"Rise thee from care before the dawn, and seek adventure.
Let the noon find thee by other lakes,
and the night overtake thee everywhere at home."

from Walden, Henry David Thoreau

 

The Project

2.2 billion years ago, photosynthesizing bacteria began to release oxygen into the atmosphere, which within millions of years changed forever the course of Earth’s history. Today, the Earth has a fledgling species that within only a few hundred years has influenced nearly every aspect of Earth's biosphere — Man.

By geological standards, such tremendous change in so short a time is an unprecedented phenomenon. Due to Man's natural tendency to alter and form his environment, to utilize and transform all that he touches, the Earth is entering a new phase in its 4.6 billion year history. What this new phase brings, no human, or his technology can know for sure. But for humans, for thousands of species, for the Earth itself, it is a fateful moment.

On a journey covering over 21,000 miles and nearly a third of the continental United States and Canada, artist Josh Jennings, his wife, and three children set out to discover what lies behind the intimate, sometimes antagonistic, often contradictory relationship between humans and their home, planet Earth.

Josh Jennings documented this relationship through the lenses of his 4x5 and 35mm cameras. Following in the footsteps of the early explorer-photographer Frank Hurley, Jennings developed his negatives on the road and presents those photographs both on this website and in exhibits in Los Angeles, Houston and Germany.

Jennings filmed during the journey — of his family on the road and in nature, of Earth's grandeur, of its natural beauty, of Man's dependency on Earth's resources and how that dependency has altered the Earth, of Man's spiritual relationship with Earth and how Earth has nurtured that relationship.

This journey was and is taken to record the past, the present, and the future
of Earth with Man.

 

Route

The journey started in Houston, Texas on January 15, 2018 and ended 8 months and 21,000 miles later back in Houston. The family of five traveled with a truck equipped with a small slide-in camper and a tent and camped in national and state parks along the way.

The below maps show their route — an overview map of the complete journey as well as detailed maps of each leg.

 
Overview of Route: January to August, 2018
Houston - South West - Los Angeles - Grand Canyon - Big Sur - Sierra Nevadas - Northern California - Pacific Northwest - Canadian Pacific - Canadian Rockies - Rocky Mountains - Houston
Southwest I: January to February
Houston - Fredericksburg - Big Bend - Marfa - Guadalupe Mountains - Carlsbad Caverns -
White Sands - Gila Cliff Dwellings - Saguaro - Organ Pipe Cactus
Southwest II: February to March
Joshua Tree - San Diego - Los Angeles - Death Valley - Hoover Dam - Grand Canyon
The Canyons: March - April - May
Grand Canyon - Flagstaff - Petrified Forest - Petroglyphs - Santa Fe - Mesa Verde -
Hovenweep - Natural Bridges - Canyonlands - Arches - Capitol Reef - Bryce Canyon -
Glen Canyon Dam - Antelope Canyon - Marble Canyon - Zion - Mojave Desert - Los Angeles
Northern California: May - June
Los Angeles - Santa Barbara - Big Sur - Monterey - Yosemite - Lake Tahoe -
Muir Woods - Point Reyes
Pacific Northwest: June - July
Point Reyes - Redwood Forest - Crater Lake - Mount Hood - Lewis and Clark -
Mount Rainer - Vancouver - Vancouver Island
Canada: July
Vancouver Island - Prince Rupert - Fraser Lake - Jasper - Banff - Glacier
Rocky Mountains: August
Glacier - Yellowstone - Grand Teton - Rocky Mountains
Southwards: August
Rocky Mountains - Santa Fe - Fredericksburg - Houston

Photo and Film Exhibits

Earth with Man Exhibits

November 1, 2018 — Houston
North Gallery
San Jacinto College, North Campus
Artist Talk with Reception and Opening
10:30 AM, Fine Arts Auditorium
View Invitation

October 31, 2018 — Houston
Event: Worldly Excursions into the Human Experience
San Jacinto College, North Campus
10:10 AM, Monument Room
View Invitation

Los Angeles Gallery Row
Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts
May 1 — May 31, 2018
View works shown at exhibit

Houston
"Unfiltered:  Fotofest.org"
March 22, 2018
View works shown at exhibit

Freiburg, Germany
The Made Space
November 18, 2017
View works shown at exhibit
View Invitation