 Why riding the edge? Well today, we're going to be talking about the origins of riding the edge. Let's come along for the ride. My name is David Patton. When I started photography, I wanted to make art. I wanted to be a landscape photographer. But with a family to feed and bills to pay, I decided it would be better to be a working photographer than a starving artist. So I took a job as a photojournalist. 25 years and thousands of assignments later, it was time to go back to my first love. It was time to follow my passion. Come along on my journey to become the best black in my photographer I can be. Whether it be film or digital, I will be sharing what I learned through my successes and my failures and hopes to inspire and educate. This is my journey. This is riding the edge. I wouldn't blame you if you thought, what is riding the edge? What does that have to do with photography? Well today, we're going to be talking about that. We're going to talk about the origins of riding the edge. It is kind of a weird name for a YouTube channel and a website based on photography. Nori and I are out for a little puppy training on the leash out the woods. This is actually her first maiden voyage, her first little outing. The light is not very good today. So we're going to take advantage of the nice weather. Terrible light. And we're going to get her a little training out here. We're doing a little walk. And I'm going to tell you the story of the origins of riding the edge. Now way back, way, way back in 2007. I was working as a staff photographer for a daily newspaper. And in the summer we used to do kind of fun projects, stuff that we didn't have time to do when things were busy. Summer was kind of our slow, slow time. And myself and editor Steve Lundberg, we would get together and we'd come up with these little projects that we thought would be fun. We thought the readers might like. We had these sessions where we just get together and throw out ideas and come up with something and and these stories were supposed to be on a section front and they were usually a series. It was just a way to get the readers to want to pick up the paper, you know, and be looking forward to the next installment. And in one of these sessions came up the idea of riding our motorcycles around the perimeter of the state of Oregon, which we were located. Now the reasons for motorcycles is we had just recently, both of us, started riding motorcycles to work. I had been riding for about a year. I'd come back to motorcycles from a young age. When I was younger, I used to ride all the time. And then when I got older, I missed motorcycles and I went out and bought one. Well, Steve decided, after seeing me ride mine, he, I think he kind of kind of put the idea in his head that he wanted a motorcycle. So we were both riding our motorcycles and I think the story idea was probably just an excuse to ride a motorcycle. But the plan was to ride the perimeter of the state and do a series of stories along the way. That we could run on a section front all summer long and kind of take the reader on a little trip, a little adventure. So there was two of us wanting to do this trip. Well, my cousin Ed Patton got wind of what we were doing and he thought that would be so cool that he went out and bought a motorcycle and he wanted to go with us on this grand adventure. And so to justify him being there, well, he could shoot video for us because we were just getting into video production for our website and we thought this would be a great project for for the newspaper's website. So now there were three. At the time there was a pressman who whose name was Rick Mattson that worked at the paper and he rode a motorcycle to work. And he got wind of our little adventure and he said, I love to be a part of this. And so there was four and that's where it was. The four of us heading out on an adventure telling the story for our readers. And we named the project On the Edge in Oregon. Come on. Yeah, good girl. Well, the On the Edge project ended up being a big success. Our readers just kept coming back for more and they loved it. So we ran the series all summer long with photos and and video installments on the website. It was even years later I would get somebody come up to me and say, were you one of those guys that did the On the Edge thing thing? Riding motorcycles around the state. And yeah, it was it was a I was amazed that even non-cyclists just loved the series because we were taking them into places that they hadn't you know, hadn't been to a long time or something. They were just a connection with the state. We were able to tell stories, meet up with people. It was a it was just a great great great series. So the following year we enjoyed doing the On the Edge project so much in Oregon that we said, well, why don't we do it again? Let's just do it to Washington. We don't have to do it for the paper. We'll just do it for ourselves. We'll make it fun. And we'll ride the perimeter of Washington and have a great adventure. And that's what we did. And it was about that time that I decided, well, I need a website so I can share these adventures with my family and friends. And what I did is I named the website Riding the Edge. It was ridingedge.net. You know, we're on motorcycles and that just seemed to work. It was a playoff of the first series. And that was the birth of Riding the Edge. And so every year, for about five years after that, we would pick a place. It wasn't so much about riding the Pranar State after that. It was about finding a good route through basically the western part of the United States. We rode to Death Valley, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, places like Mount Rushmore, Glacier National Park. It was just a great run. We really had a good time. It was an adventure every year. But I have fond memories of those trips. Some great people and places that we met. Some excitement, some adventure. Getting caught in snow storms and high wind storms. And it was just, every trip was its own fantastic adventure. And eventually my motorcycle just wore out. And at the time I just couldn't afford to replace it. And after a while, Riding the Edge really became less about motorcycles and more about a philosophy, a way of living. It's about trying to stay out of the mainstream. It's about not trying to take the comfortable way. It's about taking the hard way. Because most often the hard way is the most rewarding way. Jump. You got it. Jump. Jump. Let's go. Jump. Come on. Good girl. I came across a video quite a few years ago of an interview with one of my favorite photographers. A photographer that influenced me quite a lot when I was starting out and learning. And that was Galen Raul. And in this video, Galen Raul says something that really stuck with me. Let me, let me read a quote. Galen Raul says, the edges of things in nature are the most beautiful. The edge of a continent next to the sea. The edge of a meadow next to a forest. The edge of light where light tapers off into dark. That quote really gave my name validation. That is right in the edge. That's what we're looking for. Well, I hope that clears, clears up, clears up something for you. No one probably even cares. But I really just wanted to tell the story of why this is important to me. Why the writing edge is the name of my YouTube channel and my website. Writing edge photography. It, it's really my philosophy of life. Well, no, it's been a good sport. So we're gonna, I'm gonna get back to doing a little puppy walking and playing in the forest. So I'm gonna end today's video right here. Until next time, thanks for coming along for the ride. He doesn't look like it tastes that great. Hey, Steve, doesn't bad Rick look bad. I mean, he looks way cooler than he actually is. I guess we can't go. Yeah, we can't go on a trail because we're motorcyclists. All right, well, let's just head back to Oregon, huh? Okay. It's thoughts on where we're going next. Don't waste your time coming here.