When I was a kid my parents took my sisters and I on quite a few road trips. For the most part I enjoyed them, though I do recall becoming VERY annoyed with my dad, who would every once in awhile pull the minivan off the road to stop and take photos of broken fences and old barns. I remember waiting disgruntled inside the van with my sisters “PPPSSSHHH! It’s a BROKEN barn! The PAINT is peeling off!! Why is he taking pictures of THAT!!??”
Last week my mom and I (and my two boys!!!) drove to Albuquerque to visit my grandmother in the hospital. Each morning on our way to the hospital we passed the same old motel signs and cracked sidewalks. I found myself looking at them like my dad used to look at old barns…and I wanted to stop and take photos SOOO bad. I finally got a chance an hour before we left Saturday morning. Had I not been handing Colin and James an endless supply of gummi bears, I’m sure they’d have been complaining the same way I used to…”WHY is she taking a picture of THAT???” I don’t know…I guess I am my dad’s daughter. Sometimes ugly things are absolutely beautiful.
*and to all those who sent me emails while I was away….I will be spending tomorrow catching up on email replys, so check your inbox soon!
those pictures are really GORGEOUS!!
n the skies r just lovely!
great work!
Sweet story! Awesome pics! Gummi bears rock! V
Ang! You have an eye for this kind of photography, which I happen to enjoy tinkering with when I have the time… My problem is that I usually have to switch that part of my brain on!
You appear to be one of those special individuals (we’ll just call them ‘photographers’) for whom that part of thier brain is always on, and thier eye spots the connections and the perspectives that others miss.
That said, if you enjoy the opportunity to capture beautiful, ugly things, you should take a trip down historic Route 66 and pass through Flagstaff, AZ and head west across the high scrub desert of that part of the state. Places like Williams, just past which you pass out of pine forest (which is just high desert) and come into the breathtaking wide open scrub country. Headed west, this country seems impossibly huge and endless, as you head down a very gradual slope that flattens out finally 20 or 30 miles away. I remember one spot along I40, which follows old Route 66 just to the south, just outside Ash Fork, AZ, that has just this kind of breathtaking view.
And then you have the town of Ash Fork, itself, and places beyond it like Seligman, where the same kind of rustic, lonely beauty abounds that you and your Dad seem to enjoy capturing. That part of the country around Route 66 is a photographer’s smorgasboard.
For that matter, so is the entire state of Arizona. Although I would stay out of Phoenix and surrounding communities. They are a sprawling mass of humanity from one side of the valley to the other, thanks to a mass migration of people from Southern California and the eastern seaboard. Mesa, however, where the temple is located (which is one of I believe two of the Mormon temples based off of ancient lamanite design in it’s large, square format) is worth a visit. They have managed to preserve much of the old historic downtown district around the temple. It is a beautiful place to explore, and beauty is a photographers’ stock & trade.
Sorry… I have turned what should have been a short comment into a travel log & an endorsement of most everything AZ. But there you go. Call me sometime and I will give you my recommendations if you decide to do it.
P.S. I hope your Gramma is OK.