This photo is special to me as it was the beginning of my life as a travel photographer. It was taken on a trip to Morocco in 2001 and I had just joined a travel stock agency in San Francisco and had been hopeful to have a career as a travel photographer

It was shot on slide film (and only one frame) from the back of a camel in the dunes of the Sahara Desert near Merzouga. I am the second shadow on the left. Two of my closest friends are behind and in front of me in the line. A single moment in time that I feel evokes an atmosphere of serenity and peacefulness.

This was one of my best selling photos and has been published by Lonely Planet, Mountain Sobek Travel and was on the cover of the book Extreme Places.

This photograph is perfect as my genesis piece as it signifies a new beginning and hope in my journey of photography. This community I just discovered is like a beacon of light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

Digital scan of slide: 5240x3392 pixels - print is possible.