The Art of Boredon

Sometimes being on the road for weeks at a time, living in motels and eating crap food, can get you down. My recent trip to Iowa with UK photographer Sacha Maric, where we did a story about the Crystal Meth problem that has plagued the USA and looks to be on its way to Europe, was one such trip. The story was sad and depressing and after seven days we were tired and wanted to go home.

We were in a frame of mind where we couldn't really focus. Sacha wanted to go home to his girlfriend, I wanted to go home to my wife and daughter, but it seemed like the interviews and appointments would never end.

Finally we made it to our last motel. Just down the road from the Des Moines airport from which we were flying the next morning. Relief washed over us. No more depression. No more drugs and sad stories to record. We sat on our beds in the motel room, flicking through the TV channels before going out for a beer. Sacha found WWF Wrestling and we both burst out laughing. I laughed harder as Sacha started running round the room growling, doing faux wrestling moves. We were in that weary state that allowed silly immature energy to get the better of us. As Sacha jumped high in the air and drove his elbow into his bed, I laughed and said, "Shit, I so have to get a picture of that!"

The first few shots had us on our hands and knees with tears of laughter streaking down our faces. We were back in infant school, burning off an energy borne of days on end driving in a car and baring witness to the debris of crystal meth. Nothing was going to stop us now. We were hunting for the perfect shot and spent the next hour in painful states of laughter while working away. The shot below was our ultimate glory. I'd like to say we worked hard for it, but all I did was lie still.