about me
Taking the Scenic Route — One Road, One Story, One Photograph at a Time
HI, I’M DEBBI
“I’m an award winning photographer, writer, and lifelong traveler with a particular love for landscapes, wildlife, and the stories found along America’s back roads.”
Travel for me isn’t about checking destinations off a list.
Welcome to Back Roads Lens.
This is where I share the places I’ve explored, the photographs I’ve made, the roads I’ve traveled, and the stories I’ve collected along the way.
But more than anything, Back Roads Lens is about seeing differently.
I don’t believe you have to travel halfway around the world to find something beautiful.
Sometimes it’s waiting around the next bend.
Why I Take the Back Roads
I’ve never been much of a “get there as quickly as possible” traveler.
I’m much more likely to look at a map and wonder, “What happens if we take that road instead?”
The road that isn’t the fastest. The town that isn’t in the guidebook. The overlook that doesn’t have a giant sign pointing toward it. An old building that’s seen better days. Wildlife along the roadside. A local shop or roadside stop we weren’t expecting to find.
Those are the moments that interest me.
Because when you take the back roads, you give yourself the opportunity to discover something you weren’t looking for.
And those unexpected discoveries are often the ones I remember most.
From Corporate Life to a Life Behind the Lens
For many years, my life revolved around a corporate career, and traveling for work was a regular part of it.
Whenever I had the opportunity, I began adding personal time to those trips. My husband would sometimes join me, and instead of simply flying home when the work was finished, we’d stay a little longer and explore.
Those extra days gave us the opportunity to experience places we might never have visited otherwise.
Over time, travel became about much more than getting away from work. We wanted to see new things, learn about the places we visited, experience their history, meet people, and discover what made one part of the country different from another.
Eventually, I realized I wanted more time for the things that had become increasingly important to me—travel, photography, being outdoors, and creating something meaningful from the experiences we were having.
Photography and travel were no longer simply things I did when I had time.
They had become part of how I wanted to live.
The Trip That Changed the Way I Travel
One of the trips that had the biggest influence on the way I travel today started as an extension of a business trip to Portland, Oregon.
My husband joined me, and for the first time, I added a few personal days to a work trip so we could explore. We headed toward Mount Hood with no idea that this relatively simple decision would influence the way we traveled for years to come.
Along the way, we saw a sign for Trillium Lake and decided to turn off and see what was there.
That unplanned turn led us to a beautiful mountain lake with Mount Hood rising in the distance. I had a point-and-shoot camera with me and took photographs that I would later frame and hang in our home.
I wasn’t thinking about becoming a serious photographer.
I simply wanted to remember what it felt like to stand there.
But something else happened at Trillium Lake that stayed with me.
We met a couple who told us they spent part of every fall traveling the country using a Reader’s Digest book of America’s scenic drives as their guide. Each year, they chose more drives from the book, traveling in September when the summer crowds had thinned, with the goal of eventually experiencing scenic drives in all 50 states.
I loved that idea.
They weren’t racing from attraction to attraction or simply checking destinations off a list. They were exploring the country by road, allowing the journey itself to become part of the experience.
I didn’t know it then, but that conversation planted a seed.
Over the years, my camera changed. My photography became more intentional. And the way my husband and I traveled evolved, too.
We started looking beyond the fastest route and paying more attention to scenic roads, small towns, national parks, wildlife, history, and those unexpected places you discover simply because you decided to turn.
Looking back, it’s easy to see the connection between that afternoon at Trillium Lake and what eventually became Back Roads Lens.
A road sign led us to a lake.
A lake led me to photographs I still remember.
And a chance conversation with two fellow travelers introduced me to a different way of seeing this country.
Sometimes the smallest detours have the biggest influence on where you eventually end up.
How Photography Changed the Way I See
Photography wasn’t always at the center of my travels. In the beginning, my camera was simply a way to bring home memories of the places we’d been and the experiences we’d shared.
Over time, that changed.
I began paying more attention to light, composition, weather, and the way a landscape could look completely different from one moment to the next.
I started getting up earlier for better light, waiting longer for wildlife, taking the road with the better view, and stopping when something caught my eye—even when I couldn’t quite explain why.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped simply taking pictures of the places we visited and started looking for the story within them.
I’ve learned that a meaningful photograph doesn’t require the most expensive camera or the biggest collection of lenses.
It requires curiosity, patience, and a willingness to really look.
Sometimes the best photograph comes from turning around. Sometimes it means waiting another ten minutes for the light to change. Sometimes it means getting off the main road.
And sometimes the photograph you never planned to take becomes your favorite image of the entire trip.
Photography has changed the way I travel because it has taught me to slow down and notice the details I might once have passed by.
My goal isn’t simply to document where I’ve been. I want my photographs to convey something about what it felt like to be there—the quiet of a misty morning, the power of a wild animal in its natural surroundings, the scale of a mountain landscape, or the curiosity of wondering what’s around the next bend.
I don’t need every photograph to demand attention. Often, it’s the quieter images that stay with me the longest.
For me, travel photography is ultimately about seeing more, slowing down, and telling the story of a place through the moments I choose to photograph.
Why I Photograph
I don’t take photographs hoping they’ll be published.
I take them because I want to capture and share the incredible beauty of the places we explore across this country—from the landscapes that stop you in your tracks to the quieter places you might never notice if you’re in too much of a hurry.
Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to have some of my photography and writing published. I’ve contributed several articles to Nature Photographer magazine, and my work has also appeared in local businesses and calendars.
I’m grateful whenever one of my photographs finds its way beyond my own website and into someone else’s world.
But publication has never been what drives me to pick up my camera.
What keeps me photographing is much simpler: the chance to show someone a place they haven’t seen, help them notice something they might have passed by, or inspire them to get out and experience it for themselves.
If one of my photographs makes someone think, “I’d like to see that someday,” then I’ve accomplished what I set out to do.
Traveling With My Best Road-Trip Companion
I don’t take all of these journeys alone.
My husband has been part of this story from the beginning. We’ve spent years exploring together, from those early trips added onto business travel to the road trips we plan today.
We’re definitely travelers rather than vacationers.
We enjoy the ocean, but after about an hour sitting on a beach, we’re usually ready to see what’s down the road.
We’d rather explore, learn about the history of a place, meet people, photograph what we find, and come home feeling like we experienced somewhere new.
There are long stretches of highway, unexpected stops, early mornings, late sunsets, changing plans, questionable directions, and plenty of conversations along the way.
And, of course, there is always the question:
“Should we stop here?”
When you’re traveling with a photographer, the answer is usually yes.
Why Back Roads Lens?
Back Roads Lens grew from the way I had already learned to travel—with curiosity, a willingness to take the slower road, and a camera close at hand.
I wanted a place where travel, photography, storytelling, and exploration could come together.
I wanted to share more than a collection of photographs.
I wanted to share the stories behind them.
The road that led there.
The history that made me understand a place differently.
The wildlife encounter I didn’t expect.
The person we met along the way.
The weather that changed everything.
The photograph that almost didn’t happen.
And the places we discovered simply because we were willing to turn off the main road.
That’s what Back Roads Lens means to me.
It’s not simply about where I’ve been.
It’s about how I experienced the journey—and helping others discover some of that beauty for themselves.
Explore Back Roads Lens
If my kind of travel sounds like yours, there’s plenty more to explore.
You can discover destinations through my Travel Guides, follow the journey through Scenic Drives & Road Trips, experience encounters from the wild in Wildlife, learn what I’ve discovered behind the camera in Mastering Travel Photography, or simply spend some time browsing the Photo Galleries.
Wherever you start, I hope Back Roads Lens encourages you to slow down, look a little closer, and leave room in your travels for the unexpected.
The Road Is Still Calling
There are still roads I haven’t traveled, towns I haven’t discovered, landscapes I haven’t photographed, and stories I haven’t found.
And that’s part of what keeps me exploring.
I don’t know exactly what will be around the next bend.
Maybe it will be a spectacular landscape.
Maybe a bald eagle will appear at just the right moment.
Maybe it will be an old barn, a forgotten road, a small town, or a conversation with someone whose story stays with me long after we’ve moved on.
Or maybe it will be something I never would have known to look for.
As long as there are back roads left to explore, I’ll keep following them—with my camera beside me.
Thanks for coming along for the journey.
— Debbi
Back Roads Lens
My Photographic Philosophy
Photography, for me, isn’t about chasing perfect shots—it’s about capturing the feeling of a place and the quiet moments found along the way.
- Simplicity – Finding clarity in quiet, often overlooked scenes
- Storytelling – Letting each image reflect the journey behind it
- Minimalism – Removing distractions to reveal what truly matters
- Connection with Nature – Experiencing the moment, not just photographing it