This is the town where I live. Where I have called home twice now.

Williams, Arizona.

It is quaint and quirky and cute in its own little touristy way.

There is a lot of history in this town. It was founded in 1881, thirty-one years before Arizona became a state. Williams was also the last town on Historic Route 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40 in 1984. It is also the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, as they say.

Much of the history from both the Wild West and the heyday of Route 66 are still visible in Williams today.

A few months ago, Kristy, and I explored downtown (where main street and Route 66 are one in the same) one Saturday afternoon. (Her images from this little photo adventure can be seen HERE and HERE).

Get ready for so much beautiful back lighting and lens flare goodness that you might just poop your pants. But, hopefully not. Hopefully you’ll just say, “Hey, I want to visit Williams and Route 66 and the Grand Canyon!”

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Oh say can you see…

I have been the Offner family photographer since, well, there was an Offner family to photograph.

Grayson just turned 4, Pax recently turned 2, and Pop Jay (grandpa Barlow) was out visiting from North Carolina. Seems like a great excuse for some family photos if you ask me! I can tell you for a fact that photographing the Offner boys is always an adventure. They’re not interested in having their photo taken. And, at some point one or both of them will start crying. And, if they don’t start crying then I probably will.

Of course, that’s half the fun of it!

Jon and Miriam were smart this time, though. They bribed all three of us with sweet treats from the Circle K around the corner. Grayson and Pax would get a Slushie if they behaved, while I would be getting a Big Gulp for surviving the shoot. Seems like a win-win situation for everyone.

I can tell you that out of the hundreds of images I have shot of this family over the years, this collection saw the Offner boys on their best behavior. Ever.

Naturally, there may have been a few tears at some point. I’m not going to say who they belonged to, though.

I’m going to stop writing now and just show you the photographs. I love this family. The end.

 To view a slideshow with more images and sweet music by Air Review click here.

I used to head downtown once a week to have lunch with my mother. I would usually ride my bike down there and do a little downtown exploration when we were finished eating. Wandering through the back alleys and checking out the small, out of the way stores and galleries. I haven’t been down that way in a while, but the other day Kristy and I went downtown to see what we could find.

It is interesting  to see how people can see the same things and see them differently. You can see her take on our downtown exploration here and here.

This is what I saw: