but before he could graduate a nagging wanderlust drew steinmetz to africa. across the continent for a year. >> photography was very different then because it was film and so i couldn't see what i was doing. >> there must have been a photo you were most anxious to go home and see if it turned out. >> i had a lot of them and i remember i stayed up all night when i got home to look at the pictures and it was crushingly disappointing because you have all these incredible experiences. you see all these bad pictures. you know? and i just didn't know what i was doing. but i loved the process. >> reporter: the mix of that love and his newfound knowledge of africa landed steinmetz some paying assignments, culminating in a gig at national geographic that came with a problem. >> i proposed a big story in the sahara and there were no planes or helicopters to hire. and so i had to bring my own kind of aircraft. >> reporter: what he came up with was a motorized paraglider. flying it opened up new horizons. >> you couldn't take this picture any other way. even if you had a