MINI! KISS! + another one of my quirky film cameras

New York Auto Show ended up being the two scheduled press days plus two days of pre-press-day reveals. After four days of reveals, parties, sleep too little, repeat, I got on a plane at ouch o'clock in the morning Friday to go to Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend. I hit the ground running and photographed the car show - all pre-1963 cars - two days in a row. Four days of photographing, watching bands, too little sleep, repeat. Throw in Frankie's Tiki Room and lots of sun for a perfect working vacation. I hit the ground back in NYC and crashed... hard. I picked up some horrible chest infection from which I'm only starting to recover.

I have tons of photos, so many that I'm overwhelmed thinking about processing them.

While I recover, here are some shots I took at the MINI press conference from press day two of the NY Auto Show. KISS was slated to be there, so I got there at 9 a.m. sharp - yes, I was the first dorky photographer there. I don't care. I wanted my spot and I wanted my shots. I also threw in my bag, as I usually do, one of my random toy cameras. This time it was the Sprocket Rocket available from Lomography.com. It was loaded with some special effects film by Austrian company Revolog called Tesla which creates random lightning effects. KISS? Sprocket Rocket? Random lightning? RAD!!!!

Of course, I got the important shots for the client first. See them and a classic shot of Gene Simmon's tongue here.

The film is rated 200 ASA. I had a flash on the Sprocket Rocket, but the fixed exposure didn't let in *quite* enough light for this shot. It's still cool.

More when I can breathe again.

Shore Blvd, 3.12.11 and Astoria Garages, 3.13.11 (cont'd)

Saturday the 12th was a gorgeous day. I walked along Shore for awhile, and it seemed to be Mopar day - I spotted a lot of late model Chargers and Challengers. Then - a rarity in Astoria - a bunch of people on horseback. I followed as fast as I could, hoping to get a Mustang I saw with the horses in the background, but my Sketchers... well, no horsepower. I was able to get this shot, though.

There was also an MGB (circa 1979?) following a red Porsche 911 (not in frame) that passed, but other than that, a slow day on Shore. I started home, and ran into P., the '55 Chevy owner. He was on the way to Serino's and promised to take me someday.

Someday ended up being the next day, Sunday the 13th. Serino Hot Rod is a shop in Astoria - write about them in my previous blog post.

The walls are filled with license plates from all over the US and nostalgic photographs of their father's - and grandfather's - racing years.

The block was lined with cars from different eras in various states of restoration:

An expanded gallery of shots can be found here.

Astoria Garages, 3.13.11

I wandered down to Shore Blvd., and P., the '55 Bel Air owner, drove by and said he was going to Serino's. So off we went. Serino Hot Rod is a shop in Astoria that has been around since 1935 - this is the 3rd generation running it. Beaters in various phases of restoration lined the street; it was car and photo heaven. They were kind enough to let me poke around, uncover cars, and shoot at will. I'm feeling a little sick of digital, so here are a few Holga shots... I plan on doing another post with the digital shots.

All photographs ©2011 Megan Green, All Rights Reserved. Do not copy, download, or screengrab without my permission.

Shore Blvd, Astoria 2.27.11 - Early Signs of Spring

Sunday was bright, sunny, and slightly above freezing in Astoria. Since it was a brutal winter, I had an inkling that some car people would be anxious to take their hot rods out of the garage and cruise a little. My intuition proved right. There were some later model muscle cars sunning along the river as I walked, but I didn't see anything that truly caught my eye until I backtracked and walked north - and spotted a '72 Charger. I took a few shots, and then the owner came along and had to take off. I kept walking, and got to a '55 Bel Air just in time to take a picture of *it* driving off! I watched it drive away... then I backtracked, and it was parked again. I started chatting with the owner, and he let me have the run of it - get inside, open the hood, the works - and then as luck would have it, the Charger came back and parked. Yes, spring is hopefully in the air.

'55 Bel Air:

'72 Charger:

For all you Mopar people, his 440 engine:

Note the sticker: right here in Queens, the Connecting Highway is legend in street racing. Check out the history here.

The House of Tires - Odessa, TX

This post is a little unusual in that I only took two of the photographs. It's a cool story, though, so I'm putting it here. My sister and her husband are building a house... with dirt and truck tires. The other day, I got a text from her that they had filled the last tire and they were done with that portion of the house. Cause for celebration, indeed! I had previously encouraged her to post a blog, but between being a Mom, a wife, a vet tech, and, well, building a house with a lot of dirt and a lot of tires, she just didn't have the time. So I'm telling the story in my blog while she gets comfortable with a celebratory glass of champagne and this blogger software.

The details (I have to check my phone, she texted it all to me):

• Concrete for foundation poured 11/17/09, and they started packing dirt about 5 days later
• 539 tires
• 67 tons/130 cubic yards of dirt, around 90 of which got sledgehammered into tires. the left over dirt will get spread inside the perimeter to raise it to a 4" slab
• Approximately 250-300 pounds of dirt per tire. That was about three wheelbarrows full of dirt per tire, until after the third tier was complete and the fourth tier was too high. From then on, they used kitty litter buckets, and most tires used about eight kitty litter buckets full of dirt
• Now they are going to "slap some concrete mixed with dirt in the v's between the tires utilizing three soda cans to take up space to further the energy efficiency"
• Last tire packed 4/12/11

Without further ado, here are the photos.

J. measuring:

Frames for the concrete:

Foundation and first tire:

First tire filled:

The process:

Third tier:

My sister said that as they built the wall of tires, people would pull up and ask if they were building a track for go-karts.

Filling the last tire:

J. with the completed wall of tires:

My sister will take on the story from here, since there is a lot more house to build. You can follow the story at Tread Lightly - H.O.T.

Holga Meet Cars; Cars, Meet Holga

I had to remind myself this weekend that regarding my work, I make the rules, and the rules are subject to me changing them at any time.

The intent of this blog was to be for my work in progress that involves pro/pro-minded shots of cars. When I first started photographing cars seriously, professionally, I decided that the digital cameras were for pro work, and the Holgas and old cameras were reserved for my creative fine art work. As art is true to life (or life true to art?), both bled into each other. I started creating art with my digital and car shots with the black and white film.

So while I'm cleaning up the shots of Philly and DC Auto Show public days for my client, doing a quick load of laundry before packing for Chicago Auto Show, and waiting for the framer to *finally* finish framing a print going to a gallery in Texas... I give you Holga. There's no theme or common thread other than the camera that took them and that the subject matter is cars.

VW bug, Odessa, TX:

Tesla IPO, Times Square, NY:

Rumble in the Country, CT:

Display at Woodward Dream Cruise, MI:

Mustang in Mustang Alley, Woodward Dream Cruise, MI:

Details, Greenlawn, NY:

Rat rod, Greenlawn, NY:

Found in my 'hood: Astoria, Queens, NY:

...and someone's project car that I really really want to see uncovered:

...Eventually, I plan to make some of these available for purchase; I'm currently exploring options between Red Bubble, Zazzle, Etsy, Etc.