Traveling

Every time I see my dental hygienist she asks me where I'll be traveling this year for my photography. I had my car in for service the other week and the garage owner asked me where I was going to be traveling. When I tell people what I do they will without exception ask me where I travel to do it. I accept it as an absolute at this point that this question always follows the job description "photographer" and especially "nature photographer." With my dental hygienist I don't feel like explaining it all because of the difficulty talking with her fingers and tools in my mouth. With others I'll often essay an explanation: "I don't travel for my photography. I do it all in this area because the Pennsylvania fields and woodlands are my subject matter." There is usually silence for a moment and I get the sense that they are thinking: "What lame pictures he must take. What is there to photograph around here?" When I first started out doing this a relative that lives near me remarked that "this isn't an an area that's good for photography." Sigh. The notion of photography being about traveling is such an absolute in people's minds. Why do people have such a rigid notion of this? If I said I was a painter would people immediately ask me where I was going to be traveling? How about sculptor? I tell them I don't do National Geographic style wildlife photography- I'm not paparazzi for the eagles and bears. But people never really get it until I show them my work.