BUY MY BOOK ON BLURB - FREE SHIPPING TIL 12/2010

BLURB has free shipping thru 12/10. Use the code FESTIVE. Now's a GREAT time to buy my book Traveling The Mother Road, Route 66 POLAROIDS.

The book is softcover, 80 pages, premium luster paper, and sells for $22.95. All the photos were shot with a Polaroid SLR 680 SE / Polaroid 600 film along historic Route 66 in California and Arizona. See classic cars & trucks, neon, road signs, wild burros & even kitsch aliens.

Check out the preview:

Traveling The Mother Road Route 66 POLAROIDS by Lydia Marcus | Make Your Own Book

TRAVELING THE MOTHER ROAD, ROUTE 66 POLAROIDS BY LYDIA MARCUS

In February 2009, I traveled Route 66 from Los Angeles to Kingman AZ and hit a bunch of small towns too (Oatman AZ, Amboy CA, Barstow CA, Newberry Springs CA). I photographed nearly 150 Polaroids with my Polaroid SLR 680 SE and 600 Film. I nearly killed the camera in Yucca AZ when it got wet during outdoor shooting in light rain. The camera completely seized up and wouldn't even focus. Luckily letting it sit overnight in my warm Hill Top Motel room (a historic Route 66 motel in Kingman AZ) did the trick to dry out the sensitive circuit board.

Nearly 80 of the best Polaroids from that trip have been selected for my first Blurb book: Traveling The Mother Road, Route 66 POLAROIDS by Lydia Marcus. The book features historic Roy's Motel in Amboy, classic cars and trucks in Barstow, Route 66 motels in Kingman, AZ, wild Burros in Oatman, AZ, kitsch aliens in Yucca, AZ, neon and road signs, and much much more. Check out the preview below. Books can be ordered directly through Blurb.

Traveling The Mother Road, Route 66 POLAROIDS by Lydia Marcus |

THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT

As a fan of cars, Americana, and documentaries, I was drawn in by the Oscar nominated documentary short "The Last Truck: Closing Of A GM Plant" - currently playing on HBO On Demand.

The IMDB tagline sums it up as, "The inside story of the last days of a General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, as lived by the people who worked the line."

The plant came to a close as the U.S. economy faltered, gas prices rose, and the gas guzzling SUVs and trucks made on the GM line fell out of favor with the American public.

The documentary shows ordinary American factory workers (all with just high school educations) showing pride in their workmanship on the line, unsure of what future employment they will be able to find with their education level, and sharing stories of the wonderful solidarity and companionship they found among their GM co-workers. Sure these people just helped manufacture cars, but I really saw them as great American heroes doing the hard physical work that's responsible for building this great country and automotive industry. The film shows a cohesion and fraternity rare among women and men, blacks and whites, young and old.

Besides the dignity and pride that shows through from the interview subjects, I felt the film had a real beauty in how it captured the exterior of the plant and town.
- Lydia Marcus

Promo

Here's an interview with the filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar.

TRADESMAN

© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
May 8, 2010 in Culver City, CA

Photographed using a Nikon D80 and Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens.
Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

CULVER CITY CAR SHOW 2010

Sunday I attended the free Culver City Car Show - my favorite local classic car show. It was a bit difficult to get full length photos of the cars (too many people in the way) and honestly, the background would have looked cluttered and ugly anyway. This led me to take photos I love to take anyway - close up, abstract details of cars, trucks, and vans. I absolutely LOVE the vintage fonts on these vehicles. Job-Rated, Hotrod, Apache - way cooler than Accord, Venza, Prius, or some lame brain series of letters and numbers.
- Lydia Marcus



















And now for some levity - a woman posing with the Green Hornet. Go GRAY HORNET!



These motorcycle helmets are both creepy and creative.


Culver City Car Show 2010
© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
May 8, 2010 in Culver City, CA

Shot using a Nikon D80 and Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens.
Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

RANGER QUADTYCH

Ford Ranger Quadtych
© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed April 20, 2010 in Sherman Oaks, CA

Shot with a Nikon D80 with a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens.
Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

SALTON MARINA

© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed March 28, 2010 in Salton Sea, CA
Nikon 24mm f/2.8 lens and a Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

SPORTYCRAFT

Ford Econoline 150 Sportycraft
Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed March 8, 2010 in Lake Balboa, CA

BLEND OUT

When I created this blog I wrote that fotonomous is the "Web identity of Lydia Marcus, an individualist, Piscean & native Los Angeleno (Encino/WEHO) raised in diametrically opposed communities shaped by culture, status, sexuality, and spirituality. This multifaceted upbringing informed her ability & desire to always seek to blend out instead of blend in."

This past Saturday when I saw this ad covering a downtown Los Angeles building (it's part of an advertisement for the new Hyundai Sonata) I was pretty excited. I've never seen the words "Blend Out" written anywhere before. Maybe Hyundai has been to my blog! ;-)

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 20, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles.

SERVICE

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 20, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles

SURFIN' WESTRIDGE-CANYONBACK

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 7, 2010 in Encino, CA
at Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park

PIONEERTOWN

Last weekend I went on a Los Angeles Group flickrmeet to Pioneertown and Joshua Tree National Park. For this blog post I'm sharing photos from Pioneertown. If you'd like to check out photos other people took on the meet, check out this discussion thread on flickr. Next time I post, I'll share my Joshua Tree shots.

Here's a description of Pioneertown's cinematic history according to to www.pioneertown.com:

"Pioneertown was built in 1946 as a movie set for western movies, including the movies of Gene Autry, The Cisco Kid, with Duncan Renaldo, Annie Oakley with Gail Davis, Judge Roy Bean with Edgar Buchanan, Range Rider with Jock O. Mahoney, and Buffalo Bill Jr. with Dick Jones. The movie set was to provide a place for the actors to live, and have their homes used as part of a movie set. Some of the original investors in the town were Roy Rogers, who also built thePioneer Bowl, Sons of the Pioneers, which the town was named after, Dick Curtis who was a professional villian in old movies, Bud Abbott, Russell Hayden, who played Lucky on the Hopalong Cassidy series, Louella Parsons the Hollywood gossip columnist and Philip N. Krasne: The Man Who Saved Pioneertown. Mane Street is private property and is always open to courteous pedestrians."

Pioneertown is only a two hour drive from L.A. We were graced by the beautiful presence of fresh snow all over Pioneertown.



Me on "Mane" Street. Photo by Laurie Thomson.


While most of the group wandered through the Pioneertown, I found myself drawn to the Pioneertown Motel in the back and the snow covered cars and landscape behind the Motel.













This is the motel.


The motel was very cool and had a lot of character. Each room has it's own kitchenette. It's definitely the kind of place I'd like to stay at in the future - quiet, peaceful, nostalgic.



A beautiful tree on Mane Street.


A funny snow woman by the motel.

This snow woman reminds me of Dustin Hoffman in drag as Dorothy Michaels in the classic early 80's romantic comedy "Tootsie"

It was pretty much a ghost town at Pioneertown - we were the only tourists. The only other people I saw were staying at the motel. A few of those were out walking their doggies out in the snow.

This cute doggie named Gracie was sunbathing in front of her two mommies' motel room.









As the group was getting ready to leave Pioneertown, I met these three amigos.



These guys were kind of like Jackass or Dumb and Dumber come to life. The guy on the left was a groom to be. On the way to get married, he got his car stuck in the mud. While working to get the car dug out of the mud with a shovel, he split the tux pants he was supposed to wear to the ceremony. Once they got the car out, the trio did some pre wedding celebrating with Pabst beers. This was just before 11am. The last thing I heard the groom say was something about he should have known better about getting the car stuck because he grew up driving that road and that his wife to be was going to be pissed and he probably wasn't going to be "getting any" tonight. At least he had a sense of humor about it. Good luck with the marriage buddy.

Photo credits © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed January 23, 2010 in Pioneertown, CA

COMING OR GOING

Volkswagen Vanagon L
Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2009 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed December 10, 2009 in Studio City, CA

CONTINENTAL TRIPTYCH

Polaroid photo credit: © Lydia Marcus 2009 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed May 9, 2009 in Culver City, CA at the Sixth Annual Cruisin' Back to Culver City Car Show

From Hemmings.com:

"Bizarre or beautiful? Lincoln's all-new Mark III, IV and V Continentals upped the ante in luxury motoring. To some, the 1958 through 1960 Lincoln Mark III, IV and V Continentals are under-appreciated middle children, straddling the line between the understated, classic 1956-'57 Continental Mark II and the Camelot-chic 1961 Continental; others consider them the redheaded stepchildren of the 1950s Lincoln line. Whatever your thoughts, there's no escaping these Continentals' advanced unit-body design, massive stretch-out room and distinctive styling. With prices on their forebears and followers rising by the day, now is the time to aim for middle ground and pick up a 1958-'60 Continental."

RAM VAN

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2008 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed December 28, 2008 in Venice, CA

GOLDEN BIRD

Pontiac Trans Am Firebird
Polaroid Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2009
Photographed June 28, 2009 in Van Nuys, CA
At the All GM Car Show

FERRARI VERTABRAE

355 F1 Spyder
Photo Credit © Lydia Marcus 2009
Photographed October 11, 2009 in Glendale, CA
Caruso Concours d'Elegance at The Americana at Brand

THE RACING STRIPES MAKE IT GO FASTER

1970's era Chevy Vega Wagon
Photo credit: © Lydia Marcus 2009
Photographed September 17, 2009 in Sherman Oaks, CA