Patrick McDermott | Visual Journalist

I have always wondered what I would do if one of my cameras decided to fail me at a crucial moment while covering an event…well Saturday was the day. My trusty 5D decided that if having massive amounts of colored dust thrown at me from every direction was not enough to challenge my photographic instincts, what would happen if its mirror suddenly fell out… And it did! Something tells me that I had a priceless look on my face when I watched the mirror hit the ground after I removed the lens to see what was causing a disturbing noise when I engaged the shutter. So what did I do? Grabbed some gaffers tape and went on with my day…

Over the past few weeks, I have been doing a ton of driving around the United States… including a round trip from Los Angeles, Calif. to Washington, D.C. and a day trip to Madison, Wisc. to cover the protests there. At some point during one of these drives, I decided to start photographing through the front window of my car using my iPhone. So here is the start of a new body of work that I hope to explore during my travels in 2011.

I am not one who normally posts something like this on a blog devoted to my life as a photographer, but in this case I’m going to follow some advice from fellow photographer Jasmine Star about blogging. So here it goes…

I would NOT be sitting on a train to Brussels if it had not been for one person.

For the past three months, she allowed me to travel around Vietnam with her and take part in some crazy adventures. I still don’t know how we did not get ourselves killed at times. But during that time, she got me to start following my dreams again. To send emails that were way overdue, and take giant leaps of faith. If it had not been for her, I would be sitting in California still lost as a photographer. Instead I am here, right now on a train speeding through the French and Belgium countryside…pursuing my dreams. Words cannot even start to describe how indebted I am to her for everything she has done for me thus far.

So thank you for allowing me to travel around Southern Asia with you. For keeping me out of trouble when I was acting like a fool. And most importantly for helping me get motivated each and every day to follow my dreams no matter what road they might lead me down.

& I’ll see you soon…

Paris…how I have missed you.

Morning walks along the Seine, cups of espresso, afternoons at the Louvre, and a glass of Bordeaux in the city of light…

There are very few places in the world that I hope to one day live in, but Paris is on that list. For those of you who have not had the chance to visit Paris, do make it a point. No life should be lived without spending a few days in Paris.

And as I sit here at a corner cafe with a cup of espresso (maybe a few…), I find myself an ocean away from everything I knew so well, once again in this city at the beginning of a new chapter in my life. In a few days I will travel by train to pitch a long-term project that is in short my dream assignment as a photographer. My spring will be spent along the cobblestones, a visit to the Alps and Pyrenees during the summer, and a few cross-Atlantic flights mixed in for some very special weddings… I have indeed taken the road less traveled but look forward to seeing where it takes me. Until then, here are a few from the ‘City of Light.’