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Journey Out West: On Film

Dallas to the Pacific with a roll of film: the desert, the trucks left behind, and the light changing before the land does.

Photographs by Will Fullerton 3 min read
A Joshua tree against the sky
Photographs by Will Fullerton

Before the year out east there was a drive out west. Dallas to the Pacific, by way of the Panhandle, New Mexico, Arizona and the California desert, with a film camera on the passenger seat. These are the frames from that roll.

The desert, with the mountains still a long way off.
The desert, with the mountains still a long way off.
A freight train crossing the flats.
A freight train crossing the flats.
Joshua tree.
Joshua tree.
Joshua tree, a second look.
Joshua tree, a second look.

West of the cities the country turns into what people leave behind: trucks that ran until they didn't, a gas station's propane tank, a car folded into a fence. Nothing here was arranged. It was all just there, in the sun, waiting for someone to stop.

A truck that has stopped for good.
A truck that has stopped for good.
An old Chevrolet, still keeping its shape.
An old Chevrolet, still keeping its shape.
The propane tank behind the station.
The propane tank behind the station.
Wreckage in the weeds.
Wreckage in the weeds.
A junk yard in the sun.
A junk yard in the sun.
Something left hanging.
Something left hanging.
A painted shack by the highway.
A painted shack by the highway.
Sale, on both sides of the door.
Sale, on both sides of the door.
Paint on a car that will not move again.
Paint on a car that will not move again.
A hat on the dash.
A hat on the dash.
The power plant on the edge of town.
The power plant on the edge of town.

Then the desert gives way to the coast, and the light changes before the land does. Palms, bougainvillea, the sun low over a parked car. The end of the road, or the start of the next one.

Cactus in a front yard.
Cactus in a front yard.
Bougainvillea and the low sun.
Bougainvillea and the low sun.
Palms against the light.
Palms against the light.

Photographed on film by Will Fullerton.

All in the series
  1. No. 1 Journey Out West: On Film Dallas to the Pacific with a roll of film: the desert, the trucks left behind, and the light changing before the land does. Stills
  2. No. 2 Journey Out West: The People Strangers at the roadside, a trucker and his rig, a band in Santa Fe, and a premiere night in Los Angeles. Portraits from the drive west. Stills
  3. No. 3 Journey Out West: The Nixon Library A replica Oval Office, two spacesuits, the seal in the floor, and the farmhouse where he was born. A stop in Yorba Linda on the drive west. Stills

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