BOUNTIFUL ó The only chance most people have to experience the world is when a photographer brings a piece of it back with him. Thankfully, Bountiful native Joel Addams is more than willing to share his bounty. His camera and medical relief missions take him around the world, and everywhere he stops he finds sights, people and moments that highlight the richness and color of the places heís been. ìA lot of the more interesting pictures come along the way,î said Addams, who just had a one-evening show in Bountiful last weekend and is heading up to Park City for a similar show on June 21. ìItís stuff you just happen to fall into.î Addams, whoís also entering his third year of med school, has a humanitarian bent that is reflected in his love for and immersion in the places he visits. His current show, ìSix Places+,î offers up sights from Nepal, Peru, Egypt, France, and Italy that are out of reach of most tourists. ##M:MORE##

Some, like the graceful shot of the Great Pyramids or the lights of the Louvre, come from careful research and planning that Addams always does whenever he travels someplace new.

ìThat technique will always produce good-quality photographs,î said Addams. ìYou know travel times, and when the light will be good.î

Other moments, however, come only by being in the right place at the right time, such as when Addams was in a thatched cottage in Peru that received an unexpected guest.

ìThe monkey just jumped through the side of the house, went to the hammock and laid down,î he said. ìFortunately, I had my hand on the shutter.

ìItís just a picture I will never be able to recreate.î

He had a similar moment in Nepal, when a walk through a temple led him to photograph an entire row of priests.

ìThey lined up like it was a family reunion or something,î said Addams, who admitted that he was thrown for a moment. ìSo I walked over to the side of them, and finally the man in red turned his head.î

After his current shows are over Addams is planning another trip to Italy, as well as a humanitarian mission to Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia early next year.

And, as always, heíll bring some of it back with him.

ìWhat makes photography so interesting is that itís 50 percent skill and 50 percent total luckî he said. ìYou have to wait for that moment when the other 50 percent just gives you something awesomeî