The open road with LA-based photographer of all things…

Adventure Pop Quiz — Photographer and wanderer Laura Austin has made a career out of a curiosity for the open road. Here the rolling stone reflects on the passion behind her pilgrimages.

In Huck’s Adventure Issue we joined up with a motley crew of headstrong characters to explore uncharted territory. We learned that adventure means a whole load of different things to different people, from a polar expedition for explorer Ben Saunders to seeing New York City through an outsider’s eyes for skate photographer Pep Kim.

With the Adventure Pop Quiz, we’re reaching out to people from the issue and others from Huck’s world to find out more about what adventure means to them and where their hunger for new experiences has taken them.

In this pop quiz distinguished life-liver Laura Austin – a photographer, writer, traveller, lover of action sports based in LA but to be spotted, mostly, at rare places all over the world – reveals the thoughts and motivations behind her time spent on the road. Follow the visual storyteller on Instagram where stylish snapshots of nature, beautiful people and coffee spots will give you life envy intense enough to make you up sticks.

What do you picture when you hear the word ‘adventure’?
Any situation in which you don’t know exactly what it will entail or lead to.

What did adventure mean to you when you were a kid?
A way to keep yourself occupied when growing up in tiny mountain towns.

What does adventure mean to you now?
It’s my reset button when I need to get my head straight.

When was the last time you felt completely out of your comfort zone?
Being surrounded by too many superficial people.

When were you last scared?
Climbing up Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park.

What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?
Solo road trip across the country when I was 18.

Who is the most adventurous person you know?
Tough call… probably Francis Mallmann if we are talking in both mindset and actually travelling.

If your life was an adventure novel, what would the title be?
Insatiable.

When was the last time you saw something completely new for the first time?
Just recently on my trip to Scotland… from landscapes, to architecture, to food, and bars full of golfers.

How do you bring adventure into your everyday life?
By keeping an open mind.

Complete the sentence: A life without adventure is…..?
A life wasted.

If you were on a yoga retreat, or in therapy, and were told to picture ‘your happy place’, what would it look like?
In the drivers’ seat of a car going anywhere really, without any timeline or destination.

What in life gets your adrenalin pumping?
New experiences.

If you had to walk around the world, what would you carry in your backpack?
My camera, a knife, clean socks… and a teleporter.

What book / film / song makes you wanna go an adventure?
Book – On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Film – The Salt Of The Earth. Song – ‘Going Up The Country’, Canned Heat

What’s the one thing on your bucket list you’ve never told anyone about before?
To find a significant other that I’d want to travel the world with.

Read more about adventure in Huck 51 – The Adventure Issue. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.

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Diary of a Stolen Youth — On the day that a temporary ceasefire is announced, a new series from photographer Nastya Platinova looks back at Kyiv’s bubbling youth culture before Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion. It presents a visual window for young people into a possible future, as well as the past.

Written by: Hannah Bentley