| R O U T E 6 6 - black and white infrared film project In 1995, I literally stumbled across Route 66 for the first time during a cross-country road trip. Before I saw the Route 66 sign on the Arizona highway that day, I didn't even know that it still existed. During that trip, I was shooting a roll of Kodak HIE black and white infrared (IR) film for the very first time. As soon as I got that first contact sheet back from the lab, I was totally hooked. I loved the grainy, surreal look of the film, and felt it helped convey the sense of wonder I experienced in the California desert landscape (which was, for this Canadian Maritimer, definitely surreal). It was 2004 before I got back to Route 66. After shooting in Joshua Tree National Park, I drove up to Amboy and was stunned with what I saw posted at the landmark Roy's Cafe/Motel: a sign that announced, "Town for Sale". I photographed the deserted stretch of Route 66 between Needles and Daggett on that trip, and returned whenever I was in the area on other shoots. At the end of 2007, Kodak discontinued HIE, and I bought up whatever stock I could afford. I always thought that, given its haunting quality, HIE would be a perfect film to document the abandoned places along Route 66. When Kodak stopped making it, I knew I had to use my remaining stock for that project: an obsolete road, captured on an obsolete film. In 2009 I finally drove the whole
of Route 66, and am still processing those pictures. For now, here are
some images from California's desert stretch of Route 66 shot on HIE film
up to Jan.2009. This work was featured in an exhibition called "Town
for Sale" at the CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival in May 2009. |
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black and white infrared photos (HIE film)
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"Town for Sale" exhibition in the media
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"Town for Sale" - CONTACT: Toronto Photography Festival - May 2009
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