ALEXANDER WAGNER'S CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP

At long last, summer has stepped aside and made way for fall, bringing with it an annual yearning for yesterday and the months preceding. We can choose to deal with the unwelcome guest, holed away in our apartments bitterly dodging the change, or instead, look back at times past and pretend they’re still here.

In the spirit of the latter, New York-based photographer Alexander Wagner has compiled a collection of photographs from a recent trip across the West Coast, one painted in a modicum of sundowns and evening haze. “I go to the desert once a year to reframe things—to annihilate myself and rebuild,” Wagner explains. “I also craved documenting the experience of traveling. The campgrounds and motels, the modernity on the road. The sights between cities.”

Wagner’s exploration followed a loosely-drawn outline that took him from Monterey down Route 1, through Big Sur and Pismo Beach, then back north to Point Reyes, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Black Rock Desert, and Lake Tahoe. But the most vital stops—those most reflective of the spirit of the collection—were the suggested in-betweens, the dusty backdrop to California’s shine, a documentarian’s vision.

This is not Wagner’s first road trip, experience Alexander Wagner’s American Southwest.

“People constantly recommended new places: hot springs, a beach, an unmissable surf town, the craters at Lassen, and the trip digressed,” Wagner says. “Certain friends just opened up my atlas, circled cities, and said, ‘Go here!’ Mineral, California. Nevada City. Topaz. ‘The real Bates Motel is here!’ I listened, and the journey became a vision quest with each interaction inspiring the next.”

To see more of Alexander Wagner’s work, please visit AlexanderWagnerPhoto.com.

Brady Donnelly is the assistant editor of The Last Magazine, as well as the director of product at Casserole Labs.

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Allie Lewis at IMG

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