A dashcam in the family car.
It’s not all meteors and drunk drivers out there, after all. Scenic drives on summer vacations fill the collective memories and daydreams of many people. Some of the best Hollywood films ever made are centered on driving and road trips.
On a recent winter evening, I stumbled upon this amazing video and in a moment I was whisked away to Bryce Canyon in Utah. It’s one thing to see a dash cam video and become a witness to an event. You know the ones – the camera in the car captured something dramatic – and most of the time, you’re glad it wasn’t you that recorded it. With this video, though, it’s different. You wish you were there. You start thinking about what it would take to make it happen. How could you take your friends or family on a drive that’s so incredible? It’s exciting to see what’s around the next corner and over the next hill, and it’s the sort of thing that you want to share.
Inspiration for an artist’s eye.
The majestic changes of colors that drape canyons and peaks somehow pull you in. There’s that moment when you realize that the beauty of the place is so immense and so intense that not even Georgia O’Keefe’s palette might do it justice. You find yourself in the sort of place that inspired O’Keefe to try to capture its essence on canvas. Don’t forget, though, that it doesn’t have to be in an exotic or remote place. It can happen close to home. In fact, for those of us who commute to and from work every day, we get to see “Monet light” in real life many times during the year. Those moments of transformative glow near sunrise and sunset can evoke a mood and sweep your thoughts to a dreamy place.
Yes, of course, those golden rays might be shining off a cascade of minivans or reflecting in countless road signs, but we do get to see it and soak it in. What if you challenged yourself to collect dash cam clips of the same place – the same stretch of road – every day for a month, or maybe every Monday for a year. What would it show about change of season? Change of light? Foliage? What else? Does the spring always look more optimistic than any other time of year?
Dashcam video is the new travelogue.
Have you recorded or stumbled across dash cam video that shows a wonderful place or a perspective made of light or color or mood in an otherwise routine drive? Share your video with us! Put a link in the comments or upload your video for us to share with the DashCammit.com community.
