Gary Love's On a Roll

There are truck campers and then there are truck campers. Some of us decide that we want a RV and discover truck campers to be a great solution. Others buy 1/2 ton pick-ups, add a truck cap, throw in a sleeping bag, stock a cooler, buy a cooking stove, and hit the road. Gary Love is both. As a nature photographer, Gary has used a truck camper in one form or another to get the shot. After you've read his interview, we recommend you take a look at his online gallery of photographs at www.garylove.net. His pictures are as much about the beauty of nature as they are a glimpse into what truck camping is all about.

TCM: Which came first, nature photography or truck camping?

Gary: When I was eighteen, my best friend Alan and I went on what was supposed to be a two-week trip to San Francisco. We ended up all the way into Canada. That was my first real experience with nature. I was hooked on the outdoors and was taking photographs to show my friends and family what I saw. I was definitely a nature photographer before I got a truck camper.

TCM: When did you get your first truck camper?

Gary: I bought a Northstar when I was twenty-seven. Before that, I had a pickup with a camper shell and a camping stove. I didn’t always have the luxury I have now. With a bathroom, microwave, and flat screen tv, it’s not really camping anymore. In the camper shell I would freeze my butt off or sweat to death. But I had my dog and nothing seemed to bother me. We slept anywhere and nobody would know.

TCM: Is there something special about those days with the camper shell and your dog?

Gary: Yes. There will always be something special about those times. They were so simple. Now I have to look for dump stations and there are more bills and so many more things. And I don’t have Brandy, my dog, anymore so that makes those memories even more special. Those memories won’t be able to be topped.

TCM: What is it about nature photography that appeals to you?

Gary: I genuinely love seeing new places and things. I had a landscaping business for years and I would save as much money as I could to travel and take pictures. I could comfortably travel on $400 a week and would fill envelopes with $400 and seal them for my trips. Then every week I would open an envelope, which helped me to not overspend. I went out about six times for a couple of months at a time.

TCM: Do you still have a regular house?

Gary: I was renting a house from my grandfather and often paying rent when I wasn’t even there. I was spending $5,000 on rent and bills. I quickly came to the conclusion that that was really stupid. My house was the most expensive storage unit on the planet. So out of need or common sense, we bought the truck camper. My fiancée and I are not yet sure where we want to live. So what better way to find out where we want to live than to drive around the country for a few years? The truck camper isn’t the best investment, but at least it’s mine.

TCM: Tell us about your truck and camper.

Gary: Let me tell you about the four set ups that I’ve had. My original truck was a Toyota Tacoma single cab with a camper shell. My next truck was a Dodge Ram 1500 extra cab with a camper shell. Then I got a Toyota Tundra extra cab with four-wheel drive and a Northstar TC650 pop-up truck camper. That was a planned package. I did research for over a year and went to RV shows all over. The Northstar fit the Tundra really well and it handled the weight. The Northstar also had the best quality all around. I actually lived in that Northstar and in my garage and rented the rest of the house to a friend of mine to save money to get my business off the ground. The garage was my bedroom and the garage was my living room. I’m a huge Northstar fan. It’s a very, very good camper.

TCM: Why did you get the Okanagan 116? That seems like the opposite camper of the Northstar.

Gary: It really is completely opposite. Once we decided to go full-time we knew we needed a new camper. We looked at everything, Class C’s, Super C’s, and fifth-wheels. Then we saw the Okanagan double slide. It had the larger water tanks we were looking for. The kitchen is comparable to a Class A. The really big selling point was the bathroom with glass shower doors. We really like that.

TCM: Are you worried at all about living in a truck camper without a home base?

Gary: If I can live in the back on the shell of a pick-up truck, I can do this. Now I’m older and more spoiled. We have two flat screen televisions.

TCM: Two flat screen TVs in a truck camper?

Gary: It came with one in the dinette and we have a 32” in the bedroom.

TCM: A 32” flat screen in your bedroom?

Gary: It’s basically at our feet. It’s really not that over the top. And it’s our little hide out. I can be in the dinette watching something and my fiancée can be watching something different.

TCM: How did you have your custom bed designed and built?

Gary: I had seen pictures of truck campers on service bodies and it got me thinking. With the camper weight being so much, I wanted a Ford F550 to handle the weight. We bought a cab and chassis and had Pacific Truck Body build us a bed.

TCM: What does your special truck camping rig allow you to do as a photographer?

Gary: It basically gives me the freedom to go where I want to go. In the evening I can scout places to photograph and in the morning I can wake up and be there to start shooting. I can peek out the window and see what the weather is like. Four-wheel drive helps tremendously. We can go to a lot of places a Class A couldn’t dream of.

TCM: So the truck camper is a tool for your photography like a lens or a tripod?

Gary: There’s one shot in my gallery that I shot out the back door of my camper. That’s something I never thought I would use the camper for. I parked right on the yellow line, opened the back door, set up my tripod, and took the photograph. I couldn’t have got that shot if not for that camper.

TCM: What areas do you travel? Is there an annual loop?

Gary: No, not really. We haven’t been back east. We’ve only done the western US. I’m a big fan of the west. From what I’ve seen, the west is where it’s at. If someone said I could only stay in the western US, I’d be okay with that. I’m also a huge fan of the northwest. Every time I go, I find something new. I have an index file where I write down state-by-state all the places I want to go back to for a morning or evening shot. It’s all about capturing the right light.

TCM: Do you like the never-ending search for the perfect shot?

Gary: That’s my personality. I would burn out if there was nothing else to learn. I would get bored and move on. With photography, that’s never happened. There’s always something new.

TCM: What drives you to do this?

Gary: As an early teen, I was into drugs and got myself into a bad situation. I got busted with a forged cash check and went into rehab for forty-eight days at age sixteen. Now at thirty-two, I’ve been clean and sober for sixteen years. Four months after I became clean and sober, a friend who cleaned himself up at the same time died in a motorcycle accident. I said to myself, “If you make it through this, you can make it through anything.” Ever since then, everything seems minimal in comparison.

TCM: How does that effect the way you live now?

Gary: It really affected my world-view. He and I talked about moving out of southern California. There were so many things he wanted to see. It really pushed me to live my life.

TCM: Your web site says that you like to stay off the highways. Do you mostly boondock?

Gary: Yes. It’s a little different with this camper now. We’re hitting a RV park maybe one to two times a week to do laundry, fill the tanks, and do maintenance stuff. We boondock because of financial reasons. And I’m not a huge fan of RV parks. They’re just not my style.

TCM: Give me a typical day as a truck camping nature photographer.

Gary: Some days we’re strictly just living and some days I’m strictly taking pictures. Some days I’m on my laptop booking shows, doing my online banking, and getting my mail forwarded. So it’s not just taking pictures.

TCM: How does the business end of your photography life work? I would think it’s tough being on the road.

Gary: It’s a job. It looks glamorous and easy, but we do shows all around the country and work eight to ten hours a day. I am fortunate that I love to take pictures of what the public likes. I only have forty-nine pictures available right now. Thirty-eight of them were taken before I ever planned to be in business.

TCM: You’re still shooting with film. Why?

Gary: I shoot with a medium format film camera. The biggest reason is that the quality is so much better. Film has real depth. Everything is very flat with digital. When you look at my images, you feel like you could walk right into that scene. With digital, there’s something missing. Film is also more appreciated in the fine art world. My photography has always been about capturing a moment in time for others to see. I don’t shoot that many pictures. Usually I shoot ten shots per roll and only shoot forty rolls a year.

TCM: What’s your vision for the future? Is it truck camping and taking pictures forever?

Gary: I’m not sure where this is going to go. I would like to settle down in the northwest and possibly open an art gallery. I would like to see my images in multiple galleries around the country. I honestly see myself still making a living taking pictures in thirty or forty years. If this doesn’t work out, I can live with that when I’m seventy years old in a rocking chair.

For more information about Gary Love, visit his web site at www.garylove.net.