127 — Arizona, 2015

"127" — Arizona, 2015 Fine Art Print — Roadside Series by Thomas Hoeffgen

Nobody knows what the 127 means anymore. The plane doesn't either.

One of the crew was already climbing the nose before Hoeffgen had the camera up. That's how it works in a boneyard — the place does something to people. The scale of the fuselage, the rivets still holding after all these years, the cockpit windows empty and staring. You don't plan to climb it. You just do.

The sun was directly behind him. Silhouette, bent knee, one arm reaching forward, camera raised — a figure in full stride across the nose of aircraft 127, the Arizona sky a flat burning grey behind him. The aluminum skin of the fuselage, oxidized and patched and numbered, fills the lower half of the frame. Two thirds of the image is sky.

Hoeffgen shot on instinct. That's the only way to catch a moment that lasts four seconds.

There is no way to know how many flights this aircraft made, where it went, who sat inside it. It ended up here, in the desert heat, perfectly preserved and completely grounded. And for one afternoon in April 2015, somebody climbed it — and somebody else was fast enough to catch it against the sun.

From the Roadside series — a road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles along Route 66, shot on assignment for Timberland that evolved into a self-published book and PDN Photo Annual Award winner (2016).

Available as a museum-quality fine art print on premium archival paper, in multiple sizes. Signed by the artist.