Any backroad/byway people on dgrin?

Dusty Sensiba

I have found that I am simply obsessed with traveling the backroads whenever I go somewhere outside my town. I always look for alternate, more interesting routes. When I am not in a particular hurry, I avoid the Interstates like the plague.

I like ghost towns, inactive (or active...but there's none near me) volcanoes, abandoned highways, old bridges and obscure places. I proposed to my wife miles away from pavement in a beautiful place few know of.

Sometimes it's the history that pulls me in. Sometimes, the geology. Sometimes it's just curiosity. Other times I am bored. Most times I am looking for something to shoot, usually with my camera.

I don't think photography in the backroads and backcountries is appreciated at present because it seems on it's surface to lack commercial value. Or maybe it's a lack of currency-people don't care about something that doesn't or hasn't changed in tens or hundreds or thousands or millions of years.

Or maybe it's because people think anybody can shoot things that don't move by simply pressing a button aimlessly. They don't appreciate the different light levels that can occur in a day or the direction of its origin. They don't have a concept of depth-of-field, focal length or choice of photographic medium, be it digital, color film or b/w.

They don't see the possibilities that can occur when clouds drift overhead, maybe small puffy ones or large thunderstorms or anything in between. Or the countless other variables that exist in any given location.

They seem to miss the inherent possibilities in the dynamics of seemingly unchanging places while at the same time acknowledging that people like Ansel Adams have come up with one-of-a-kind photos of these places, and think that nobody can do something new with these old places because it's all been done before.

I guess my question is how many people on here feel the same way?

Snarcher

totally man

seastack

Right on!

There are a million treasures on the Blue Highways of America waiting to be discovered. Have you read "Blue Highways," great book, or looked at William Albert Allard's work, great NG photographer of rural America and the west. Sally Mann's latest work on landscapes of the South is little understood but captures the old south, Faulkner's south, like little else. Then there is Alec Soth's work along the Mississippi and at Niagra Falls ... I suspect more people than you think feel the same as you do.

My wife laughs and rolls her eyes when I veer off the main road and onto the blue telling her with a wink and a smile, "it's a shortcut."

Nothing new. While in college I hit the road in the summer of '88 with my friend Ellen (thank you Kerouac) and traveled with a backpack across North America, much of it in Canada, on foot, by thumb, on trains, and arrived in Washington State on a boxcar through the longest railroad tunnel in the U.S. (7 miles and 15 minutes of utter darkness, diesel and deafening noise). We arrived on the coast with $20 between us, got jobs the next day and lived in a tent for another month. Stories of the journey and photos ended up the subject of a college class at Va Tech when Ellen returned to Virginia and architecture school. I stayed on the West coast.

I've never been more at home - happier, sadder, more alive - than when I've been on the road - backroads, small towns, real people, cafes, diners, barber shops ... undiscovered country ... everything not interstate or walmart ... wonder and relationships forged in serendipity ... the America that was, and still is, you just have to look harder for it.

Actually, it's my next big photographic project. It's why I just quit my job. The road calls, the blue highways beckon, and America is still out there somewhere.

Right on, man, right on!

anwmn1

Right there with you. I love nothing more than taking a new and different route to any destination.

Maybe it is because I grew up in a small town and we would spend the weekends taking different roads just to see where they went. Scowering over Topo Maps looking for places of interest and how to get there. Maybe becasue my dad is a truck driver and we got to take 1 trip every summer with him. He made sure to take scenic routes to show us the "real" parts of each state- stopping in little diners in the middle of nowhere.

I love the backroads, love the byways, love the dirt trails that connect them, love nothing more than finding a beautiful, unique, or historical place in the middle of nowhere and realizing that not many people have ever stopped to see it.

pathfinder

Dusty,

Seastack and others have already validated your interests.

William Least-Heat Moon, ( a native American ) wrote "Blue Highways" - I loved that book, but then I loved "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" as well.

I try to always drive the Blue Highways if at all possible.

I was on a Blue Highway in the Dakotas on the way home from the shootout in Glacier, when I came across the Enchanted Highway in western North Dakota. This is a small, paved highway that is definitely off the beaten path - Nightingale and I spent the better part of an afternoon shooting along this highway. I have been planning a thread about these images when I get them processed. Here is one right off the Interstate



I just posted about a walkabout in Owen County here

Motorcyclists have enjoyed exploring blue highways for a 100 years. Lots of photographers do also, some in cars, some in SUVs, some on bikes, some on two feet, and some riding sidecars even.

seastack

For photography books, just thought I would add Kevin Fleming's "Heart of America," a true on the road book.

george-1

Shun-piking is the way to go
I prefer back roads to main highways, also.

You get to see America that way. Every interstate exit looks like all the others, with the same stores, gas stations, and fast-food restaurants.

Here's a few examples










And you get to see some unusual things on the back roads, as well:




--
George

Dee

My hubby is a great back road traveler. I think he just gets bored driving the same roads over and over again.

My problem with back roads, especially the ones off the California coast is that there's hardly ever any place to safely pull off for me to take photos. It's almost enough to make me learn how to ride a mototcycle.

swintonphoto

Your post was just how I feel! I just climb in my car and drive for hours. Here are some of the great things I have found:

Grainbelt

I went from Saskatoon to Salt Lake City, 2500 miles, and was only on major US Hwys and Interstates for a couple hundred miles of it. There is no better way to travel - it takes longer, but 10hrs on scenic backroads is easier to stomach than 8 hrs of interstate, at least for me.

I usually do my touring by motorcycle, but winter is so long up here that I may start doing some long day trips in my car over the winter.

ian408

Backroads mostly. But if it's a short weekend and you have some distance
to cover it's a mix.

Airedrifter

It's a way of life. Taking the back roads...
From Picketts, WVa -- the only way to get there is back roads.

Cantfeelmyfingers

It's where the excitement is.
I've definately gotten into ghost towns\abandoned buildings\roads, etc. This history, or thinking what MAY have gone on there is absolutely fascinating!

colfragless

Well I love taken roads i have never been down before Just to see where they go.... You can always find something that catches your eye to take a picture of.... This is something i Found on one of those trips..... ~Sparky~