Wildwood on Cinestill 800T
A year ago,I traveled to Wildwood New Jersey to photograph some of the many mid-century beach motels that are located there. My travels were in part motivated by the book Out of Season:The Vanishing Architecture of the Wildwoods by Mark Havens. Havens spent a decade documenting the motels, and the collected photographs are superb. My trip was in early November, when the bulk of the motels were closed. While this was great for getting shots with no people in them, it also meant that the neon signs which many motels have were not lit. I decided to return to photograph some of the signs.
After last year’s visit, I realized that the tourist season in Wildwood has mostly wound down by October 15. I decided to travel slightly before then, hoping more motels would be open. When I arrived on a Saturday afternoon, there was a lot going — in particular, a classic car show. In fact, it was a little too busy! The next night, however, things calmed down quite a bit and I shot a couple of rolls of Cinestill 800t, a film that I thought would look good with neon signs.
Here’s a few of the signs I captured. The Aztec Motel has a wonderful sign, and I took this photo after the sun set, with a bit of blue color still left in the sky.
The Caribbean Motel is on the National Register of Historic Places. This photo is a tad underexposed and grainy, but I do like the way it turned out:
A vintage pickup truck was parked in front of the sign for the Pink Champagne Motel, so I tried to incorporate that into the photo:
