Route 66 - California!

Andy and the Pacific!

The final state on the official Route 66 trek is California. Upon crossing the border, we drove through some really, really, hot, as in 114 degrees, heat. We passed through the tiny town of Barstow, which is tucked in the middle of the scariest mountains I have ever driven on since Alaska, where I took this:



And then passed by this old volcano:



That evening, we made it to the very end, in one piece, and lived to tell the tale! We reached the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Pier kind of late, so we saw it quickly just to touch home base, got dinner at a great Indian restaurant a block away, and then sought lodging at the Pacific Sands Motel, which was right across the street from the pier. The decor left something to be desired, and I know for a fact it has been at least since the mid 80's that anything in that room has been replaced. How do I know this? I usually draw something on the bottoms of the drawers of the places where I spend the night to mark that I have been there, and for the first time in over a decade of doing this, I ran into another signature... Jill & Robert from May 2, 1987. Yeah. I had to share my drawer space with them. But that's okay... I wonder where they are now? I drew a picture of Andy's running shoes on my half of the drawer on July 8, 2008.

The next morning we wandered around the pier and I took these:











Then we checked out of the motel and drove up Route 1, where I took these:





We found a place to camp along the beach, which was awesome because we could walk to the ocean and then retreat to our tent.

Amy:



Andy:





Later that evening it got cold, so we lit a campfire and I got to wear my new (used) jeans and lime green pumas that I picked up at a Goodwill store near the pier. We then took lots of photos with our respective cameras. I posted a few at the beginning of my 66 posts of me by the fire, as well as of Josh and Amy. This one of Andy taken with my Holga was also from that same session.



The next morning we woke up and headed for Las Vegas, which will be the next post in this installment: Nevada!

Route 66 - Arizona

Jack Rabbit Trading Post - Joseph City, Arizona

After traveling through New Mexico, we hit Arizona, which was full of some wonderful things. We stayed at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, which had classic cars parked outside each wigwam. I took some Holga photos of those cars, and two of them are here:





I got a cool vintage bracelet in an antique shop in Williams, which had this skull out front:



Josh, on a pit stop on our journey through the painted desert:



The meteor crater - I got a cool shirt from here, but had to buy the children's size medium. Apparently, they think adults are huge!:



Another image outside the Jack Rabbit Trading Post in Joseph City:



Next up: California, and the end of Route 66!
(but not the end of the trip... we traveled Nevada as well before heading home...)

Route 66 - New Mexico

Tucumcari, New Mexico

The next state on our Route 66 journey was New Mexico. I don't have any Holga shots from this state, since mostly it was just desert and landscape type scenes, which didn't really suit my Holga style. So the XPan got used heavily on this leg of the trip.

We visited a state park that had a lot of Laguna Indian ruins, and it was pretty cool. The next few photos are from that park:










A random rest area / gift shop haven on the side of the road:


Around an old church in Laguna, New Mexico:





Next state up: Arizona!

More Contest Wins - Lucky #7!

Well, this has been a good month for contests. I just found out that I placed 2 of my images in the latest ISPWP contest (that's International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers). Both images received 7th place (lucky 7!). This contest deadline was just before I left for my Route 66 trip, so I literally just blazed through my 2008 wedding images and grabbed two that I thought would work with the categories at hand. Seeing as how I only entered 2 images, I think I did pretty well there!

First up was Candid Portrait, which I made at Annie and Matt's wedding at Baker Park in Frederick back in April:



And next is Reception (Not Dancing) which is an image I made while second shooting with Allison of A Britton Photography for Jordan and Tim's wedding this past June:



See the rest of the winners by category here: ISPWP Quarter 2, 2008 Contest

About the ISPWP:
To become a member, a photographer needs to have at least 2 years of experience, have shot at least 40 weddings as the primary photographer, have references from a current ISPWP member, have no outstanding issues with the BBB or similar, and conduct business according to the ISPWP code of ethics. So ISPWP photographers are some of the best around, and I am proud to be in their company!

Wedcomp - Winner!

Okay, so I know 3 posts in one day is a bit excessive, but I just found out that I placed 5th in the Reception category of the last Wedcomp contest. The winning image is from Jennifer and Matt's wedding that took place last October at the Peabody Library in Baltimore. Here's what the judges had to say:

Sure it has been done before, but this is one of the best "Cake sharp/everything else blurry panning shots" I have seen...the lights in the background and the color only add too it.

See the page with the rest of the winners here: Wedcomp - Reception Winners

Route 66 - Texas XPan II Images

This post is a continuation of the last one, only these are my XPan II images made in Texas during our Route 66 trip.

We camped out in Amarillo, but before we set up the tent we headed down the road to check out the famed Cadillac Ranch. Again, I had seen photos, but really... 10 Cadillacs sticking partway out of the ground and covered in inches thick of spray paint is not something you get to see everyday!



This is apparently the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. It is located in Groom, Texas:



We also saw McLean Texas, and stopped into the Route 66 Museum they had there. These photos were taken while wandering the streets nearby:







And these two photos are of part of the historic Historic Route 66. It was right next to the road we were traveling, but all grown over and hardly even a road anymore. The reason we stopped here was because we saw a roadrunner dart across the road and we followed him. Yes, he looked a lot like the Warner Bros. Roadrunner, but not blue.
:-)



And this is the actual "Mother Road" we were traveling on:



And that's it for Texas! Next up: New Mexico...

Route 66 - Texas Holgas

McLean, Texas

I'm breaking the Texas portion of our Route 66 trip into two posts because I have a lot of XPan shots that would have totaled over 10 images if I combined them! So, I give you my Texas Holga images! Below were all taken at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. That's Josh & Amy posing next to the Cadillacs.
:-)







Next up: Texas XPan II images!

Route 66 - Oklahoma

Sapulpa, Oklahoma

After briefly traveling through Kansas, we made our way through Oklahoma. The owners of the place we stopped at in Kansas told us about how the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Oklahoma, recently burned down, so we stopped there to get some photos of the remains:









Then we stopped by Catoosa to check out the giant blue whale. It was originally used as a diving platform, but the pond it is in is kind of rank and really can't be used safely for swimming, so now it's just a tourist attraction. That's Andy with his arms up on the tail fin diving platform:



We stopped in Tulsa on the first night in Oklahoma to visit and stay with fellow photographer John Lew. John and family were awesome, and we had a great time playing Guitar Hero (or trying to!) and Lego Star Wars. It's really sad when a 5 year old beats the adults at Guitar Hero! John took this photo of us as we left his place to head across the rest of the state:



Before leaving Tulsa, we visited the Oral Roberts University and took some photos of the giant praying hands:





Later on in the day we stopped at the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma. It was pretty neat to see everything divided by decade, and they had period music playing in each room. Below are a few photos of the old signs they salvaged from along the route:




So that about wraps up my film shots from Oklahoma. Next up: Texas!