A photographer's field list for historic highway routes

What to take away

• On a historic route the constraint is usually opening hours, not light.
• Rock art and painted panels photograph best in shade or flat light, never in raking sun.
• Dust is the real enemy of a camera on gravel. Plan lens changes accordingly.
• Photograph the ordinary things too. Signage, surfaces and buildings date a route better than the view does.

Historic routes reward a photographer who plans around access rather than around golden hour. Buildings are locked, sites close for the season, and the light on a ghost town at nine in the morning is often better than the light at seven in the evening, because you can actually be there.

Hours decide the day

Some of the best subjects sit behind a visitor center schedule. The BLM's page for the Garnet Back Country Byway in Montana describes a twelve mile road climbing two thousand feet to Garnet Ghost Town, where preservation work has left about thirty buildings looking much as they did in 1895, and says the visitor center is open daily from late May through September from ten in the morning until half past four, depending on weather.

Read that as a photography constraint. A two thousand foot climb on a back road plus a fixed closing time means the shoot is a morning, not an evening. Build the rest of the day downhill from it.

Flat light is the friend of rock art

Painted and pecked panels lose everything in hard sun. Overcast, open shade or early and late shadow give you the contrast the surface actually has, without the hot spots that destroy detail.

The BLM's page for the Sego Canyon Rock Art Interpretive Site in Utah notes three culturally distinct styles of rock art, Fremont, Ute and Barrier style, with a preserved ghost town and coal mine ruins nearby, and advises planning at least half a day. It also says the major panels are visible from the road, which is a useful hint about lens choice as well as access.

Never chalk, wet, trace or touch a panel. It damages the surface and it is illegal on public land.

The kit that matters on gravel

• One general zoom left on the body, so you change lenses as little as possible.
• A blower and a microfiber cloth in a pocket, not in the bag.
• Sealed bags for bodies and lenses when the road is dusty.
• A small tripod for interiors and dusk, if the site allows one.
• A polariser for glass, water and painted metal.

Change lenses inside the vehicle with the windows shut. That single habit prevents most sensor cleaning.

Photograph the boring things

Route history lives in details that do not look like photographs at the time: the concrete edge of an old alignment, a bridge plate, a gas station canopy, a school with the year on the parapet. Shoot them flat and square. They will carry more information in five years than the wide view will.

Where to go next

The kinds of route worth photographing, and what each one preserves, are set out in the fifteen kinds of historic road. For specific stops that break a long day usefully, see the sites worth adding to a longer trip.

Common questions

Do I need a permit to photograph on public land? Personal photography generally does not require one. Commercial shoots and organized groups often do, so ask the field office before you arrive.

Is a drone allowed? Frequently not, and rules vary by site and by unit. Check before you pack it, and never assume a byway is open airspace.

How do I handle midday in the desert? Shoot interiors, detail and shade, then sleep or drive. Save open ground for the two hours after sunrise.

What is the most useful accessory? A second battery and a way to charge in the vehicle. Cold mornings and long days end more shoots than bad light does.