Shade Tree Mechanic - The story behind the image.

This has become one of my most popular images in terms of response, publication and print sales.
I've been asked where it was taken and how did I find this wonderful scene.
If you follow my photography or read prior blogs you realize that many of these discoveries are actually the result of being relentlessly curious and straying away from the well traveled highways.

This exploration was on the many back roads between Las Vegas and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Las Vegas was a major trade center on the Santa Fe Trail from the time of the Spanish conquistadors and is worthy of a weeks worth of exploring and photographing.
Stop for lunch or dinner at Dick's, a local institution with great green chili and cold beer.

 The side roads toward Santa Fe run somewhat parallel to I-25 and are a maze of county and state roads. This is not a drive for the impatient, like much of New Mexico, roads tend to stop and start with little signage. Parts of these roads were the early paved part of the Old Santa Fe trail and route 66.  Small villages with white washed adobe churches at the base of beautiful mesas are scattered throughout this area. Each village has it's own history and story worth checking out.
This trip was primarily spent in and around Pecos, Glorieta and Rowe.
Along highway 50 outside Pecos, I spotted this wonderfully restored 55 Chevrolet pickup parked beside Greigos , a gas station and restaurant outside of town. A sign proclaimed: " Greigos, Best cheeseburger west of Pecos". When I opened my car door, the smells coming from the kitchen seemed to support their claim.
A few quick shots later, I found myself placing an order for a cheeseburger while I visited with a young man working the counter and a local highway patrolman waiting on his cheeseburger. A bit later, the cook brought out a grease stained white paper bag containing that wonderful burger. This is indeed, a stop destined for any carnivores bucket list.

 A conversation about old pickups or cars I might photograph brought up the GMC pickup sitting outside of town on jack stands. I had to back track a bit toward Rowe, and cross over the interstate just past the small log and adobe homestead.  This scene instantly spoke to me in it's simplicity and the story it conveyed of that project we all hope to complete.

I continued on to Santa Fe for a night at the El Rey Inn, a wonderful old motor inn much like it was in the fifties.  Dinner with a friend at Tiny's lounge was a perfect end to a great day exploring at little bit more of northern New Mexico.  Tiny's is another of those iconic old bars with great Mexican food, and a constantly changing cast of local characters.



 I've found that Northern New Mexico has become one of my favorite areas to explore back roads and small towns. It is amazing to be in villages that were settled before the pilgrams landed on Plymouth rock.
Much of what makes New Mexico are the friendly and interesting people that really seem to love sharing the stories, history and sights away from the interstates.
Please share your favorite photo sites and experiences.
Have a wonderful adventure.
Michael
More of my photography can be found at: www.stillslife.net

My favorite car guy drives- Gateway Canyon Automotive Museum to Moab

Oldsmobile F-88 Concept Car

Part of the Gateway Automobile Museum

 I've driven thousands of miles on two lane roads throughout America. To pick a favorite is impossible, but one of my favorite drives  is very remote, spectacularly  beautiful, and is anchored by the Gateway Automobile Museum at one end and Moab, Utah and Arches National Park at the other.

Gateway is a remote small town set in a beautiful red rock valley. It is best reached from Grand Junction by driving south on highway 50 until you see a sign for Whitewater to the right on highway 141.
The road takes you through beautiful ranch land framed by towering mountain peaks. As you get close to Gateway, the alpine landscape transforms into red rock country that recalls virtually every western movie you've ever watched.
The tiny town of Gateway  straddles  the highway and within a few moments, you will see Gateway Canyon Resort as you drive south.
The resort is a world class end destination resort with every amenity and a number of ways to explore the area, from horseback, mountain bike and  by Jeep or exotic sports car. They can sign you up to learn to get big air a Pro- Baja dirt trophy racing truck on the private off road course.

Hanging Flume

 

At this point, a lunch stop and museum tour could easily turn into a weeks stay.
This is one of the most spectacular and well displayed automobile museums that I have ever visited. It essentially tells the story of the American Automobile over a period of 100 years for 1906 to 2006.
This collection has  many interesting and unusual cars. Many prototype and concept cars are featured including the centerpiece of the collection, the 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 concept car.
If you are a photographer, you will be hard pressed to find any museum that stages and lights the cars so beautifully. Rather than the velvet ropes that usually hang right in the way of a good photograph, low black pipes keep visitors from bumping against the cars, and allow you to photograph over them.  I found that a few test shots and some white balance adjustment was all I needed to get the colors correct. Many of the cars have a full satin black background so you can get clear unobstructed photographs.  Treat yourself to a night at the Gateway resort, enjoy a relaxing meal before departing to Moab the next morning. Gateway canyon and the museum should be added to any car guys bucket list.
  Departing Gateway, make sure you have extra camera batteries charged and an empty memory disk, this day will be filled with spectacular images.
  Highway 141 is one of Colorado's most beautiful drives. The dilemma is, do I surrender to the wonderful driving experience, or stop every quarter mile or so to take photographs. This wonderful drive follows the river at the base of towering red rock walls and then climbs to the top of the mesa.
  As you are climbing to the top, be sure to stop at the overlook for the hanging flume. This flume was a ten mile long way to get water to a gold placer operation. The builders had to hang hundreds of feet above the water attaching the flume to the sheer rock cliff face.
  Eventually you will come to highway 90 heading west toward Moab. You drop into Paradox valley with a single town of the same name.  Now comes a steep climb up a series of switchbacks that bring you along the backside of the beautiful La Sal mountains. At this point you will come to highway 191, the main road into Moab.
  Moab has become a very popular vacation spot. It's so popular that I try to make my visits in the late fall or early spring. Any time of year it is important to have a lodging reservation well ahead of time.


La Sal Mountains

Moab has many hotels and motels all along the main street, but my favorite is to take highway 128 out of town about 15 miles to the Red Cliff Lodge. It sits right on the Colorado River and features 360 degrees of spectacular views. The rancher that originally ranched here was responsible for getting Hollywood to film westerns in this area. John Wayne and virtually every other western actor from that era stayed at the ranch. The ranch is now a great lodge with it's own vineyard, great restaurant and is a great base from which to explore the area.


Pierce Woody Station Wagon

  There's is no way to really capture the beauty and scale of Arches National park in a photograph, and there are endless trails and canyons to explore on foot, horseback or with a 4x4 .
   This is the end of the drive, but the start of as much adventure and exploring as you have time for. The spring season has two automotive events, the Easter Jeep Safari and in late April, the Moab car show. Either one literally takes over the town, so plan well in advance.
  I hope this trip is one you will add to your must drive list.

  Michael
StillsLife - Classic Automotive Photography
www.stillslife.net  



Exploring the black and white option of your favorite photographs. “Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like.” - David Alan Harvey

 On occasion, if you follow my web page or facebook page you will see the best image emerges when I eliminate color in favor of black and white.

The three images in this post, all were shot initially in color, and certainly recorded accurately the color and details of the objects photographed.

With any image, I have an initial feeling or emotional response that I attempt to capture.
Sometimes, I'm initially satisfied with the photograph, but upon returning to  it just doesn't seem to convey or express the initial feeling when I photographed it.

The first image of the Flathead Ford is a good example of an engine that really grabbed me with its perfect execution. I liked the color, but when I converted it to black and white, it became what I really wanted to convey of a perfectly executed and very mechanical feel. This has become one of the most popular images in my portfolio. I usually print this on aluminum sheet or Kodak metallic paper to further enhance the mechanical feel.

"Popeye" the Dodge truck is another photograph that has been quite popular as a color image. The various shades of rust certainly work well, but again merely recorded the truck as seen. I spent some time reworking it in black and white. This time I feel it has an even better feeling of the passage of time.  Both work well, and are probably equally well received by the viewer. All in all, though I think it was worth producing it in color or black and white.

                                                                                                  The last image of the forty Ford headlight and silver flames work very well in color, and with a minor bit of HDR work has the feeling of a painting that I had hoped to accomplish.  It has also been a very popular image within my portfolio. So is it worth trying black and white? In this case, I felt that it worked well in black and white, but the color image remains closer to the feel and effect that I was trying to communicate.

 

My conclusion is that with digital photography, we have more options to experiment with our photography than we ever could with film. I would encourage you to be open to revisit images and try different effects until they get as close as you can to what you first felt when you made the shot.
Sometimes black and white will be the best solution. At other times it's a good alternative or option, and there will be times the original color was the best image.
As always, have the courage to experiment and don't forget to keep it fun.
Just keep shooting.   Michael

The rust never sleeps. Photographing the natural beauty and patina of old cars.

 As an automotive photographer , I'm often taking images of spectacular collector cars and hot rods with perfect paint, chrome and body work. These cars, designed and built by amazing artisans,  are absolute automotive perfection.

At the other end of the spectrum are the survivors, unfinished projects and abandoned vehicles. The wonderful thing about these cars is that they can be found almost anywhere and often have great stories behind the image.

At art shows, people often ask how do I know where to find these scenes.
 Many of my best selling and most popular images are found along rural two lane roads all over the country. I'll share a few tips and stories behind the images in this post.

•  Be willing to explore and get away from the interstates. The Dodge Charger was found off a two lane road about 20 miles out of Billings, Montana.
• Talk to people. I often find great scenes by striking up a conversation at the local store or town café. Even if I don't find something, I often meet very interesting people. The Chevy truck on jack stands was a tip from a local highway patrolman I met at a gas station in Pecos, New Mexico. It was less than a quarter mile from the station, but I would have missed it entirely. I have some oversize post cards with one of my photographs on one side and contact info and website on the back. I hand these out to start the conversation. These are a great ice breaker.
• Get off of main street. In the smaller towns, I'll take the time to drive up and down each street and often the alleys. I drive a basic grid looking for old cars as well as great old buildings. Some of my best finds have been on that last street at the edge of town.
• Sometimes great images are closer than you think.  Your home town as well as local swap meets and auctions often turn up some wonderful images. The 32 Ford above was parked one street away from a local car show. The Dodge truck wheel with the shredded tire was found at a swap meet, and the Oldsmobile trunk was found lined up at a local auction.
• Go to the light. Picking the subjects is really a combination of an initial emotional response to the scene, and understanding what the light is doing. Often you hear photographers say you need to shoot early or late in the day. Those are my favorite times as well, but if you take the time to observe the light and work with it good photographs can be taken at any time. Every photograph on this post was taken between 10:00am and 4:00pm except for the Dodge wheel that was taken early in the morning. As I've noted in other posts, experiment with a number of exposures and effects. Digital allows us to take far more images and explore options, so be bold and go for it.

I find that the images of the survivors and abandoned tell great stories with the passage time. I hope this was helpful. Let me know what works for you or feel free to share your images, I'd love to see them.
Michael

The images on this post are available at my website: www.stillslife.net

A night at the museum- Photographing in museums and indoor car shows.

 Many of the rarest and most exotic cars are displayed indoors at museums and indoor car shows. As a photographer, the challenge of shooting indoors is complicated by a number of things. Often access is limited with most cars roped off. Vehicles are often displayed very close to each other making a full view difficult. Much like an outdoor show, other people can be difficult to shoot around, and finally lighting can be a mix of several types of artificial light sources. Lighting can also be uneven if it is a temporary show. Good lighting for a convention or rodeo is often very poor for an automobile.
Here are a few simple tips to help you bring back good images.

• If possible, I like to go on a slow day, typically mid-week and as early as possible. Like " A night in the Museum, I once was able to get a curator of a collection to lock me in for a few hours to shoot a private collection in exchange for a couple of prints.
• Before you get wrapped up in the cars, step back and assess the light sources and quality.
• Take time to try several test shots at various white balance settings and with and without flash.
• Once you are comfortable with the white balance and color, bracket your exposures so you have a range of detail through shadow and highlights to work with later.
• If a full image of the car is not possible, look for a dramatic detail and angle to shoot such as the Lamborghini in the lead photo. This allowed me to shoot under the ropes and not include the crowd of visitors.  A Lamborghini always draws a crowd.
• Be patient and allow for people to move on, or go to another subject and return later.
• Get a range of full view, details and high and low angles.
• Have fun, remember you're there because you love cars and photography. If it's not a paid assignment, relax and enjoy the venue.
• Finally, when you download your files, use the multiple exposures to find the best shot to work from. You can employ a number of techniques and HDR within your editing software to fine tune the images to suit your vision.

I hope these tips will make your next indoor shoot more enjoyable and successful.
Michael.
  See other images at: www.stillslife.net  or Stillslife on Facebook.

Cruising the hood

Attending a car show can be an overload of makes , models, beautiful paint , wheels and engines. It's pretty easy when you get home and down load your photos you have a lot of front 3/4 views from about 10 feet back. To me it's often the smaller details that tells the story of the vehicle more than the overview . Car people are all about the details.

One of my favorite details are the hood ornaments that are the symbol and often the history of the brand.   

When you see an interesting hood ornament, resist the urge to take a quick picture. I like to walk around the car to  find a simple uncluttered background to isolate the ornament. Sometimes this is best accomplished by shooting upward to use the sky as a background as shown with the purple  Pontiac.

The lead photo of a 1932 Pontiac emblem was parked next to a black car giving me a perfect black background.

The Jaguar is a busier background, but I felt having the curve of the fender echoed the curve of the cat and tells you it is a Jaguar show.

 It's good to look at the reflections in the hood. You don't want to see yourself and your camera staring back at you. Often if it's a nice sky with clouds as shown in the Plymouth Mayflower, it adds interest to the photograph.

Another approach I take is to shoot a range of exposures. This allows me to use these later in Light Room to pick the best overall shot to work with. Not every shot will work, but the main idea is to experiment and see what works for you.

Hood ornaments are a great conversation starter with the owner of the car. This is when you will really enjoy the show by connecting with the car owners and hearing the story of their car. That's often when you really get to know the story the hood ornament tells.

Check out other hood ornaments on my web site www.stillslife.net  or StillsLife on Facebook.

Regards

Michael 

 

                                                                                                                                                                            

Cruising the hood.