Photographer Serdar Sunny Unal went on a once-in-a-lifetine adventure a few years ago. He Left Los Angeles for a five month Latin America expedition. In the following years, the epic adventure now nicknamed “LA2BA” would cover over 40.000 miles through 15 countries, providing a vast supply of exceptional photographic opportunities and a rare chance to meet the contrasting cultures of an entire continent.
Serdar would later write:
“By the time I found myself on a sailboat heading to Colombia, I’d already realized that a new chapter in my life had begun, and things would never be the same.”
The absence of any roads through the rain forest called the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia had made it necessary to sail the Caribbean in a storm, but the real obstacle would prove to be the destination itself.
“I did have worries about riding through Colombia. It was supposed to be this dangerous place where you would get kidnapped if not killed. I instead found a paradise, and the challenge was to move on.”
The adventure did continue through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, all the way to Ushuaia, the Southernmost city in the world, where he would spend his second Christmas on the road with a fever.
“The summer in Ushuaia was the coldest winter I’ve known. And unless you’ve known the winds in Patagonia, you don’t know what a strong wind is. This is where 600lb. motorcycles fly off the road and trees grow horizontally!”
The journey was supposed to be concluded upon his second arrival to Buenos Aires, but by that time there was neither a “normal life” to go back to, nor a desire to stop. He could already feel the call of Samba from Brazil.
Why did he embark on this trip to begin with?
“I suddenly got terrified by the speed of time, and decided not to wait for tomorrow to live my dreams. And once I managed to get out the door, there was no reason to ever go back.”
The result of this whirlwind adventure? LOS ANGELES to BUENOS AIRES, a 1200 page iPad travel book, perhaps the most ambitious project of its kind. It is available in the form of a Universal App for Apple’s iOS devices. The “Short Cut” edition of the book covering the Mexico and Central America legs of the journey will be offered free of charge to the first 500 readers beginning February 28th.
You can check out Serdar’s other professional photography work at http://www.serdarfoto.com. And his Facebook page has some nice pictures as well.
