Antidote to the Royal Academy
John Margolies spent forty years (1969-2008) driving around the American backroads and photographing roadside attractions. It started when he was a teenager and first got his driver’s license.
He would typically rent a car and stay in motels, driving out early in the morning before families arrived. He particularly like the morning sky and would skip a site if he didn’t like the light. He got a journalism and art history degree and supported himself writing books.
He bequeathed the lot to the Library of Congress, and you can browse them here. Though I didn’t find the interactive map very interactive.
I tried to do something similar. I bought my first SLR camera to document the freakshow posters at the state fair and – wouldn’t you know it? – that was the year they all got cold feet about the existence of freakshows.
Posted: October 15th, 2026 under personal.
Comments: 1
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Comment from Deborah HH
Time: October 15, 2026, 8:41 pm
I loved the television show “The Rockford Files. Recall in the opening scenes of the show, Rockford is being secretly photographed as the drives around town, and it made me want a SLR camera of my own.
One day at lunch (in 1975) two of my co-workers (former military) took me shopping for a camera, and I bought a Minolta SRT 202. I loved that camera like a baby, and 20 years later the shutter was worn out.
I was so grieved that my second father bought himself a Nikon F3 (and wink wink) gave it to me a month later because it was more camera than he needed. I still have both. I need to put them glass boxes.
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