Behind the Shot: 100% Refrigerated Air
Tucumcari, New Mexico-Road tripping with two fellow photographers we drove old Route 66 spanning the section of highway covering West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. The town of Tucumcari is a popular section of the route known for its period motels, neon signs, and diners. We booked our stay at the famous Blue Swallow Motel. After checking in we sat and waited out the daylight excited to shoot the classic cars and colorful neon signage once night started to fall.
Just as dusk approached a storm blew up out of the west the strongest I’d have ever seen in the Southwest. We huddled in the tiny room while the rain poured down relentlessly and the wind whipped through the deserted streets.
After an hour of rain the storm seemed to abate. With film loaded we ventured out into the light drizzle to finally get the photography in that we came for. As we wandered around the lot looking for compositions the rain steadily started to pick back up. My Pentax 67 loaded with Cinestill 800t a tungsten balanced cinema film I lined up a composition on the hotel’s sign and front office. With the rain increasing I didn’t have time to setup a tripod, I took this shot handheld at 1/60 a second and tried to hold as steady as possible. No easy feat with the Pentax’s 6lb weight and massive mirror slap.
I fired off that single frame and we all huddled back in the room. The earlier storm proved to just be a tame first act. What followed was twice as intense. The streets flooded, tumbleweeds and debris blowing down the sidewalks. After one thunderbolt cracked right overhead the lights went out. The whole town of Tucumcari went dark.
We watched the storm for over an hour in the dark. When it finally passed and the lights flickered back on the town was transformed. All of its iconic neon signs were out of whack with portions, letters, and words half or dimly lit. Other words and images out completely. The proprietor at the Blue Swallow told us the old signs were extremely finicky. Outages would throw them off and it would take adjusting voltage and wires to get it all lit once again.
This photo is special to me not only because it highlights my travels in the Southwest but it is also the one and only shot I got where the iconic neon of Tucumcari was completely lit.
