Daily Photo Dose

Continuing my experiment with CineStill 800T and the Pentax 67, I spent the evening wandering Lower Broadway in downtown Nashville to see just how far I could push handheld medium format photography after dark. With the camera braced tightly against my shoulder and every available wall serving as a makeshift tripod, each exposure demanded patience and steady hands. The combination of the Pentax 67 and CineStill 800T rewarded the effort, preserving the glow of Broadway’s legendary neon signs with remarkable color and atmosphere.

The first frame centers on Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink, its towering neon cowboy illuminating the busy street below. Across the street, Robert’s Western World and Jack’s Bar-B-Que stand as two of Lower Broadway’s most recognizable landmarks, their vintage signs glowing against the Nashville skyline.

The halation produced by CineStill 800T gives each neon tube a soft halo that feels perfectly suited to Music City’s nightlife, creating images that are as much about the character of the street as they are about the architecture and venues themselves.

One evening I set out to explore Nashville’s Printers Alley with my Pentax 67, curious to see how well I could handhold medium format film after dark. Loaded with CineStill 800T, the goal was simple: capture the atmosphere of the alley’s neon lights without the aid of a tripod. The Pentax 67 is a heavy camera, so every frame required bracing against a wall or pulling the camera tightly into my shoulder to keep it as steady as possible while shooting.

CineStill 800T proved to be the perfect film stock for the evening. Its signature halation effect glows around the hanging lights that stretch across Printers Alley, adding a cinematic quality to each frame.

The first image captures the iconic Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar illuminated beneath the alley lights, while the second turns the camera toward a quieter moment—a lone employee taking a smoke break just around the corner. Together, the photographs showcase why CineStill 800T has become one of my favorite film stocks for night photography.

One of the most recognizable landmarks along historic Route 66, the Conoco Tower Station in Shamrock, Texas has been drawing the attention of travelers since it opened in 1936. Designed in the Art Deco style, the station’s distinctive tower and geometric façade were created to stand out among the endless miles of highway crossing the Texas Panhandle. Today, it remains one of the best-preserved examples of roadside architecture from Route 66’s golden age.

While driving west across the country, I made a point to stop and photograph this iconic structure. The symmetry of the building, the vertical emphasis of the tower, and the soft colors of the restored façade felt perfectly suited to medium format film. Photographed on a Pentax 67 with a 75mm f/4.5 lens using Kodak Ektachrome E100 film, the larger negative captured the architectural details and subtle color palette that make the Conoco Tower Station such a memorable landmark. E100 rendered the muted greens, cream-colored masonry, and dramatic Texas sky with remarkable clarity, helping preserve the character of this Route 66 icon.

Nearly ninety years after welcoming its first motorists, the Conoco Tower Station continues to stand as one of the most photographed examples of Art Deco roadside architecture in America and a favorite destination for architectural and film photographers exploring historic Route 66. See more of my commercial architecture work here.

A forgotten roadside stop near the Arizona and New Mexico state line became one of the most memorable scenes from our cross-country drive from Nashville to Seattle. The abandoned storefront sits beneath towering sandstone cliffs, a reminder of the quiet places that often go unnoticed when traveling the American Southwest. Photographed on a Pentax 67 with a 75mm f/4.5 lens using Kodak Ektachrome E100 slide film, capturing the rich reds of the desert landscape and the deep blue desert sky.