What a cool selection of images. Signs from the old hotels, motels, gas stations and other roadside vendors that many of us knew from our youth. The diving girl into the neon pool was one of my favorites from when I was a kid. I wanted to play in a real pool too.

Jimi Giannatti takes us on both a nostalgic, and yet very current view of the signs that were so much a part of our cross city or cross country adventures. Sitting in the back of the station wagon we could mark our route by neon, stucco and paint.

We took some time over the weekend to talk about his images, how long he has been working on them and what to do when a labor of love becomes a true passion. His fashion and beauty work keeps him busy, but this soft, thoughtful side of his imagery is coming into its own.

Thank Jimi for the images. These are really a special set of photographs. What made you start shooting these signs? Was it an assignment that kept on growing?

Well, that’s a good question; I’m just now putting the finishing touches on my new book containing over a hundred and sixty signs and I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting about the early photos, and what got me interested in them to begin with. Growing up in the late 1970s in Phoenix AZ, there was a stretch of road, East McDowell, which had obviously seen better days. The road had actually been part of the famed Route 66 and was home to a group of aged motels built in the late 1940s and early 1950s, catering to the truckers and tourists traveling the interstate. Many the signs had names and designs that were as colorful and unique as they were dilapidated and rundown. Sporting names like: The Liberty, The Lazy A, The Sandman, The Trail’s End, and The Arizona; the signs dotted the roadside and stood in direct contrast with their newer, shinier franchised counterparts such as: Best Western, Motel Six, and Holiday Inn. I was struck by the one-of-a-kind quality that each sign, or sometimes facade, had; and how they differed from each other; one relied on humor, another on its indigenous surroundings, and another on fantasy, etc. Later, in the early Eighties, after relocating in New York City and working as a freelance photographer, I would find myself on various locations around the country and I would spot a variety of old signs: liquor stores, bars, stores, gas stations, you name it — and it just all started, pardon the pun, clicking.

How long have you been working on this project?

Well, as mentioned before, I started noticing the signs in Phoenix as I was growing up in the 70s, but I didn’t really start shooting them until I was traveling around the country, working on different assignments, and that was around 1981, so it’s been – wow! – 27 years! But at first it was just my personal fetish, like any collection, not a photo assignment. I would find myself in places like Fond-Du-Lac, Wisconsin, or Laramie, Wyoming, and I knew I wouldn’t most likely be back there again, so I would shoot the cool signs just to keep for myself.

So it’s safe to say that a lot of these aren’t even around anymore? After that long, ‘progress’ comes along and stuff like this is torn down.

Oh yea! They’re being torn down every day. That’s probably one of the reasons why I started taking my “little hobby” a bit more serious and began searching out new signs and facades whenever I found myself in a new city or town. Without over-sentimentalizing the whole thing, I started revisiting some of the places I had shot earlier and the signs would be missing! Gone, or painted over with a new name. One of my favorites, The Missile Motel, in Oxnard, CA, had its neon ripped down and whitewashed with Tapitio painted across it. You would never know by looking at it today that it was ever the cool sign it had originally been. I’m not condemning the new owners and businesses as if they don’t have the right to do this, I mean it’s the nature of things right? Change happens. Whenever I run across a sign that has been torn down, or painted over, I lament the loss, but I also feel grateful that I have a record of the original that we can all enjoy.

I know that your main subject matter has always been fashion and beauty. Is this something you do to relax from that rigorous, intense world?

Right, that’s what I was doing in New York, working for fashion, fitness, and music magazines such as, Seventeen, Young Miss, McCall’s, Self, and Spin etc. My magazine assignments put me on location all around the U.S. giving me entrée to many cool local signs. BUT! I have to clarify something here – whereas my job put me in proximity of the signs, it wouldn’t necessarily mean it would actually allow me the time and means to access them. I was there to do one job, and I would have to figure out how to do the other one. So I developed a system to accomplish both goals. I would use the fist day scouting locations for my magazine shoots, and I would write down the names and addresses of the signs I would pass on the way. Also, keep in mind that as in all photography, lighting is probably the single most determining feature for technical success (something I know you know quite a bit about!). Early morning and late afternoon usually give me the best lighting I need, so while the models slept, or just before dinner while they were back in there rooms getting ready, I would quietly slip out and do my thing. Although, I would be less than honest if I didn’t tell you that we would often pull into a diner or café for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that would “just so happen” have a name like “Mom’s” or “Loveless” or “Horseshoe.” Sometimes being the photographer has its perks. As far as shooting signs as a way to relax, well sometimes yes. But more often than not, I have found myself with very limited time at a location without the luxury of scouting. So I’m forced to ask the concierge, desk clerk, gas station attendant, or random guy walking on the street, to where I need to go. Now here’s where it gets tricky – most of my signs and facades are found on the old Interstate Highways that were once popular in the nineteen forties and fifties before the freeways and turnpikes. More often than not these businesses are found on the outskirts of town, and as mentioned before, have seen better days and are now referred to as “seedy,” “rundown,” or, “the bad part of town.” Just as often, these same locations are home for some pretty nefarious businesses and can be down right scary. So now imagine me pulling up in my rental car with my cameras strapped around my neck; getting out and laying on the ground shooting skyward at some random motel sign in front of a place frequented by crack addicts and prostitutes that just happens to be named “The Half Moon” and sporting fantastic yellow and purple neon. It can get at times, a bit dicey and testy and I’ve had to do many “hit and runs” where I have metered another safer sign down the street and then drive right up and “click, click, click!” then get back in the car and drive off . But more often, it’s as simple as me driving home from somewhere and just happening across a fabulous vintage diner and getting out and shooting it from every angle I can imagine. It’s a lot like the feeling I suppose a big game hunter gets when he looks up and is eye to eye with a lion, only my lion is an old pink and blue Frosty Freeze and doesn’t bite. Maybe its not like that at all.

How big is your current collection of these signs?

Well, finished and ready for viewing: around a little less than 200. But I have a lot in the queue that I always look for the time to work on. Sometimes I’ll go back and re-shoot a sign under better circumstances, and sometimes I’ll reprint and rework something I printed ten years ago.

These are traditional silver halide prints, and I know you have some secret processing solutions, but can you share a little on how you achieve this look?

Well if I do, I’ll have to kill you — no! It’s a bit on the slightly-complicated side – mostly because it’s a very unforgiving process – its really straight-up old school darkroom stuff — I print on an old Omega enlarger, on Seagull Oriental fiber-based, multi-grade paper; using a one-to-one mixture of Dektol and water. Often, trying to makeup for harsh or inadequate lighting, or errant wires and stray palm prawns, there is lots of dodging and burning and masking. What makes these prints particularly tricky is that before I fix them, I meticulously wash it, and then aggressively hand-bleach it (I get it deep into the bleach, using constant agitation; manipulating localized areas with my fingers; isolating areas dipping and rubbing, etc.). Then I again rewash it thoroughly and then submerge it into a generous bath of selenium toner. The toner doesn’t seem to like the bleach and you can see the silver permeate to soup. It actually gives the signs and facades an aged, bleached look that (I hope) gives the viewer the same visceral feeling I get seeing the sign in person. The fading, peeling paint; the flaking finish; the rough weathered look that only comes from years and years of sun and bad weather; the seasoning, if you will, that comes from neglect. All of this is important to try to convey to the viewer in the print medium. I think I got it down.

So each print is a unique item? With that much handwork, no two could really be the same, right?

No, you’re right – each print has a quality unto itself. It’s about a six to one ratio for prints I discard to the ones I keep. Because the bleaching process continues or overlap throughout the washing and toning processes, it can get tricky – you have to “lead” each print as you go through every process; removing it seconds before it gets to your preferred finish. In other words, if you wait while it’s in the bleach to reach your desired finish, by the time you take it out and wash it, the bleach will have kept accelerating and it will be over bleached before the toning process. Once it’s in the selenium toner, I have to monitor it closely, because with each print toned, the strength of the toner denigrates, so each print time in each solution is independent of each other – whew! That’s was actually a mouthful! The only thing I may have left out is the cacophony of curse words coming out of my darkroom while I do this process! It does keep me honest though! You know I actually don’t like technique that gets in the way of the image. I often say that the true beauty of the signs is the sign themselves. Just like shooting supermodels in bathing suits in Barbados, it’s hard to mess them up.

You also sell these as Inkjets after scanning the image. Do you scan multiple images or do you choose one and make the scan from it?

Well, the B/W fiber prints are scanned and then I try my best to be true to the color and contrast value as the original. But around eight years ago, like most of my professional comrades, I’ve forgone the most part shooting film and began more and more shooting digitally, and in doing so I’ve ventured into shooting many of my new sign in color. I always hated the way the signs looked in ektachrome, they never achieved the look I wanted. And kodachrome looked pretty close but printing costs were prohibitive. So I’m pretty happy with digital. The lack of shadow detail is quite similar to the pushed tri-x process that use for the B/W. I try to approach the color shots in Photoshop using the same spirit and style as I did with my earlier B/W shots. I try to use a variety of Photoshop techniques as a way to influence the images to have a “quality” that will conjure the visceral feeling I have when standing in person in front of the sign. I print these images using Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper, on my Epson 2000P photo printer. Some of these are quite stunning. Because of the lack of variants, as stated in the before description of my B/W process, this makes it a much more affordable medium for me to sell.

What do you look for when you see a sign? I take it you are still involved in the project?

What do I look for? Well, it’s funny to say out loud, but I honestly have to say the signs and facades speak to me – now stop looking at me that way – they do! They just jump out at me as I’m driving. Sometimes it’s the neon, or the name, or the painting, or the shape, or even the state of decay; whatever! A friend once asked me which sign was my favorite and I answered, “The next one I shoot!” My poor wife and family are used to me slamming on my brakes and cranking a big u-turn so I can go back and check out the sign I just passed! I want people to keep in mind that whereas these are one-of-a-kind items that have a certain amount aesthetic quality, they were after all, intended for the most part, to pull people off the road and spend their hard-earned money at their establishments. I see the signs as the byproduct of “grassroots capitalism.” These are examples of a time before corporate logos and international franchises. I try and imagine the thinking process that went into each sign; the creative and business decisions made by each mom and pop business as they tried to figure out what best to call their place, and how to showcase it on the highway out front. Do they put girls in bathing suits elegantly diving into a pool? Or do they go with a wagon wheel or sombrero? Do they call their business a name drawn from the local area? Or do they name it after their daughter? I continue to appreciate the arbitrariness of the names, designs, and shapes of each sign, and truly dig the rarity of each one.

What is your ultimate goal for this collection… it is wonderfully broad and diverse?

I never started this with a particular goal in mind. But a while ago, around the time I moved to New York, I made a decision to try and always shoot with the idea of using whatever I shoot in context of being part of something larger. What I mean is, instead of shooting hundreds of images that are disjointed and unrelated; I try to contextualize what I shoot as being part of something bigger (whether it’s a collection, a show, a book, magazine editorial etc). As well, I have recently been showing and selling prints up in Ojai, CA in the park which was, at first, outside of my comfort zone; but it has since opened me up to a whole new group of fans that love signs! One of the coolest things about my sharing these images is that I get such positive reactions from total strangers. They share stories with me about specific signs they remember. People recognize signs I have and tell me anecdotes about staying at one of the motels, or eating at one of the restaurants when they were six, etc. A lot of people love old signs. This all has led me to thinking about expanding their presence on my website, or possibly even creating a completely unique home for them on their own dedicated website. It would be great to offer a more interactive presence where people could share their own shots and stories.

Tell me more about the book

I hope to have it out before July – and it’s been quite an undertaking editing down and organizing everything for the final cut. I’m very excited about it all. Although I have to admit, it’s a bit strange lining up photos I shot 20 years ago next to ones I shot two months ago! It gives me a chance to showcase some of my all time favorites, as well as share some of the more esoteric and eclectic ones. It’s actually been a lot of fun!

That’s great! Thanks for taking some time to talk with me about your work. And in full disclosure, JimiG is someone I have known “his” entire life… However he has not known me for my entire life.

And you’ve never missed an opportunity to remind me.

Thanks Bro…

No, thanks to you!

To see more of Jimi Giannatti’s work, visit his site.