Roy’s
Amboy, California – 2023

This photograph of Cindy Crawford, walking on Route 66 in front of a landmark 1950s motel, smells of Americana and that, of course, was my intent. We were not able to close the road down and had to wing it slightly at the end of the day, but
“stolen” images are often the best.

There are many constituent parts to this image and I am, as usual, reminded again, just how good our respective teams are when working under pressure. Not only is it 100 degrees outside; we are on a main road deep in the Californian desert and there are tourists swarming the area around Roy’s not quite believing their luck at seeing Cindy and yet we managed to pull this off. Just a fraction of a second, but that is all it takes.

It was a 20-hour day that day, but one of the best we have had together and a huge amount of the credit goes to our production teams. It’s the small things like Cindy’s hair that make such a difference to this photograph and the forecourt of Roy’s is no studio, it’s a working gas station. I raise my glass to Cindy’s hair stylist - the legend that is Peter Savic. I know working in an arid and sometimes windy desert is not his preferred environment, but he is a total professional.

The perspective offered by a standard lens is pleasing to the human eye as that is what we are used to day in day out; the camera lens sees what we see. But there are challenges in this frame as I needed to include both her feet and the Roy’s sign and yet I could not afford for her face to be too far from the camera. Only a few angles were going to work and then we also had the props behind.

But she knows exactly what she is doing and how to help me with my job. That’s why she is who she is.