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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Eight: The camera as time machine: linking the past to the present > Driving dreams, Ash Fork, Arizona, 2006
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12-JUL-2006

Driving dreams, Ash Fork, Arizona, 2006

Ash Fork, a Route 66 town about 25 miles east of Seligman, has little left to show from its days as railroad town and highway rest stop. They tore down its elegant Harvey House hotel. A fire did the rest. Today, the bypassed remnants of Route 66 still serve as Ash Fork's quiet main street. The lone reminder of Ash Fork’s glory days serving traffic on Route 66 is this motionless car cruising through the clouds on top of a local gift shop. This surreal image is rich in incongruity, a 50s fantasy come to life. The rakish, cloud-crowned sedan, with its dimly perceived driver (sideburns intact) recalls the nostalgic past, while the gift shop below places it firmly in the present.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/500s f/6.3 at 16.4mm iso80 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time12-Jul-2006 10:55:19
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ30
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length16.4 mm
Exposure Time1/500 sec
Aperturef/6.3
ISO Equivalent80
Exposure Bias
White Balance (10)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis10-Aug-2006 15:46
Thanks, Andrea, for noting the purpose of this image. The absurdity of the car on the roof certainly draws the eye, while at the same time paying homage to another era. If my image can, as you say, provoke thought and discussion, it is doing what I intended.
Phil Douglis25-Jul-2006 23:43
Thanks, Iris, for noticing this irony. It adds still another layer of meaning to an image that keeps growing before our eyes. Ceci's adolescent paint job, Celia's iconic illusion, Kal's sputtering engine, and now your gift from the past -- a measure of where we come from and how far, brings this image full circle. As you know, I made it simply as a surrealistic dream linking past to present, but all of you have helped to make it so much more.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)25-Jul-2006 23:33
It is ironic that this vintage car sits on top of a gift shop. In so many ways I view nostalgia, as represented by this car, as a gift. It serves, not only as a reminder of simpler days past, but also as a wistful yearning for the irrecoverable. Phil, this is a wonderful image to contemplate where we are today and from "whence we cometh" as a nation and a people.
Phil Douglis23-Jul-2006 18:40
Coughing itself alive? I love the metaphor here, Kal. If we listen hard enough, we can hear the engine turn over.
Kal Khogali23-Jul-2006 15:02
Like a puff of smoke from the exhaust, this car is coughing itself alive in your image Phil...a dreamy image. K
Phil Douglis20-Jul-2006 00:08
Ash Fork burned down in the 50s and there is not much left there to celebrate glories of the Route 66 and Santa Fe eras. They have museum, a monument, this gift shop, a Santa Fe watertower, and that's all of it. Yes, the car is equivalent to an icon. Driving is what people think of when they revel in Route 66 nostaglia. As you point out, it is a purely artificial celebration. Everything in this image is made as illusion. That's really what this image is about, Celia -- illusions. Only the tree and the clouds are not manufactured nostalgia.
Cecilia Lim19-Jul-2006 15:08
This present day Ash Fork shop appears to be living off the glories of its past. This gift shop survives by keeping its memories alive, and perpetuating this dream to the masses in the form of souvenirs. It is clear how important the history of the Route 66 days must be to this business, that it even idolizes this car and its passenger like it was a religious icon, perched on top of its building. What I like about this image too is that everything about the subject feels so artificial, yet the tree you chose to include brings it crashing back down to reality, linking it back to the present day life and reminding us that this is just an illusion of the past.
Phil Douglis16-Jul-2006 23:44
Thanks, Ceci -- we spent only an hour in little Ash Fork. Aside from its Route 66 museum, there was almost no visible evidence of its past. Until we saw this. I shot it from many angles and perspectives. This tight shot was the one that worked the best. Why? Because of exactly what you see here. I am close enough to the car to pick up the detail of the green windshield, and even the long sideburns on the driver. From any other angle, he vanishes. It is also interesting that you picked up on the white hot sun and sharp shadows. Normally I would hate such light. The sun is high in the sky -- it is nearly 11 am, not a good time to have a camera in your hands. Yet for this shot, the high key lighting works to express the essence of the picture as you described it. The shadows on the car cut deeply in relief and even appear again on the side of the building. Thanks, Ceci, for so colorfully describing the meaning of what you see here. You awaken the memories of all who may have lived in this era. We may see and feel all of this nostalgia and be swept back in time by it, only to be amusingly thrust back into the present tense by the car's absurdly incongruous location.
Guest 16-Jul-2006 22:43
Ceci
This is almost a Thelma & Louise moment, the car seemingly in flight, the white hot sun/sharp shadow, the pulsing sky/puffed clouds, the feel of the open road and speed and excessive power of our earlier cars, our love affairs with the highway and their "freedom" . I love the green windshield, so vibrant in all the light, and the adolescent paint job paired with a driver from another time, when America was more innocent, youthful and carefree. This is one cool photo, rousing many memories.
Phil Douglis16-Jul-2006 19:09
Glad you like it, Shirley. It was a rare find and I tried to make the most of it here.
Shirley Wang16-Jul-2006 08:23
I like this image that brings the past to the present.
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