<- Met Al Morrison this Sunday at 'Wheels, Wheels, Wheels' along N. Queen Street where maybe a hundred street rods and classic cars were mixed with a couple dozen motorcycles in the blazing sunlight along the closed avenue. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people on the superhot afternoon. Al's images are posted at his Flickr account and they inspired me to play with the things this week. It's said that photographic images are not so much statements about the world as they are piece of it - minatures of reality. The more I think about that idea, the more it resonates with me. So this week I thought I'd try to pull pieces of a time-past together from under that searing sun (a photographer's nightmare) to see if we together could pimp out our recollections the way the keepers of these relics pimped their vehicles out. And where better to begin than the cockpit of an explosively red '57 Caddy? I wonder if our European and Asian visitors share North and South American memories (or myths) about cruising, top-down, AM radio blaring - Hot Town... Summer In The City? Huh?
6 comments:
Ted,
Love it, man. I assume you've seen my "Auto Art" images?
I like how you have a bit of the seat framed in the mirror.
(Chad) I had you in my mind as I browsed the street show Sunday. I wondered how you'd do this. Actually, I've never tried my hand at cars before, and as you can see if you visit Al's sight, his work also influenced me to try. The real problem was doing anything beneath the 2pm summer sun. So actually the real challenge I've set for myself this week is figuring out how to make every sunlight capture work. As you know we're off to Italy next month and I fear that most of my photo opportunities will be mid day, and I understand that October around Rome and Tuscany is very much like late summer here. So let me know how you think I manage to deal with the lighting this week, K?
BTW... want to see car shots... take a look at Chad's sight by clicking there on the right on the main page.
Every comment you guys might have this week on this challenge will be appreciated.
This detail shot catches the "flavor" of the era much better than a shot of the entire car. Well done!
That's a fabulously surreal shot. Maybe the dice would be a little bit in my way during driving (I hate things hanging in my view), but here they are the icing on the cake.
Regarding lighting, well, you're right, a little beauty blur always helps with blown highlights :)
Hmm ... we've talked about HDR before and I can slightly remember that you're not a big fan of it. Well, I've recently experimented with it again (nothing that I've published) and I think it's another nice way to deal with harsh daylight. It's fickle though. It needs discipline. What I found working well is to use HDR as only one layer, just to mix in where highlights are lost. But, of course, HDR takes time, eats away your hard disc space, and it's hard to bracket without a tripod. The Steinmuellers do it though, and they seem to get decent results.
Anyway, I can't see you in trouble in harsh light. I can't see you in trouble in any light :)
Andreas
(John) And I've seen you do that as well. I'm only just learning about cars, you and Chad seem to have them down cold... or hot.
(bikejohn) As a biker, have you ever had the urge to actually shoot them? I ride my bike to work three or so times a week. A friend at work says that instead of running the bulls at Pamplova, I'm running the traffic in Lancaster. Manly stuff this biking, eh?
(Andreas) Those dice take up much of the windshield. I'm guessing they go into the back seat when the owner takes this baby home. But for display, they make the photo, no? And like drop shadows, beauty blur makes everything fresh. HDR intimidates me. I don't want to carry a tripod and yet one seems essential to carry it out successfully.
Oh, and what I forgot then:
Happy Birthday ImageFiction!!!
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