This sign, photographed in the late afternoon shadows at Tom's Welding and Machine Shop in Barstow, California, might have once encouraged travelers along US Route 66 to check their oil levels. Today it offers a nostalgic glimpse of a logo long since discarded.
I would not have photographed this sign without these shadows. They hide the face, arm, and a leg, leaving the warm late afternoon light to stress the active leg, chest and one of the arms. The name of the company is also abstracted – this image is about an icon, not a corporation. Even the company’s venerable slogan, “Best in the Long Run,” is obscured by shadow. I want this figure to exist in memory as much as in fact. The illuminated partial body, sporting large and small rust spots, says it all.