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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.

Photographs by Will Fullerton 3 min read
A driver standing by his red Kenworth truck
Photographs by Will Fullerton

A road trip is a landscape until someone steps into the frame. These are the people of the drive west: strangers at the roadside, a trucker who agreed to stand by his rig, a band in a Santa Fe lobby, friends in Palm Springs, a Leica class, and a premiere night in Los Angeles that ran well past midnight.

Under an umbrella at the side of the road.
Under an umbrella at the side of the road.
A call from the Route 66 phone.
A call from the Route 66 phone.
A driver and his Kenworth.
A driver and his Kenworth.
At the overlook.
At the overlook.
Santa Fe, late, under the painting.
Santa Fe, late, under the painting.
The band in the lobby.
The band in the lobby.
Palm Springs, by the pool at dusk.
Palm Springs, by the pool at dusk.
A Leica workshop: the teacher.
A Leica workshop: the teacher.
A Leica workshop: the student.
A Leica workshop: the student.
Luke, at home.
Luke, at home.
A friend, in the doorway light.
A friend, in the doorway light.

In Los Angeles the light went from the desert's to a projector's, and then to a flash in a dark room. Premiere night: the photographs on the wall, then the party after.

Premiere night, Los Angeles: the man of the hour.
Premiere night, Los Angeles: the man of the hour.
In front of the screen.
In front of the screen.
The after-party begins.
The after-party begins.
Everyone in the frame.
Everyone in the frame.
Laughing.
Laughing.
Dancing.
Dancing.
Cheek to cheek.
Cheek to cheek.
Sunglasses, indoors, after midnight.
Sunglasses, indoors, after midnight.
Under the Miller Time sign.
Under the Miller Time sign.

And at the end, back to daylight and the quiet ones: a docent at the house where a president was born, and a man looking out over a city he had come a long way to see.

The docent at the Nixon birthplace.
The docent at the Nixon birthplace.
A portrait being made.
A portrait being made.
Looking out over the city.
Looking out over the city.

Photographed on Leica and on film by Will Fullerton. Everyone pictured agreed to be photographed.

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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