Blogging along Route 66

On most days, I receive anywhere from 100-200 e-mails - or more. Many are junk and only a handful are really useful.

Somehow I became a member of a listserve for professional photographers (there are a lot of them out there and they all appear really desperate for work).

But every now and then, one comes along that's interesting. A few months ago, a photographer sent an e-mail promoting himself and included a link to a blog where he was taking a photo of everything he eats this year. Quite interesting.

But one I received last week was compelling enough for me to open it and read. It's from a woman named Sandi Wheaton and here's what it said:

I thought you might be interested in covering a Route 66 project I'm undertaking.

I'm a female Canadian photographer who is driving, documenting, and blogging along the length of Route 66 - while at the same time, creating a time-lapse sequence of the whole Route, by shooting a photograph every 3-5 seconds from a camera mounted to my dashboard.

Here's the back story: I lost my video producing job of 12 years at General Motors in Detroit recently. As devastated as I was, I thought it would be a good time to make lemons out of lemonade and pursue one of my long-held dreams: to drive and photograph the 2400+ miles of Route 66, and blog about it as I go.

I exhibited some of my black and white infrared photographs from California's Route 66 in Toronto this spring, and the response was very positive. Kodak sadly no longer makes infrared film, so I am using the last of my stock for this project. It made sense to me that I should use an obsolete film to document an obsolete highway.

I've been on the road for 2 weeks now and I am amazed at the response and following my travel blog has gotten so far (www.pictureRoute66.com). People seem to be loving following the adventures of a solo female traveler on the road after the blow of job loss.

Many comment on how they love traveling vicariously through my blog.If this is of interest to you, I am in Oklahoma now and will be coming through Amarillo in a couple of days, should you like to do a story on it.

FYI, the Windsor Star and CBC TV back home did pieces on it before I left, which can be seen via links on my homepage: www.sandiwheaton.com.My contact info is at the bottom of this email.Thanks for your time!

Either way I hope you enjoy the blog, should you spend some time perusing it.

Thank you!
Sandi Wheaton
Photographytravel blog: http://pictureRoute66.com
website: http://sandiwheaton.com

I passed the e-mail along to the newsroom. Not sure if they'll do a story or not, but the blog is pretty interesting.

Above is a photo The Elbow Inn Bar and BBQ Pit at Devil's Elbow, MO where many a woman has left their bra, including Sandi.

Be on the lookout for her, she should be here soon.