The word ‘chaos’ doesn’t necessarily need to have a negative meaning. When you travel, the most memorable and remarkable experiences can happen inside or surrounded by chaos. As a traveller, embracing chaos could not be more satisfying. By doing so one can learn to accept change and become more flexible. Chaos can end up being a good friend of yours specially traveling around Alaska!
Jose, best known at Instagram as @josemostajo is a ferocious traveler and his photography represents the true spirit of the word ‘wildness’.
Walking through glaciers, skating memorable roads, or hiking ice covered trails are just a few examples of the adventurous character of Jose. Luckily for us, he has been capturing all these experiences and now he counts with one of the most inspiring collections on Instagram.
In order to understand the traveler and photographer, I asked Jose 9 questions. The following were his answers:
Welcome Jose! First of all, can you tell us who is this beautiful dog who goes by the name of Apollo?
Apollo is my friend Parker’s (@parker_duncan) dog. He has another Husky as well named Delali. They went on every adventure we did.
Lately you’ve been posting a few pictures with animals. Can you tell us what is the reason behind these photos and also if you plan to keep doing it?
I didn’t necessarily plan to photograph animals, but they were a part of the stories and the places we were visiting as we drove across the country. I definitely wanted to share that. Whether I post more animals or not depends on where I end up next!
Can you explain us the story behind this photo? My adrenaline boosted as soon as I saw it!
We had seen photos in the past of people skating down big roads and it looked like so much fun and we knew that we would encounter some cool ones for us to do the same. Throughout the road trip we kept visualizing which roads would be the best based on how long or straight they were, if they were covered in ice or not, or the views that each had. We finally had that “here!” moment when we were driving into Jasper National Park in Canada and had that snow covered mountain in front of us. It was perfect. Until a state trooper flagged us down and told us to stop.
What was your first thought as soon as you stepped Alaska’s wilderness for the first time?
We made it! Everyone warned us about driving all the way there in the winter, so it felt like quite the victory. We took a photo of the welcome to Alaska sign. And then…wow, there’s so much… nothing haha. On either side of the highway we just had all this open land covered in snow. No people, no cars, it was a really cool sight to see and made you feel like you were nowhere near civilization. (Which we kind of weren’t).
Can you tell us the most crazy anecdote that ever happened to you being outdoors?
I think the biggest scare we had was running out of gas while being in a national park and having no cell service. We miscalculated some distances and the gas stations within the park were closed for winter. We flagged someone down to stop and ask, and they told us we still had an hour drive from the nearest gas station. In the end we drove for 20 or so minutes with the gauge on 0 miles to empty and it was terrifying. The roads were also icy so we had to deal with that on top of it.
Portraits have been an important part of your work. What do you find so fascinating about them?
I actually haven’t been doing portraits for that long. I started with landscape photos while I was living in Norway and eventually I began to shoot with people this year. My favorite part is the connection. Getting to know someone new, try to share some of their story and be able to create something together. At the end of the day you leave with new friendships.
Can you name your top 3 landscape photographers on IG?
There are so many amazing photographers. I’m constantly blown away by all the great photos I come across on a daily basis. Three people/accounts I really like are @brahmino, @bruinalexander, and @iso100_photography. Their themes are very travel based which is something that I want to continue doing with my own work.
Can you fix the world in one sentence?
Be kind.
If you could take your art in any direction without fear of failure or rejection, where would it lead? What new thing would you try?
The funny thing is that i’ve had to deal with this situation multiple times in the past. I went to college with plans to become a doctor. However, music had always been a bigger passion of mine and knew that I had to give it a chance, so instead of doing the additional four years of schooling I moved to LA to pursue music. Fast forward to now, after living making music for a while I realized that photography was the one thing i couldn’t live without. So i decided to leave that (sort of) security and jump into a whole new world. Really scary, but when you know you know. So here I am! Starting over again. My dreams have changed and at the end of the day you have to stay true to yourself and no one else.
Truly inspiring Jose, plus, we didn’t mention it, but you are also a great musician! An extra ball for those of you who want to know more about this amazing traveler!
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