B&W Photography Workshop, Flagstaff, Arizona - August 3, 2019

B&W Photography Workshop, Flagstaff, Arizona - August 3, 2019

B&W Photography Workshop, Flagstaff, Arizona - August 3, 2019

Arizona Highways Photo Workshops offered a Black & White Photography workshop for digital cameras. I'd been making B&W images for years but had never been formally walked through the process, so this felt like the perfect opportunity. Since the workshop was held in Flagstaff, Arizona, I decided to make a road trip of it and follow as much of Route 66 as I could.

I picked up Route 66 near Devore Heights, which parallels I-15 up to Cajon Pass — great territory for train photography and views of the Mormon Rocks. Near the summit, Route 66 temporarily merges back with I-15 through Victorville before branching off again further north. That stretch takes you past Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch, a wonderfully quirky roadside collection of bottle art and folk sculpture. From there it's on to Barstow, home to a beautifully restored train depot, a Harvey House, and the Route 66 Mother Road Museum. I spent the night in Kingman, Arizona.

The next morning I stopped in at the Arizona Route 66 Museum and its electric car collection, then continued along Route 66 as it winds off I-40 toward Flagstaff. Arriving in the afternoon, I pushed a little further east to check out the Twin Arrows Trading Post and the Two Guns roadside attraction. I'd been riding the trailing edge of a storm the whole way, which gave me some dramatic clouds to work with at both spots.

The workshop ran midweek, and I stayed the full week to squeeze in some extra exploring. We visited the Arizona Snowbowl, Sunset Crater, and the Pioneer Museum — Arizona Historical Society, spending time both shooting in the field and processing images in the classroom. A nice bonus: the instructor turned out to be an infrared photographer as well, and I picked up some great tips on processing IR images.

On my extra days I visited Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona, Lowell Observatory, and Walnut Canyon National Monument.