Photographer Frank Gifford with "America (Solarized)"
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HERE'S THE ROUTE 66 ON-RAMP
Happy Trails...and Happy Motoring!
If you're surfing rt66pix.com--perhaps after visiting Cars Land or a Disney website--welcome! This is the largest site of its kind, with unique photographs and artwork viewed in 80+ countries.
More than 1700 Rt 66 images are conveniently grouped by state and subject. Other images come from the National Road and beyond. Still more capture the American experience in some really out-of-the-way places.
Then for a refreshing break check out the Fun!© section and test your new-found knowledge.
There's lots to see and enjoy here, and you can take your time. This isn't the Interstate.
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DEPEW OK: THE ORIGINAL "RADIATOR SPRINGS"
This is the lone gas station survivor from the Route 66 era in Depew OK. The good times lasted just two-years.
In 1928, Depew became the first town or city anywhere on the Mother Road to be entirely bypassed. The event was duly recorded as a dry fact, but the significance was never established--and so the story was lost for 85-years. I questioned the surprisingly early date while writing captions, verified it, then began trying to rule out other early bypassing contenders.
Transportation Departments in six states have now confirmed in writing that Depew was "first." In MO and NM, confirmation is from my examination of official state highway maps and other research.
The complete story is on the Yahoo Route 66 E-group as posting 80548. A separate file there also includes 23 pages of background documentation. (No access? Use the Contact feature above to send e-mail.)
Images are in the gallery "Depew: First Bypass Victim on Route 66."
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PHOTO-SHARING SITES AND CONTESTS
Always ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS read the contract terms BEFORE uploading images onto a site--or entering a contest. Frequently the act of uploading transfers--or gives up--your rights.
Never give up rights to the "business" end of your photos. Your Copyright is only worth bragging rights if you allow someone else to "use and publish" your image. A great article detailing the typical language is at: www.photographyideas.org/photography-contest-scams.html.
Instagram tried to impose similar terms on all users, without a contest, in 2012.
Even affinity groups are getting into dubious contests now. Don't let your involvement cloud your judgment--you can always grant them one-time reproduction rights.
You worked hard (and spent money) to get that great shot. Don't let the word "Contest" fool you into turning over any rights to it.
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ARTIFICE BEHIND THE ART
Good photographs tell or suggest stories. Equivalents in other fields include short fiction, poems and songs. All deal in truth--but not necessarily whole or literal truth.
In photography truth may surface for the briefest fraction of a second through movement: a wind gust, a waving flag. Ordinarily it would disappear unnoticed. Sometimes it's captured only because of luck and a tripod.
An extreme example comes from a Route 66 car show in Springfield IL, where I shot vehicles in motion to picture artistic blur. Here's a 57 Chevy towing a golf cart resembling...a 57 Chevy! That's kind of interesting. But look at the two American flags flying from the car.
On both flags the top red stripe is hidden. On the more-distant flag the second white stripe is advancing in the wind. Zoom in and the two flags flow together perfectly. What are the odds of this happening, and being photographed with meaningful context around it?
Flipping the image horizontally puts the flags in traditional orientation, which is true in a sense. Cropping removes extraneous people (sorry, lady), trees, sheet metal etc. making the important stuff much larger. Everything's real, but now it's been highlighted and crafted.
BLUR ON 66 #12
The magic of the flags is literally true--except now you can see it and enjoy it. Perfectly choreographed flags, 57 Chevies in motion, and four Americans combine to make a unique image with many possible interpretations. You can take it from there.
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NEWEST GALLERIES: SANTA MONICA PIER, BOTTLE TREE RANCH, GAY PARITA AND ROUTE 66 IS FOR KIDS!
The Santa Monica Pier is where Route 66 comes to a Happy Ending. Although it's seriously over-photographed...it's never the same place twice. I captured some unique images including this:
This spontaneous shot alone justified paying $3.50 for a little bottle of water. California needs the money, and I'm glad to do my part!
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"Pops" in OK has full bottles of soda--the Bottle Tree Ranch near Helendale CA has empties. Just add sunlight and they become art.
The Bottle Tree Ranch is the retirement dream of Elmer Long and he's usually there to show off his creation. (He even offers chilled water--for free!) This gallery has more images coming.
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Gay Parita is a recreated @1930 Sinclair gas station typical of rural Missouri in that era. This image adds an artistic effect to dawn's early light:
There's also an original stone garage filled with road memorabilia. The place is a labor of love for owner Gary Turner, and he's almost always around to play the gracious host.
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The gallery "Route 66 Is For KIDS!" is a 66-image sampler. It highlights the many kid-friendly attractions like the Blue Whale and Cadillac Ranch. And it shows kids experiencing the road from their own vantage point:
This gallery is designed for surfing, perhaps with your children or grandchildren. Images are all mixed up--so if you go through in full-screen (or Slideshow) mode--the next image is always a surprise!
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STREET SNAPS
Images anywhere on the site that appear to be candid are just that. I don't use models, paid or otherwise. In this case, I was contemplating how to shoot a wonderfully-distorted sun lattice. She catwalked across the scene, making eye contact, while her companion provided counterpoint. Her gesture can mean almost anything, or nothing at all (I looked it up). I didn't talk to them...but she was laughing by the tenth and last frame.
Strong lines converge on the only truly non-linear elements: a shadowed archway framing her, accentuating her face and long flowing hair. Or perhaps the lines radiate from her. Either way she's the focal point for the light and energy in this image, and the guy is a handy foil captured between sips. Everything else is basically diagonals in black and white. The image is uncropped, merely adjusted for exposure.
"Sun Lattice" is pleasant and unique "eye candy" that is also loaded with symbolism and potential meaning.
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Another Street Snap started as good ol' Route 66 fun: people grabbing postcards off busy racks. This resulting cropped image (unseen until editing) packs potential meaning that goes well beyond the Mother Road:
I titled this "All Get Along" using part of a quotation from Los Angeles police beating victim Rodney King, who died earlier in the year.
In both cases the gods smiled for a nanosecond and something magical happened. Most of the time they frown...but failures are free with digital cameras.
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Photography on sidewalks and other public spaces is protected by the First Amendment in the US and permission is not needed. A concise entry in the Travel section explains this, and www.firstamendmentcenter.org has more. Street photographer Eric Kim www.erickimphotography.com/blog has a resource-filled site with many links.
Two recommended survey books are Bystander: A History of Street Photography by Colin Westerbeck & Joel Meyerowitz and Open City: Street Photographs Since 1950 by MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) Oxford.
My street photography is displayed in the "Street Snaps" gallery. Also on-line you can also explore the work of Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Joel Meyerowitz, Weegee and Garry Winogrand.
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TEMPTING NEW ITEMS
You can now own images in several additional ways. One is "to go" in the form of Stainless Steel Water Bottles, iPhone Cases and iPad Folios.
For a home or business setting, Glass and Metal Prints are now available. The aluminum versions extend up to 24x36".
Most everything we offer will ship worldwide, but these new items are US/Canada only.
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UNLIKELY ICON
Wannabees eye a real icon
We take on the cosmic questions here at rt66pix.com:
. Why does burnt coffee cost $4 a cup?
. How come (name of celebrity) is rich and famous--yet has no discernable talent?
. Why has the 57 Chevy become an icon?
The first two stump us--so let's take a stab at the third.
While rivals Ford and Plymouth offered all-new sheet metal for 1957, Chevy was peddling a re-styled 1955 car. Because of its advanced age the 57 Chevy was taller and boxier. And attempts to make it look new were odd. The his-and-her hood ornaments. That now-famous fin with chrome on the edge and (on some models) anodized aluminum on the side.
The 55 and 56 models had pubescent fins with tail lights on the top corner--a pleasing, logical arrangement. But on the 57s, the fin was just sheet metal with a single light, way down next to the bumper. The light was in a little chrome pod, all by itself...and looked to be frowning! The combination was awkward at first glance, especially against the "clean" look of rivals.
Plymouth was the styling leader that year with a windswept design ending in towering fins. Ford was low and modern with never-before-seen canted fins.
Chevy stumbled badly in 1957--and that makes what happened later so interesting! For the model-year, Ford jumped to #1, Chevy fell to #2. Plymouth soared from #5 to #3. The earth moved under Detroit when all that happened.
On the basis of market share (which adjusts for changing economic conditions), the 55, 56 and even the 58 Chevy were bigger hits with the public than the 57. So what happened to create iconic status today for a car that was a big disappointment at the time?
First, failures by the competition. The Fords were attractive and "of-the-moment" but rusted out. The even more attractive Plymouths also rusted out...if they didn't fall apart first. They were some of the worst cars ever produced. The Chevies lasted if they were reasonably maintained. Many parts carried over from 55 and 56.
Second, wacky styling for several years afterward. It would be 1962 before Chevy offered a clean design. And longer still before anybody's family-hauler rivaled the tri-fives (55, 56, 57) in value, respect and loyalty.
The 57 Chevy looks much better in retrospect. The design was odd then--but not today--because we're used to it. We've seen the future, and it's nothing like what anybody envisioned in 1957...in sheet metal or anything else. Plus, unlike the main competition, it was a solid car. Chevy delivered value that year.
To paraphrase William Faulkner: 57 Chevies did not merely endure, they prevailed.
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YOU CAN'T GO BACK AGAIN...AND SHOULDN'T WANT TO
Cute, but not historically accurate.
Route 66 is being homogenized, pasteurized and sanitized for mass-consumption, both here and elsewhere. I hate to contribute any images to this dumbing-down of American history--although that's exactly what's happening (see above).
So as Disney opens its Rt 66-based attraction in California, here's a reality check to counter the pretty pictures (both still and animated).
Interstate highways, fast food joints, and chain motels condemned today for their boring sameness are actually improvements. We wanted them, we needed them, we got them, and we're better off for them.
Consider the realities of Rt 66 in, say, your new 1957 Chevy:
. Many narrow and twisting two-lane sections were known as "Blood Alley."
. The guy coming at you might be legally drinking and driving.
. Nobody had seat belts, air bags, or other protection.
. You sat on a bench seat without air conditioning or cruise control.
. Open windows brought in noise, dust and insects.
. Trucks and Greyhound buses filled oncoming lanes to the brim.
. A good (but hard) day might be 300 miles.
Nostalgic yet? But wait, there's more...
. Although gas stations were branded, clean restrooms--or competent repairs--depended entirely on the owner.
. Every restaurant was different--likely run by a local operator. Every food stop required due diligence, first outside then inside (and a tip was expected).
. Every motel was a one-off, requiring you to scrutinize the sign, then inspect the room, and finally haggle over the rate.
Today's self-service gas pumps, McDonald's and even Motel 6 actually represent improvements. If not, they wouldn't have spread. I value them for their efficiency if nothing else. I wouldn't want to go back in time--and stay there.
Route 66 makes for a great (and multiple-day) theme park experience, minus expensive tickets and long lines. It's wonderful to enjoy the Mother Road...without trucks, Greyhounds, congested downtowns, leaded gasoline fumes, unpredictable food and bad motels.
In other words: without all that ugly reality!
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"FIN" MEANS "END" IN LATIN
Route 66 has its own Monument. Made from steel, it's on the Mother Road in front of the Convention Center in Tucumcari NM:
That's sculptor Tom Coffin's interpretation of a Chrysler Corporation fin...perhaps a 1958 DeSoto.
You rarely see late 50s Chrysler products (Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial) at Route 66 car shows. They sold just fine, except for Imperial, but they were poorly-engineered rust-buckets. The Walter P. Chrysler Museum outside Detroit tacitly admits this on an overhead sign:
Some sacrifice indeed! The 57s were a rush job and hadn't been properly engineered. Other accounts have these cars intended for 1959 or even 1960!
When sales boomed, quality control suffered with assembly lines and suppliers running flat out. The company paid a price--and buyers paid even more. There was plenty of "sacrifice" to go around:
"The 1957s started to rust within several months of being built. They leaked water on both sides of the windshield posts on all models. Torsion bars broke leaving cars looking like fallen over Towers of Pisa. Upholstery split, seams tore, seat springs popped through, paint flaked off in huge chunks, hubcaps wouldn't stay on, rear view mirrors vibrated, door handles broke with ease, locks froze easily, and interior appliances fell off."
--Curtis Redgap, Insider's History of Plymouth
This was an extremely short-sighted business decision, and a Tipping Point in American business. Up till then, Chrysler had been known for solid engineering and boring styling. But suddenly, the sizzle became more important than the steak:
Absolute top car 1954 Entry-level car, Plymouth, top model 1957
Fins didn't last, but Chrysler's new-found reputation for problems did. Warranties were only 90 days/4000 miles back then--but all the claims helped push Chrysler deep into the red for 1958. Chrysler--always the swing producer--was in trouble again:
"The biggest problem is that (the 57 Plymouths) were the worst cars Chrysler ever made. Quality was terrible so every car they sold made an enemy instead of a friend." --Dave Holls, "Collectible Automobile"
Chrysler has had several boom-and-bust cycles and near-death experiences since then. Lots of forgettable-or-worse vehicles too: Aspen, Volare, Aries, Reliant, Omni, Horizon, St. Regis, Sebring, Intrepid. (Intrepid?!)
Plymouth, #3 in 1957 behind Ford and Chevy, is gone now. And we can't forget DeSoto either: The Fireflite, Firesweep and Firedome were all burnt toast by 1960 as the brand was extinguished.
The fins that have come to symbolize Route 66 and "America at the top of its game" actually tell a very different...and very sad...tale. One era had ended and another was underway. From Value to Planned Obsolescence. Steak to Sizzle. American Steel to Rust-Bucket.
Finis.
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THE T-SHIRT NATION
This site offers the most Route 66-related clothing anywhere. The "Exclusive Tee-shirts: Route 66" gallley has more than 300 images. Everything in it is designed and captioned for tees, sweatshirts and tanktops (and optional for other merchandise).
This grows out of a frequent complaint of travelers who encounter the same generic 66 clothing and merchandise from IL to CA. You have to buy your gas and food periodically along the trip--but not your Tees and souvenirs!
Road-related images not taken along The Mother Road have their own category: "Exclusive Tee-shirts: American Roadtrips." Here you will find images from The National Road and various backroads. Plus cars and trucks photographed at random.
Other wide-ranging images (from artistic to downright stupid) mix, mingle and loiter in the gallery "Exclusive Tee-shirts: Other Stuff." All these galleries are easily reached by clicking on "T-shirts" at the top of the home page.
Altogether there are more than 400 clothing-ready images...all available at competitive prices and printed in the USA! USA! (and available worldwide). More are coming, and they will only be available here, so bookmark this site!
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CUSTOM T-SHIRTS
Maybe you'd like an existing clothing image...but with a special caption for your group's Route 66 tour or some other occasion. Or maybe you're a Route 66 group, association, or business in need of special merchandise.
All existing T-shirt images can be custom-captioned. This version can then be listed on the site, ordered by your members, even bulk-shipped for a larger order. The custom-caption is also available for sweatshirts, tanktops, mugs and other merchandise.
But this deal gets even better. Custom-captioned merchandise is available at regular prices...without a captioning fee! Wear custom T-shirts during your Route 66 trip...and continue the bonding experience with custom sweatshirts and coffee mugs for use back home next winter. Remember our motto: "The Group That Orders Sweats Together, Sticks Together!"
Custom-captioning is available now for 2013, 2014 and 2015 trips. Use the page-top "Contact" feature to send an e-mail with your group's name and trip info. There is a minimum order of ten items (in any combination) for custom-captioning.
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EVEN MORE T-SHIRTS
Special captioning is not the only option. Maybe there's an image you want that is not yet configured and captioned for clothing. Use the page-top "Contact" feature to send an e-mail request.
A good photograph doesn't always translate into a good T-shirt. Plus there are complex size and dimensional considerations because of the added caption. But if the T-shirt version can be done, it will be offered to you at regular prices and without a captioning fee! You'll be the first to wear it--and it will then be added to the catalog for others. It will also be available on sweatshirts, tanktops, totebags, mugs and other merchandise.
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SLIDESHOW PROBLEMS
Symptom: A big white screen lurks and lingers on the Home Page, and/or the Slideshow function refuses to work in the galleries.
Diagnosis: You need to install a free program from www.adobe.com. On Adobe's home page, click to download (or get) "Adobe Flash Player." This program is required for viewing many other image-related sites as well.
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THE ROUTE 66 SOUNDTRACK
The real soundtrack of Route 66 wasn't Bobby Troup or Nelson Riddle and their iconic road tunes...but Rock and Roll fading in and out at night over the AM band:
. WLS 890 in Chicago routinely blanketed the Mother Road as far away as OK and TX
. KOMA at 1520 in Oklahoma City covered just about everything from central OK to CA
. So did Wolfman Jack, howling and prowling out of various Mexican border-blaster stations with his own blend of rock and R&B
. Nearing LA, "Boss Radio" KHJ at 930 started coming in around Barstow...and you felt you were practically on the beach!
Of these, only KOMA is still playing the hits of the Route 66 era...on FM. Live audio is at www.komaradio.com. If you're surfing rt66pix.com and don't already have music, this will enhance your "66 Experience" from the heart of the Mother Road.
WLS, The Wolfman, and KHJ are available on DJ airchecks, with audio quality ranging from good to wretched. Many of these are only a few minutes long, have most of the songs removed...and cost money. A few sites to explore are:
www.wolfmanjack.org www.reelradio.com www.airchexx.com www.musicradiowls.andmuchmore.com www.93khj.blogspot.com
Rock On With Your Bad Self!
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WHICH IS IT: rt66pix.com OR route66pix.com
In the greatest example of co-branding and synergy since Piggly hooked-up with Wiggly, both domain names are registered here to eliminate possible confusion. Also competition.
There's one site and it has the shorter name: www.rt66pix.com which conveniently appears on Tee-shirts and related merchandise.
Entering it on the keyboard either way will take you here. Just remember the "pix" part.
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BLUE WHALE BLUES
"Be prepared and you will be lucky." --the I Ching
The Blue Whale of Catoosa OK produced nothing but failed images the first half-dozen trips. But they revealed something critically important: only the whale's eye and extreme tip of the smile are necessary. The mind will fill in the rest.
I saw no point in taking yet another "postcard" shot of the Blue Whale: the eastern profile in morning light with nobody around. While lovely in a way, it's also sterile--and odd considering the subject matter. Plus it's been imitated by thousands of tourists on their cellphones (some from a moving vehicle). Instead I wanted to capture two unique scenes:
1) A single unposed tourist walking into the whale's grinning mouth, with their head cut off by the whale's upper lip. This is, after all, the Blue Whale, not the Alamo.
2) A child (or children) somehow engaging with the whale's face. The problem here is one of scale...but there was a way around that.
I stopped by yet again with a wide-angle zoom. The timing must have been lucky. A lone tourist walked into the whale's mouth, and I photographed her, purse swinging, one foot up--and headless--just as planned. (This image leads off the "Fun!" page.)
But good luck was just beginning. The woman's granddaughter was already inside the whale, climbing to the upper deck. She was having a...whale...of a good time, and a tight candid shot taken 46 seconds later shows her in sharp detail with just the whale's eye and smile tip--the result of all those failures. Early-afternoon sun (luck again) spotlights the girl and amplifies her by casting a shadow. And more luck--her smile, visible only as a tip, matches the whale's. A final piece of luck: the sun catches the very tip of the whale's embossed smile and highlights it. (This image is in the Home Page Slideshow.)
A longer-view candid shot, the only unplanned one, shows a front view of the whale's head with the girl again peeking out.
All three unique images at this cliched and over-photographed site occurred within an extremely-lucky minute...because of failures that turned out to be necessary preparation.
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NEON LIVES HERE
I generally don't take "straight" photographs of working neon signs because they're widely available elsewhere.
Instead, I like to let neon lure me in--like an insect--to its fantastic whirl of shapes and colors. I experience a sensory overload in my bug-brain. A "buzz" if you will. I attempt to capture this light show up-close with oblique angles, strong diagonals, reflections, solarization, even broken glass. Whatever works, works for me.
Perhaps the most unusual images to date capture both sides of signs, and their glowing poles. They include "Pole Position" from the Sunset Motel in MO and "Luna Cafe Neon and Pole" from IL. The first basks in red neon, the second in near-white.
Both were taken from the vantage point a mesmerized bug might have during the one summer of its brief life.
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ROUTE 66, INTERSTATE 0
A Google search for this phrase on September 17, 2011 finds a single result--this website--so I'm assuming it's original. I like it for the momentary confusion it causes before someone realizes: "Oh yeah, it's like a sports score of 66-0. The Interstate can't compete because it doesn't have scenery."
I'm using "Route 66, Interstate 0" on several Tee-shirts but won't seek trademark protection. The phrase is available to any Mother Road organization that wants to use it in promotions.
Earlier versions of this idea come from novelist John Steinbeck in 1962 and journalist Charles Kuralt in 1990. Their very similar quotes are about driving the Interstates without seeing anything. A great summary is at www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/first.cfm. (Thanks to Richard Weingroff)
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NOT FOR SALE
Several images are currently not available for sale as photographs or merchandise. This list will certainly grow.
In "Elvis, Marilyn & Shadows" dawn lighting on pop-culture statues creates potential meanings and insights far different than anyone intended. (The silly caption may distract younger viewers--there really is a huge insect on his forehead.)
"Bill's 57 Chevy & Movie Stars," "Tow Mater & Bill's 57 Chevy," "Tow Tater (Tow Mater) Mailbox," and "Easy Riders" also show contexts never intended by their creators.
I believe all these images are "derivative and transformative works of art" that--in their new context--comment on the original figures or use them as surrogates. I also believe that selling prints would qualify as "fair use" under US Copyright law.
Unfortunately, the law is highly ambiguous and open to widely varying interpretations as several recent court cases have shown. If you get sued by a Fortune 500 company, legal expenses alone make you a loser--regardless of what the court decides. The law therefore subtly favors incumbent Copyright holders who realize the mere threat to sue is often enough to prevail.
So just enjoy these images for free, because you can't buy 'em. (Is there a chill in here, or is it just me?)
More info: www.chillingeffects.org
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GUILTY, WITH AN EXPLANATION
Some things on rt66pix.com look better than you will see them on a typical Route 66 trip.
Take "USA Steel & Rust" from the opening slideshow. Captioning indicates this was taken in strong sunlight after rain. Directional sun creates all-important shadows, moisture creates deep coloring in the metal. On an ordinary day, in ordinary light, the 1929 steel is almost as dull as the paint. And letter "U" is very hard to spot without the shadow.
Many good photographs, both here and elsewhere, take advantage of unusual lighting and/or weather conditions. Many are made within an hour of sunrise or sunset, even if the sun is not in the image. Mid-day in mid-summer, the peak of Route 66 travel, is generally the worst time for photography--especially from OK westward. There's just too much sun!
Some scenes change over time or disappear. Take an extreme case--the Sidewalk Highway around Afton and Narcissa OK. During 2011 two things happened: (1) A lovely stone marker was installed describing the pavement's historic significance and (2) Nearly all the historic pavement was buried under dirt and stone, plus crude grading tore up chunks of original asphalt!
So enjoy the pretty marker...because the Sidewalk Highway is now largely a dirt road. (Two images on rt66pix.com were made before the desecration, and "Traffic on Sidewalk Highway" shows a short remaining paved section.)
In a more typical example, the 1949 Nash Airflyte that's the opening thumbnail for the "Rusted & Busted" gallery got hauled away. So rt66pix.com is now inadvertently promoting an attraction that's no longer there. Other things fall down, get demolished or fenced off. Some things even get painted! It's impossible to keep up with all of it.
So the plea is "Guilty, With an Explanation" for showing Route 66 and other locations better than you will likely see them. This is neither fair nor balanced...but it can't be helped.
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THE 1957 CHEVY (AND RELATED PROBLEMS)
Chevy's first tailfin is simply too popular for its own good. 57s are at every car show and everyone with a cellphone has snapped their picture. There's no point in adding to this glut, and certainly no point in taking the 49,863rd best image of anything!
But how do you show the 57 in a fresh way? Hasn't it all been done by now?
This conundrum suddenly resolved itself just after dawn one morning at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari NM. Strong directional sunlight penetrating deep into a garage newly-painted with murals offered up "Bill's 57 Chevy & Movie Stars." I moved around a little, composed, and captured it.
Bill's 57 shows just a single white fin against a deep shadow. Your brain fills in the rest. Strong light and other distinct shadows frame two stars of the "Cars" movies as they smile and view the (implied) Chevy in awe. Perhaps, like us, they are just admiring a classic...or perhaps there's a challenge coming to drag race. Trying to decipher this quirky image is part of what makes it work.
This sums up what I am trying to do on this site: offer unique images from Rt 66 or other locations on the American Road. If it's something others have shot (the 57 Chevy is a perfect example) my concept, composition, lighting etc. should be among the very best--otherwise, why bother?
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FAVORITE IMAGES OF FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Nobody asked, but here are my picks for the single best images by the five photographers I most admire:
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WALKER EVANS: Best-known for his portraits of Depression-era sharecroppers, Evans also had an eye for vernacular signs, and kept making these images through much of his long career. He had a wonderful talent for extracting a beautiful fragment from often banal surroundings. A particular favorite is "Roadside Gas Sign (1929)" which simply reads "gas A" in sloppy paint over what appears to be a billboard ad. Evans would have loved today's Route 66, especially the Cadillac and VW Bug Ranches. I think the Rt 66 images "Drive Fast, Take Chances," "Jesus on Under-Carriage," "Gas C" and "Stop, FAKE!" follow in his footsteps. He would certainly have taken them--only better.
The book American Photographs surveys his long and varied career, and the book Walker Evans Signs is also valuable.
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EDWARD WESTON: It's hard to pass over his iconic images of peppers and shells which command high prices today, but my favorite individual work would be "Wheels and Hill, San Juan 1934." Two weathered wagon wheels appear beautifully framed against the backdrop of a hillside in perfect light. Weston also photographed clouds, artistic ruins, graffiti, even the sensuous curves of his toilet--while living the life of a starving artist just one rung above a professional poet. Once his peppers were photographed, they had to be cut up and eaten.
Many books survey Weston's long career and it's hard to recommend a particular one. (There seems to be a general agreement however on which of his images are the best.) The Daybooks of Edward Weston, a condensation of his diaries, is also worthwhile but depressing.
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HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON: His "Untitled, 1956" is not a very good title--but the image is a stunner. A young man in laborer's clothing stands with his back to us. His lovely wife holds up a beaming chubby baby who is making eye contact with the father. Grandma and two family dogs complete the image--which (although spontaneous) is perfectly posed and captured at the decisive moment. And it all happens on a riverboat, framed by the dock. His images are simply packed with humanity and the joy of living.
The best survey book of his long career is his own The Decisive Moment. A favorite that is not well known is Henri Cartier-Bresson Mexican Notebooks which shows his skill in creating signature images in a society very different from his native France.
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GRACIELLA ITURBIDE: The image "Mujer angel (Angel woman), Sonora Desert, 1979" is one of her better-known and appears in the book Images of the Spirit. It shows, from the back, a veiled Mexican Indian woman in flowing garments climbing a desert hillside...while clutching a boombox. This is a fascinating view of several cultures clashing and melding on the border between civilizations.
Iturbide's ongoing work, largely in her native Mexico, would appear to have little to do with Rt 66...except that it does. Clashing and melding occur as shiny finned Cadillacs become scrap metal, and full-service gas stations where they filled up become artistic ruins along bypassed concrete. Like "Mujer angel" they speak to us of the past, while trapped and out-of-context in the present.
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ROBERT FRANK: Many others would probably make the same choice I have. It comes from his landmark 1959 book The Americans (which has recently been reprinted) and is titled "Trolley--New Orleans." In this single image, Frank captured the 1950s in the segregated south (and, in a different way, the north). Each window of the trolley frames and imprisons a segment of that rigidly stratified society at a telling moment. In capturing such "ordinary" scenes nationwide, he creates a mosaic of American life at a time when Route 66 was the only way to go.
The entire book is simply packed with great images captured in a style that was revolutionary (and condemned) in its day. The critics, who preferred sunsets and puppies, were dead wrong. The Americans changed the history of American photography.
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Other influential photographers include Aaron Siskind, William Eggleston, Harry Callahan, Galen Rowell and Weegee.
Several Route 66 image sites are listed at www.route66news.com. Scroll way down the right-hand side to "Photographs."
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SHORT ATTENTION SPANS
During Spring 2011 I photographed along old US 80 through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. I then went to Atlanta for a Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the High Museum of Art, where some 300 of his images were on display.
Cartier-Bresson is famous for shooting at "The Decisive Moment" when the scene was at its peak. Many of his photographs are icons. How long would you think an art-museum patron would stay engaged with these images?
I was shocked...SHOCKED!
Exhibit-goers paid good money, $18. in my case, or were already museum members. In short, this was a self-selecting group of adults with many other options on a beautiful Saturday morning...and (importantly) no time pressures.
At one point, I sat for half-an-hour on a bench observing dozens of people engaged with two of Cartier-Bresson's best-known images:
. (Kissing the ring of) Cardinal Pacelli at Montmartre, Paris, 1938.
. Gymnastics in a refugee camp at Kurukshetra, Punjab, India, 1948
The time an average Atlanta museum-goer spent with either image was just three seconds, and that includes the captioning. Three seconds! The maximum time anybody spent was five seconds. It was just a quick glance and they were on to something else.
I know how long I spend looking at my own photographs, but the subject matter is obviously of personal interest, along with execution and other technical factors. I also seeing the work of many others, and can spend several minutes exploring and enjoying nuances of a well-done image.
But that's not normal. A quick peek IS. Cartier-Bresson's images don't jump, twitch and jiggle. And his greatest, including the two above, are only black and white...just like an old TV set.
We really have been overloaded with visual images, especially the moving kind, these last several decades. And it shows. For most art-lovers in Atlanta that morning, their personal "decisive moment" came after three-seconds. And then they demanded new stimuli.
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EQUIPMENT NOTES
There's a reason this is the last entry--it's boring and highly-detailed. But it may be worthwhile for those considering a camera purchase and/or eager to go beyond snapshots.
All images until 2010 were shot on a manual focus aperture-priority Nikon from the 1970s, using slow Fuji or Kodak negative film--either 100 or 200 ASA. I used three lenses about equally: 24mm and 28mm primes, and a 35-70 zoom. I also carried and generally used a lightweight modified Quantaray tripod. (Film images appear on photo information as "Plustek" which is actually the negative scanner, an OpticFilm 7200i.)
The opening slideshow image "Miata Sunset" was shot with this equipment in the summer of 2010. This image and many others on the site are simply not possible to make--film or digital--without a tripod. So get one! This is the biggest insight I have, and certainly the most cost-effective at $25+ from Walmart etc., so perhaps you want to stop reading now before it gets expensive.
I continued shooting film so late because of its incredible detail. I already owned all the equipment I needed and my shooting methods worked just fine. Going digital would cost thousands simply to equal the quality, would make my existing equipment obsolete, and would change my work habits.
Experimenting with a loaned digital camera, I discovered limitations...and possibilities. A few of these images are here, including one of the thumbnails--"Support Group."
My subsequent digital purchases have turned out well. I settled on a pair of Nikons, continuing my nearly 30-year relationship with the brand. There's some loyalty involved, but Nikon (which abandoned film camera manufacture years ago) simply had what I wanted in digital:
. Coolpix S8100, purchased largely for its size: a US-style cigarette pack. This fits in a hardshell case in my pants pocket but packs over 12 MP and will store 1100 or so JPEG images in highest resolution. Limitations include a lens that only widens to the film equivalent of 30mm, no viewfinder, and no RAW.
Still, the S8100 is awesome for its size, and whenever I leave rt66pix.com World Headquarters it comes with me. To test it out, all the glowing neon on the site from Rt 66 in Tucumcari and Santa Rosa NM was shot on this little camera, tripod-mounted, along with the technically challenging "Bill's 57 and Movie Stars" which was hand-held.
The lack of a viewfinder helps at times by encouraging spontaneous, even frivolous shooting. The image is not composed but captured, and sometimes those shots actually work--such as the thumbnail for the "Street Snaps" gallery. Plus the many failures don't cost 50-cents apiece as they did on film. This apparent "snapshot" camera is also useful in situations where big equipment would be too obvious.
RECOMMENDATION: A 12 MP point-and-shoot like the Nikon Coolpix S8100 or something similar is all the camera most people will ever need--or be able to master. It's great for snapshots and good for most artistic images, assuming a tripod is used and care is taken in composition. DSLRs, even entry-level, are heavier, costlier, filled with buttons, dials and programs, and require regular use to gain and maintain competency.
. D7000 with Nikon 16-85 VR lens. The lens decision came first, the camera choice followed. As mentioned, I used a 24mm prime lens for about one-third of my film work, and was not willing to abandon that range in going digital. Problem is, most digital zooms only widen to 18 (the film equivalent of 27mm). The Nikon 16-85 VR has an effective range of 24-127mm. That deceptively small difference at the wide end makes a huge difference when composing an image.
The D7000 was purchased body-only. This DSLR packs over 16 MP, shoots RAW plus JPEG, has dual card-slots and a titanium-alloy housing. The Vibration Reduction feature on the lens allows infinitely greater low-light flexibility and capability than I had before. With slow-speed film and a tripod you were limited by the resolving power of your lens. With the big sensor and a VR lens, plus a tripod when needed, the limiting factor now is...(ulp) ME.
The D7000 became my primary camera in 2011. Technically challenging images to date include "Pole Position" and "USA Steel & Rust" both tripod-mounted, and "Wheeling Suspension Bridge-Sunset" which was hand-held leaning over a railing. Other images include the Blue Whale of Catoosa and Smiley-Face Water Tower shots.
The 16-85 VR is, and will likely continue to be, my only lens for the D7000. In film work I never felt the need for anything wider. And I simply don't work at the telephoto end. A UV filter and lens hood stay on for lens and flare protection. A Hoya ND8 replaces the UV for work in bright sun...there's plenty of that on Rt 66.
Memory-cards include a pair of SanDisk 16GB SDHCs for the S8100 and four Lexar 32GB Platinum II SDHCs for the D7000. These are Nikon-approved and have been trouble-free. Each card holds about 1000 images (highest-quality JPEGs in the S8100, RAW in the D7000).
I still carry the lightweight Quantaray tripod for critical daytime work such as chrome details. Modifications include a strap handle, ordinary "pipe wrap" on the aluminum legs, a bag hook, and Velcro tie-strap that lets it function as a monopod. Nicely-equipped, it weighs 1 lb 10 oz, (725 g)--just slightly more than a loaf of bread!
An 8+ pound (3.7 kg) all-aluminum tripod combo (the Manfrotto 055xProB with 808RC4 3-way head) is always in the car trunk for night work, light-painting, and time exposures. I need all that weight in perpetually windy places like the Cadillac Ranch. I added a Velcro monopod tie-strap and a carrying handle. The built-in bag hook is too small (the only complaint), so I hook together a pair of 8mm carabiners, one on the tripod's handle attachment, the other on the bag handle.
Both tripods are stored in their own carrying cases.
And finally, a homemade bean-bag the size of a softball (made from a sock and styrofoam beads) has braced the camera a dozen times right on the pavement of 66, the car roof and so on.
Other significant gear includes a lightweight knee-pad for low angles, and a folding metal step-stool (kept in the trunk) that lets me be 8-feet (2.4 m) tall when needed...like for some of the "Cold Beer" shots and "Stop Littering Your Desert." The stool has been modified with a rubber mount on top that accepts either tripod configured as a monopod.
I don't travel with a computer. A pocket notebook and mechanical pencil (ballpoints dry up) allow for location notes. A small cosmetics brush in a vinyl zip-pouch removes inevitable dust and specks from the glass on both cameras. It's much handier than lens paper. One brush-and-pouch stays with the D7000 and the other is kept in the center armrest of my car, mainly for the S8100.
A Cobra rechargeable 18-LED light, slave flash, and ordinary 6V lantern (along with a vinyl shower-cap for a diffuser!) are used in light-painting, time-exposures and the like. A 2-AA Maglite can be focused to pick out highlights, such as the grille and chrome on "66 GTO at Pops." And my car's headlights have been used a time or two. I haven't used colored gels, and almost never use on-camera flash or related attachments.
The camera, filters and other essentials are kept in a nylon shoulder bag purchased a decade ago from Ritz Camera. There's no recommendation on this essential item because models constantly change. Bag construction, suitability, size and weight can only be judged through in-store inspection and comparison. I added a Tenba accessory shoulder pad that has been worth whatever it cost.
When traveling by car, this over-the-shoulder bag containing the D7000 and other gear is kept in a large Coleman beverage-cooler, modified with several inches of foam rubber. This is padded outside with carpet and secured to trunk-mounts with heavy Velcro straps, providing a great deal of thermal and shock protection. The camera is in a controlled environment, but closer to ambient air temperature than it would be in the passenger compartment, generally eliminating condensation problems.
This cooler also has color-coded vinyl pouches for the battery chargers on both cameras, plus the Cobra 18-LED. They are kept in individual zip-lock bags. Another pouch carries lighting gear listed above.
Non-camera equipment is from Lowe's and Walmart, modification gear from Lowe's. The Cobra light was discovered by chance at a truck stop.
As for post-production, I use a relatively simple program--Photoshop Elements, because most images are not manipulated. Some images are cropped to various degrees. All are adjusted for exposure and sharpness.
Years ago, in the film era, equipment and technical notes from the late Galen Rowell helped me greatly. My purchase and extensive use of a 24mm prime lens, on his recommendation, is just one example that is still relevant today. Galen Rowell's stunning "adventure photography" images live on at www.mountainlight.com. I hope these notes prove useful and carry on his tradition of sharing.