is a state of mind. Was I really lost? My personal definition of lost is finally getting found by search and rescue with little to no food and water after spending a few unprepared nights out in the cold. If I put it that way then I was not lost, but I still didn’t find what I was looking for, so yes, I guess I was lost. I am not sure if the map is a bit off, or my navigation skills a bit off, or the fact that this is a desert with rolling hills and what I was looking for could have been right there behind me like that Predator thing in the jungles of South America.

I looked and walked and looked and walked, but to no avail the Egg Factory that many others have seen in the Bisti Wilderness of Northern New Mexico managed to keep its place on my photography wish list. I did still photograph, there were formations all over the place, just not those eggs which to borrow from another movie look like they came from Aliens. This is all okay, I know I will return because I have family in Albuquerque. One thing that will definitely happen is that I will return in the fall or even the winter when it is a bit cooler than the balmy 100 degrees I got to walk around in. Oh, and I will bring a friend or my wife so we can argue about what direction we need to go. Then after an hour or so I will finally listen to what she has to say and then there will be those eggs right before us to photograph just in time to be eaten by an Alien.