Eye Scene: Photographer, Ryuichi Oshimoto Travels with Sigma Camera & Lenses

If you look for Route 66 on a typical map, there are numerous green dots on the northern side indicating the scenic locations. Your eye naturally follows the path of Route 66, where it intersects Interstate Highway 40 in Kingman and curves drastically in the northern direction into Seligman.

Whenever I drove through Highway 40 I was always interested in this section of Route 66. For the sole purpose of driving on this road, I left my house near Los Angeles International Airport at five in the morning. After driving north on Interstate Highway 15, I switched over to Interstate 40 at Barstow and continued east. Four hours and 300 miles later, I traveled through Colorado into Arizona. On this bright sunny day, the blue color reflecting from the Colorado River looked exceptionally beautiful from the highway. I spontaneously got off of the highway and pointed the lens at the Colorado River.
 

I arrived at Kingman in about fifty minutes from the Colorado River. The Route 66 museum was on the right hand side as soon I as I exited the highway. A row of lodges lined down the street and after driving slowly through the Route 66 themed town, I enter open land.

In this area, there is nothing that obstructs sunlight or wind. It was the second week of June and the car thermometer read 93°F. A strong gust of wind blew through the land. Unlike the highway, we can park on the shoulder at anytime, so I frequently stopped the car to step outside. Every time I opened the door slightly, the wind would push the door wide open. The wind was so strong that I was afraid the door would snap right off. Occasionally villages were seen, so there were signs of human existence, but what had the biggest impact were the railroad tracks seen on the right hand side during most of the drive.

Driving thirty miles from Kingman, the Hackberry General Store and Visitor’s Center displaying antique cars, signs and gasoline pumps comes into view on the left hand side. Drivers coming from the eastern or western direction would barely miss this store. The center was filled with tourists, who looked at a red 1957 corvette while eating ice cream and resting. I could hear languages other than English being spoken. I was certain this road was one of the most famous roads in the world as evidence to all the foreign tourists visiting.

Hackberry in 1882 was where cattle from the surrounding farms and silver from the Hackberry silver mine (closed in 1919) was transported from and it was one of the most important communities at the time. This store once provided merchandise to Hackberry and although presently the owner and the functions are different, the store provides a collection of vintage products, a recollection of the old days, for view.

Leaving Hackberry afterwards, the strong winds subsided and driving on the well-paved roads were effortless. It was a comfortable drive while catching sight of the hills and fields. A former brick making school building in a small community called Valentine and the northern landscape seen from the fields were burned into my memory. I arrive at Peach Springs and see an interesting looking abandoned gas station, but there were two cars parked there, so I drove off without taking any photos.

I drove 90 miles from Kingman and arrived at Seligman. There were more than ten motorcycles parked in front of a rather flashy souvenir shop. The shop seems like it went back in time with all the retro displays and instead of just taking a rest stop, I feel like spending the night here. The tourists eating late lunches didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave.

On this day it seemed like I was the only impatient person there. The map indicated that there were several sightseeing spots extending out of Seligman and intersecting Interstate Highway 40. I drove in that direction, but the intersection came pretty quickly. There were two roads splitting from Seligman and since there are no clear markings, it was easy to go the wrong way. There are some maps that designate both roads at Route 66. I went back to Seligman to go back on the supposedly real Route 66 and headed east.

Most tourists drove to Highway 40 just like I did, so there were almost no cars or motorcycles. It was a peaceful driving course. At the intersection of Highway 40, my planned drive ended here. I could have travelled on to Highway 40, but I went back on Route 66.

The time I headed back west on the road I was originally travelling on, was already six in the evening. Route 66, constructed on November 11, 1926, connecting from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, spanning 2400 miles. Just like the song, it should probably be driven from the east to west. This was the thought I had as I watched the beautiful sunset to Seligman. Returning to Peach Springs, the abandoned gas station that I wanted to photograph during the day had been immersed in a warm lighting from the sunset. Although the sun had set, the western sky was still glowing and heading toward the sunset, I seemed to melt into the sky.

All artwork on this page was processed from RAW data (X3F) with Sigma PhotoPro software.  After processing, some selected images were imported into retouching software to remove dust.  This photo essay is currently running on Sigma Japan's site and it is published here two months later.