Roy’s Airport

Roy's Airport. (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X100VI; 1/480th sec. @ f/8; ISO 250

While on my recent coast-to-coast road trip, loosely following Route 66 west, one of the places I wanted to be sure to visit was Roy’s Motel and Cafe in Amboy, California.  I missed it the prior two Route 66 trip I had made.  You can see a couple of my images of the place here.  Upon arrival, I was surprised to also see “Roy’s Airport” behind the motel, service station and cafe complex.  

There wasn’t much to see except one small building adorned with the name in bright red lettering.  The only “runway” I saw was a place cleared of the desert vegetation to the left of the building.   There wasn’t much to it but the light was so dramatic I had to make several exposures.  A storm had passed just before we arrived but the sky was still very dark with dramatic clouds.  

As the storm moved away, I watched small temporary openings in the dark ominous clouds appear in various places across the desert.  That allowed the sun to spotlight areas of the landscape.  I waited hoping the building would soon be spotlighted.  My patience paid off.

The photo at the top of this post is one of my favorites from the entire month long road trip.  Light just doesn’t get any better than this.  Couple the light with the stark white building and red letters and you have a terrific composition.

For you monochrome fans, wait until you see the black & white version!  It is equally dramatic if not more so.  I’ll be posting that in the near future.

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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