San Francisco to Yellowstone: A Photography Journey — Graphics Design

A travel photography journal documenting a camper van road trip from San Francisco to Yellowstone, captured on Sony, Ricoh, and Lumix cameras.

Summer is officially behind us, making way for what is easily my favorite season. Fall always brings that quiet urge to slow down, get comfortable, and reflect on the year winding down—even if life never actually turns out quite as calm as the plan.

This past summer, I finally checked off a journey I’ve wanted to do for a very long time: driving all the way from the San Francisco Bay Area up to Yellowstone National Park. Growing up in Brazil, I always harbored a fascination with the scale and openness of American road trips. Fuel prices were hovering near record highs, but once you set out across the open tarmac, the classic romance of the open highway takes over completely.

We tackled the route in a camper van. It made for long stretches behind the wheel, but it turned the transit itself into the experience. Crossing Nevada’s legendary straight, desolate ribbons of asphalt gave my son the chance to stretch out on the back bed, watch the desert roll by, and enjoy the empty stillness.

I kept my cameras close throughout the drive to capture the changing landscape and piece together a short video of the journey. Below is a curated selection of frames from the road—you can explore more captures directly on my Unsplash profile.

The equipment used on this trip were:

Photography

The front of a camper van parked on a residential street in the hilly San Francisco Bay Area, loaded and ready for a road trip. Scenic view of the Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in morning fog, taken from the passenger seat of a vehicle leaving San Francisco.

A highway winding through the golden rolling hills of Northern California under a vast, partly cloudy sky. A dashboard-level view from inside the camper van, showing a straight two-lane highway disappearing into the distance as mountains rise in the background.

An endless, straight highway crossing the desolate, vast desert landscape of Nevada with a tiny speck of traffic in the distance. A retro, weathering roadside motel and gas station sign along Route 50 in Nevada, capturing a classic Americana roadside vibe.

A candid photo inside the cozy camper van, showing a young boy laying happily on a bed near the rear window, looking out at the passing desert landscape. Interior view of the camper van's kitchenette, with messy maps, camera gear, and snacks scattered across the small dinette table. The camper van parked on the side of a dirt road in Nevada, with vast open desert brush and distant mountains under a dramatic afternoon sky.

A scenic view of a winding river cutting through green valleys, with jagged mountain ranges beginning to dominate the horizon. A large wooden ‘Welcome to Wyoming’ sign on the side of the highway, framed by pine trees and rugged hills. A candid portrait of a young boy looking through binoculars out the passenger window of the camper van, searching for wildlife.

The towering, snow-dusted peaks of the Grand Teton mountain range reflecting in the calm waters of a lake, bordered by evergreen forests. The camper van parked at a scenic turnout overlooking a vast Wyoming valley with mountains in the background. The rustic ‘Yellowstone National Park’ wooden entrance sign, surrounded by visitors and thick forest.

The multi-tiered, colorful travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone, with steam rising into the cool air. A massive bison walking slowly along the shoulder of a paved park road, with cars stopped to let it pass. Vibrant, multi-colored thermal pools (like Grand Prismatic) steaming under a wide sky, seen from an elevated boardwalk. The dramatic eruption of a geyser shooting boiling water and thick steam high into the air, surrounded by viewing crowds on a boardwalk. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, featuring massive yellow-toned rock cliffs and a powerful rushing waterfall in the distance. A dense pine forest in Yellowstone with a winding river and early morning mist rising from the water. Close-up of a bison grazing in a meadow, with the rich, wild landscape of Yellowstone fading into the background. Boardwalks winding through the steaming geothermal Norris Geyser Basin, with bare dead trees and bubbling thermal vents.

The camper van parked at a wooded campsite as dusk falls, with a campfire crackling in the foreground fire ring. The warm, glowing interior of the camper van visible through open doors, contrasted against the dark, dense forest night. A long-exposure view of the night sky, capturing thousands of stars and the Milky Way stretching over the camper van parked among tall pines.

San Francisco to Yellowstone: A Photography Journey