Partnership Announcement: Fujifilm

Today, The Greatest American Road Trip is proud to announce our first partner in this epic road trip project: Fujifilm.

I (Jonathan) have been a longtime Fujifilm photographer, having made the switch from the much bigger dslr's years ago to become one of Fujfilm’s “X-Photographers”, an ambassador program of which I am so proud to be a part of. As a professional adventure and travel photographer, I am often on the road in remote places, making size and weight considerations of my equipment very important — however, I would never sacrifice image quality to save weight. With Fujifilm, I don’t have to sacrifice either.

On our journey throughout America's wildest places, both Stefanie and I will be shooting with the amazing X-T1 mirrorless camera. I believe the Fujifilm X-T1 has the perfect size/weight balance and optimal image quality. It is compact enough to carry around easily, and I am always astounded by the image quality it is able to produce. The ability to customize the many different buttons to my own style allows me to adjust quickly in those tricky shooting situations. And, having been out shooting in the rain many times, I love the fact that it is weather sealed. Plus, the X-T1 just looks cool in a retro kind of way. It’s just a really fun camera to shoot with professional level control and image quality. Perfect. 

To complement the X Series cameras, we will use a variety of Fujinon lenses to during the project. Over the years, I have found that Fujinon lenses are as sharp, and often sharper, than any of the bulkier dslr lenses. Some of my favorite lenses include the wide angle XF14mmF2.8R (for wide landscapes shots and nighttime star trails), the XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 (for those times you need more optical reach), the XF23mmF1.4R (an incredibly sharp and fast all-around lens), and the XF56mmF1.2RADP (a perfect portrait lens producing beautiful bokeh.) 

We will also be documenting our journey through the Fujifilm Instax Wide 300 instant film camera. This is one of the most fun and easy to use cameras on the market. For those of us old enough to remember instant film print technology, there is an indescribable feeling of nostalgia taking a shot, watching it print directly from the camera, and waving it in the air while the image slowly develops in front of your eyes. It is so incredibly fun to do that again (and we've found that the next-generation of photogs enjoy it just as much as us old-timers do.)

Aside from the professional-level equipment, another reason I’ve not looked back since switching to Fujifilm is the outstanding product support and updates. Most brands' firmware updates are few and far between. However, Fujifilm does an incredible job of supporting and updating cameras currently in the market. Every time I get an announcement of a firmware update, it is like a small gift because I know it will come with some great new enhancement, such as faster auto focusing or the addition of an intervalometer. 

Fujifilm offers the complete package and we are sincerely proud to have partnered with this incredible company. Stay tuned to see for yourself the wonder of the National Parks as captured by Jonathan and Stefanie during 2016. 

About Fujifilm:

FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation is based in Valhalla, New York, and is the regional headquarters for the Americas. It is comprised of fourteen directly owned subsidiary companies in the U.S. and Canada, and two in Latin America: Brazil and Colombia.  The company manufactures, markets and provides service for a broad spectrum of industries including photographic, medical imaging and informatics, pharmaceutical and other life science industries. Industrial segments include data storage, electronic materials, chemical, and graphic arts products and services.  For more information, please visit www.fujifilmusa.com.

FUJIFILM North America Corporation, a marketing subsidiary of FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation consists of five operating divisions and one subsidiary company. The Imaging Division provides consumer and commercial photographic products and services, including:  photographic paper; digital printing equipment, along with service and support; personalized photo products; film; and one-time-use cameras; and also markets motion picture archival film and on-set color management solutions to the motion picture, broadcast and production industries. The Electronic Imaging Division markets consumer digital cameras, and the Graphic Systems Division supplies products and services to the graphic printing industry. The Optical Devices Division provides optical lenses for the broadcast, cinematography, closed circuit television, videography and industrial markets, and also markets binoculars. The Industrial and Corporate New Business Development Division delivers new products derived from Fujifilm technologies. FUJIFILM Canada Inc. sells and markets a range of Fujifilm products and services in Canada. For more information, please visit www.fujifilmusa.com/northamerica, go to www.twitter.com/fujifilmus to follow Fujifilm on Twitter, or go to www.facebook.com/FujifilmNorthAmerica to Like Fujifilm on Facebook.  To receive news and information direct from Fujifilm via RSS, subscribe at www.fujifilmusa.com/rss. 

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On The Road!

'Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.' Jack Kerouac, On The Road

This is it! The adventure begins. We are finally on the road out of Washington, DC, on track to be exploring our first U.S. National Park on day one (January 1) of the Greatest American Road Trip.

We will be announcing our partnerships over the next few days. In the meantime, have a look at some quick snapshots taken on our way out the door. #59in52

Send-off car selfie: Stef and Jon kick on the ignition.

Trip A: Journey of tens of thousands of miles starts at mile 0.

Eyes in front, eyes behind! The Airstream rear view mirror. 

Fuji Instax snapshots of our life in transition -- new rig, old friend, empty condo, and home to our last meal in DC (Shake Shack!) 

See you soon from park 1/59. 

Happy Holidays —We Have a New Home! (they said)

Exploring our new digs today gave us all of the holiday spirit we could possibly need! Wishing everybody a year of adventure, excitement, happiness and health.

An Ode to The NASA Astrovan, Made by Airstream (she said)

Today is my last day working at NASA in a full-speed capacity. In less than two weeks, I will be strapping into an Airstream, where I will live out the next year of my life. As such, it is only fitting that I post today about the "Astrovan" — a modified Airstream trailer that has served as a transit vehicle for NASA astronauts around Kennedy Space Center for more than 45 years. 

In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 were quarantined in an airtight Airstream, called the NASA Mobile Quarantine Facility, after their return from the moon. The purpose of this was to determine that the astronauts didn't bring lunar pathogens back with them when they returned to Earth. For decades, the Astrovan continued to ferry astronauts between what's now called the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility (the former O&C) to the historic launch pad 39B on the space coast in Florida. For reference, Pad 39B is where NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket will launch from in just a couple of years during Exploration Mission One, an effort I've been working on during my time at America's space agency. 

NASA's Space Shuttle program used a modified 1983 Airstream Excella. We will be towing a modernized 'Sport' model built in 2014-2015 — I'm already planning how to outfit the interior with my favorite space memorabilia!  

I can't think of better vehicle to transport me from my job at NASA into a space I've never known — a full year focused entirely on exploration, to all of the U.S. National Parks. Hey, if it's cool enough for the astronauts, beam me up! 

The Greatest American Road Trip Through the U.S. National Parks

Preparing for an epic yearlong road trip is no easy task. I've been thinking and planning about this trip for a good 7 or 8 months. But now that the January 1 start is near, the planning phase has kicked into high gear, and with that the stress level as well. Sure, it is going to be a lot of fun—an amazing experience full of adventure. But right now, we are less than two weeks away with many details to wrap up. It is daunting.

We need to wrap up our entire lives, rent our condo, buy a car, finish our respective jobs, get the Airstream, plan the logistics of the route...and a million other details. But in this time of hectic schedules and mad planning, I look back at some of the photos I've shot in the National Parks (like this one in Arches National Park in Utah) and am reminded of the end goal: to breathe deep in the astounding beauty of our Nation's greatest treasure and to explore deeply each and every one of them. In fact, breathing deeply will become a standard now (as we try to pace ourselves for the workload) and over the coming year (as we are hiking mountain trails and smelling fresh pine). I hope you'll follow our crazy journey. Onward!