What I Did This Summer

Wow, I haven't written a blog post since July. Pathetic! It's been a crazy summer, and I've been shooting the whole time. Here's the run-down of what I've been up to:

I went to Alaska do drive and shoot a Chevy Volt with an Olympus EP-3 camera.

I hung out with my uncle and shot some dirt track - then went to a classics show with him. Those shots in a future blog post, because right after that...

I went to the Detroit area for the Woodward Dream Cruise.

When I got back, I went to Citi Field for the 2012 Toyota Camry launch. And an earthquake.

Full speed ahead, I tried my hand at shooting a little tennis at the US Open and tried out another new Olympus PEN camera while doing it.

Aaaaand this past weekend I took lots of pictures at a rare local cruise-in - at Serino's block party. A few shots are up on my Facebook page, and I need to do a blog post on that as well.

All in time though, because I'm currently procrastinating. I need to pack for yet another adventure...

It's Mid-June already.... Astoria Cars 6.18.11

It's mid-June already. Amazing. I felt pretty stale and burned out after NY Auto Show and Viva Las Vegas. I've been going down to Shore Boulevard pretty regularly to talk with car people, document the car culture, and ultimately take pictures of cool cars - and while there have been cool cars, I just wasn't taking great shots. In May, I got a few more shots of a Corvair that I've photographed before. Here's a cool-ish one of the badge:

I haven't seen my buddies on Shore either, and I've got some prints of the Challenger and Pete's '55 Bel Air that I want to give to each of them. While I've seen Sean in his Challenger drive by, he hasn't parked, and I haven't seen Pete at all. Hey Pete! If you see this, I've got a cool print of your '55 for you!

Last Friday I hopped on the train and met some friends out in New Jersey for Somerville Cruise Night. There were a lot of muscle cars from the 70's and 80's, and even a few current Mustangs, but there were also some pretty cool classics and hot rods. When I went through my shots, I was pretty disappointed, again, in my work. But then I realized that when I shoot at these events, I need to slow down. Just slow down and See... not rush through and dryly document the cars. It's not a press conference, I don't have a deadline, I'm not shooting for a client and having to get the standard car shots for them, so just slow down and photograph for me. There are a few good shots from the night:

On Monday (June 13), I wandered out into Times Square for my lunch break from my on-site temp job. I've always got at least one camera with me, and it paid off big-time! MHN, I suppose in order to lure guys over to their booths to encourage them to get prostate checks and all, had three classic cars roped off. The first was this gorgeous Buick from the 40's. I somehow deleted the photo with the sign containing model and year information - argh!

...and shot this really incredible shot of a 50's Packard ornament (I was shooting RAW and had very little room on the card - so I deleted the pic of the sign again with the model and year information by mistake.) (The other car was a 70's era Porsche 911T.) I'm going to start offering some shots for sale on RedBubble - more on that when I actually do it. This will be one of the shots offered.

I sat on the boardwalk along Shore for awhile yesterday, and saw about three classics drive by, but no one parked - then they all turned down the same street. So eventually, I just got up and started walking down that street. I didn't find where they were all going, and Serino's was closed, so it was only a long walk. However, I saw this beater Cadillac along the way, and the cracked paint, rust, and utter disrepair of the car inspired me to take it's picture.

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.

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.

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.

Houston Garages, December 2010

Houston, TX

As soon as I bought my plane tickets to visit my family, my mom got on the phone and told me that her friend John had invited me over to visit and shoot at his garage. The day after I arrived, we piled in the car and drove out to meet him at JLD Classic Enterprises, where he does stainless steel restoration as well as restores his own cars. He keeps everything as period-correct as possible.

John and his '41 Olds:

The ration sticker was still stuck on the inside of the windshield:

Detail and engine of his other Olds:

He took us for a ride in the '41, and I just kept shooting. There were no seatbelts as they weren't required yet in 1941... the seats were nice and bouncy. The car had some pick-up, and you felt invincible speeding down the road. It's huge!

Come on, if you grew up in the 70's like me, you know I had to take this shot as John Travolta sang "Greased Lightening" on my internal soundtrack:

After we admired the Olds', he uncovered the Packard:

The walls were covered with parts, as they should be:

And then the Studebakers:

We took the '41 down the street to his buddy George's shop - GAP Racing - to see the muscle cars he was currently working on:

Are you drooling yet?

Then across the street to another to see a Skorpion Crosley in the process of being restored.

Special thanks to John Doerfler and his friends from the Gulf Coast Region Antique Automobiles of America for sharing their enthusiasm for classic cars and their history. I *will* make it to Houston on the second Monday of the month for one of your cruise nights. Thanks also to George Palazzolo of GAP Racing for letting us poke around and generally get in the way of his mechanics while drooling over his Chevelle. And, of course, Mom, for bragging about me taking photos of cars and getting us invited in the first place.

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I hope you like my shots. I prefer to keep my shots realistic, bordering on documentary, and don't do any special post-processing; I'll leave the HDR and desaturated shots to those who do it well. I think real is what I do well. I took over 200 shots in an hour and a half on this day, and it was hard to edit down to 20 for this story. If you want to see more, please visit my gallery on SmugMug by clicking this link.