No-Mo Motel (For Grown Ups)
In November 2022, I spent four nights in Tucumcari, New Mexico. My plan was to photograph the vintage motels and other buildings along Route 66. If you want to really experience some of what Route 66 looked like, Tucumcari is the place to visit — it’s almost like a trip back in time — in a good way!
One night after dark, I was driving through town with another photographer that I had met earlier that day. We saw a partially burned-out Motel sign and pulled over to photograph it. I noticed that a nearby building had a flashing sign that said, among other things, “For Grown Ups”. I lined that sign up with the partially burned-out Motel sign and timed the exposure to catch the “For Grown Ups” words. The red neon gave a nice glow to an otherwise dark photo. I really like this composition. I submitted this photo to a local photography contest, and it was picked for display during the show.
For the past year or so, I have really enjoyed photographing motels. I’ve just returned from a trip to Wildwood, New Jersey where I photographed mid-century motels along the Jersey shore. I’ll be sharing some of those photos after I’ve had a chance to process them.
