BLUES HIGHWAY

TECHNICAL SECTION

Nearly all of the Blues Highway work was made using the Mamiya RZ-67 and the new Mamiya 7 camera systems.
My most frequently used lenses are the excellent 50mm, 65mm and 250mm APO. In order to get the correct perspective
control on certain images, I use the 75mm PC lens.
Contact Mamiya America for further information.

I have also used a Widelux camera and more recently the 120 mm Noblex camera for panoramic compositions.

I use two films exclusively on this project: Agfapan 400 and Kodak Tri-X. They are not interchangeable in my mind.
Each has its own unique characteristics that "season" the image in their own way. I would like to thank Agfa GmbH
for the generous support I've received from them over the last ten years.

I process my films in my own lab using 3 ½ gallon deep tanks. I use Agfa Rodinal or Kodak T-Max RS depending on the film.

My prints are made using Forté VC papers developed in a combination of Kodak Selectol Soft and Dektol developers.

In order to create this work (as well as the Disappearing America Series) I bought a second-hand 1966 Airstream Trailer
that I hitch on the back of my Chevy Blazer K-5 truck. This is an incredibly valuable tool in my photography work because
without it I could never hit the road with all the equipment and supplies I need for five to six weeks. I stay in state and national parks,
as well as trailer parks across the country. That and a cell phone allows me to roam anywhere I please and keep in touch with my business back home.
When necessary for commerical assignments, I park the trailer and catch a plane back to my studio to shoot, then return and continue the adventure.

For the BLUES HIGHWAY series, I drove from my home in Los Angeles to Houston, Texas for the bi-annual Houston Foto Fest, and then head
into Louisiana. We went down to New Orleans before heading north on Highway 55 to Clarksdale, Mississippi where I met with my friend,
Gary Chiachi, producer of the famous Long Beach Blues Festival. He introduced me to some of his friends in Clarksdale before we headed
up north to Beal Street in Memphis. Two days later, we started down the Highway 61 and basically followed it down to Natchez.
After that we headed west back through Northern Louisiana and across Texas to the west. I had compiled a list of the birth places
of 65 Blues Legends, and found that nearly all were born in the Delta region of Mississippi. Other came from Louisiana and East Texas.

In total, the trip took six weeks in which we worked an average of six to ten hours a day. I exposed over 100 rolls of 120 film.