Get Your Kicks

Monday November 29th, 2010

Our Santa Fe-based photographer Julien McRoberts has been taking a drive into American history. The New Mexico Tourism Department hired Julien to put together some photos of Route 66. “New Mexico is a state that offers endless unique photo opportunities and an interesting story around every corner,” Julien told me. “Indian cowboys, space travel, obscure indigenous ceremonies and more. ”

Her creative director, Janice St. Marie, wrote to us that “Julien is always a pleasure to work with; not only is she an accomplished photographer, her genuine interest in a project is always refreshing.” I wanted to learn more about the experience, and about Julien’s approach, so I asked her to send me a little description:

While I have covered much of the state, this has been an area that I have not spent much time in—yet it has become one of my favorite assignments, and a cool look into the golden era of road travel. My approach was to capture the realism, authenticity and beauty of both the intact and decrepit remains of The Mother Road. While I did my research tracking the remnants of the original route (from old dirt roads to very off the beaten path) I wanted to keep my visual input to a minimum. When shooting for travel assignments or editorial based projects I prefer to go into the shoot with minimal outside influences and expectations that could taint my perspective and not allow me to view the shoot with “fresh eyes.” Route 66 was like being a kid in a candy store with very interesting photo-ops; the long days flew by in what felt like minutes.

As Julien noted on her blog, where you can see some other photos, she was sharing the road with many other travelers. “While traveling on this route I ran into people from all over the globe wanting to get the Rte 66 experience,” she writes. “People from New Zealand, France, Germany, Australia, and of course the US. The one thing they all had in common were the big smiles on their faces and a sense of wonderment.”

In honor of Julien’s travels, here’s the Depeche Mode version of the classic highway tune.

-Asad