Route 66 Photography Tour: Santa Fe to the Grand Canyon

Annie meets the group at the Albuquerque airport at 1 pm for the drive of about an hour north to Santa Fe. After check-in she gives a 45-minute talk on the week ahead: the light, what to carry, how to work a scene with nine other photographers around. At sunset we walk to the Cross of the Martyrs above downtown for a first look over the city and the Sangre de Cristo range. Welcome dinner with green chile.

Sunrise at the San Miguel Chapel and the old adobe houses on De Vargas Street, where low sun rakes across mud walls. Breakfast, then a slow walk up Canyon Road for doors, gates and ristras, with Annie on composition. Midday rest. Late afternoon at the Loretto Chapel and the portal of the Palace of the Governors, where Native artists sell jewelry. Blue hour on the Plaza as the luminarias and shop lights come on.

A late start, then south on I-25 to Albuquerque, about 60 miles. Lunch in Old Town, then the first editing session at the hotel: Annie looks at everyone's first two days and gives one specific suggestion each. Before sunset we walk Central Avenue from the El Vado Motel toward the KiMo Theatre. The 20 minutes after the sun goes down, when the sky is deep blue and the neon is lit, are what this evening is for.

Optional dawn at Old Town's San Felipe de Neri church. Then west on old 66 across the Rio Puerco bridge and past the mesas of Laguna Pueblo, with a stop at the 1930s storefronts of Grants. Gallup is about 140 miles from Albuquerque. We shoot the El Rancho's two-story lobby, with its stone fireplace and signed film star portraits, in the soft late afternoon light, and the murals of downtown Gallup before dinner at the hotel.

Seventy miles west to Petrified Forest National Park. Midmorning at the Blue Mesa trail, a one-mile loop through gray and purple badlands, and Crystal Forest with its quartz-filled logs. Picnic lunch and a rest. Late afternoon we set up at Kachina Point beside the 1920s Painted Desert Inn and stay through sunset, when the reds and pinks peak. A short drive to Holbrook for a night in a concrete teepee at the Wigwam Motel.

Morning in Winslow: La Posada's gardens and the Standin' on the Corner Park mural, then Meteor Crater for a wide-angle view across the 550-foot-deep bowl. Lunch in Flagstaff and north to the Grand Canyon, about 175 miles for the day. We take the Hermit Road shuttle to Hopi Point, which juts far into the canyon and looks west, and stay until the light leaves the buttes. Annie explains bracketing for the high contrast.

Up at 5 am for sunrise at Yaki Point, east of the village, where first light hits Zoroaster Temple and the inner gorge. Breakfast at the lodge, then a free middle of the day: walk a mile or two down the Bright Angel Trail, nap or edit. Second editing session in the afternoon. For the evening we go to Desert View, 25 miles east, for sunset from the 1932 Watchtower designed by Mary Colter. Dinner together back at the village.

A last canyon sunrise for anyone who wants it, from the rim behind the lodge. We drive south to Williams and then west on old 66 to Seligman for the hand-painted signs and the Snow Cap Drive-In. Hackberry General Store, with its 1950s Corvette and rusted pumps, is best in golden hour, so we arrive late afternoon. Kingman for the night, about 190 miles in all. Final editing session and a slideshow of each guest's picks after dinner.

We leave Kingman at 6:30 am to catch low sun on the switchbacks of Sitgreaves Pass, the steepest stretch of Route 66 in Arizona. Oatman wakes slowly; the burros arrive on the main street around 8 am, before the shops open. Breakfast in town, then about 120 miles north to Las Vegas through Bullhead City. We reach the airport by about 1:30 pm, in time for afternoon flights home.