It Wasn't My First....Or Second Choice

January 4, 2014

Here we are, starting a new year.  Its the first new year that I've had as a photographer in some time.  I was anxious to get things underway.  I've been doing some reading on different techniques, and trying to open my mind and my eye up a little bit.  After having about 6 good weeks of familiarizing myself with the new equipment and trying to get back up to speed, I was ready to start 2014 off with a bang, and start making some top shelf images using these new concepts and techniques.

The question was, what to shoot?  Here lately, I seem to be having a lot of fun with the "Old Iron" series and I had just recently visited a really great old Pontiac in Yadkinville the past week.  On this particular visit, the lighting wasn't quite what I was wanting, but I had decided to push the envelope a bit just in case I couldn't have another crack at it.  Yeah, yeah...I know what you are thinking...they are old cars that have been sitting for years, why worry about it?  Well, simple...I seem to have a way with the old automobiles.  Once I find them, they tend to get gone and I never have a chance to reshoot them.  I've lost two different pickup trucks to this fate already, and that was just in one year!

But I digress....

I had shot the Pontiac just in case, but I had planned on returning at another time with different lighting.  While I was at work, I had worked out a formula that should work quite nicely with it.  It involved shooting at sunrise, but not for the typical shot.  Oh no, I wanted the alpenglow on the opposite side from where the sun was rising.  For this, I would need a clear day instead of the normal cloudy day for a sunrise.  The forecast showed promise with the sky conditions, but the temperature was showing to be really cold which was not something I was looking forward to.  However, on my first day off from work, I woke up shortly after 5am so I could be on the road around 6am to get out to the location before the sun came up.  I manged to do just that and wound up there just at the right time.  I could see the Eastern horizon starting to light up which meant that the alpenglow was about 30 minutes away...just enough time to get the camera set up, and get a composition made.

The problem I ran into was the house that was on the property I had assumed was unoccupied when I shot the car the previous week.  Much to my surprise, I saw lights on inside.  This could have been a security measure by the off site owners, or it could have been that the house was actually occupied and the property being used.  I had two options at this point.  I could go knock on the door at 6:45 on a Saturday morning and ask to take pictures in their yard (and possibly get shot), or I could gracefully bow out and plan to make contact with them during more customary hours to ask permission to access the old Pontiac.

I chose the latter and figured that I would have a much better chance of success if I asked at another time.  That meant that I was going to have to figure out another location to shoot for the morning.  The bad thing was, I was about to have the lighting I was anticipating shooting, and I had no idea what I could shoot close by.

As luck would have it, Toni and I were looking through some of my old portfolios the night before and I was reminded about a pair of old trucks off on the corner of a field not far from where we lived.  It was a little bit of a haul, but with their positioning, I could make use of a low sun to the East as I would have to shoot to the Northwest to capture the trucks.  I hopped back on the highway and scooted back towards home as quick as I could.

About 40 minutes later I was closing in on the pair of trucks and was starting to get excited.  I knew that there were about 3-4 possible compositions I could shoot right off as opposed to the one or two  I was looking at with the Pontiac.  The lighting was still very good with warm tones coming in at the tops of the trees, and the ground level still a cool blue with a light frost to boot!

I saw the house that I knew was at the corner of the property...but what was that?  There were three cars in the driveway!!  This was an old, empty house that was owned by an old man I had talked to many years ago about shooting on his property.  This wasn't right!  I made it to the other side of the house and expected to see the trucks lining the field.  They were gone!!!  Even the old tractor beside the shed was gone.  Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?!?!?!

I was losing morning light, and needed to come up with a plan "C" with a quickness.  The first thing that popped into my mind was an old GMC pickup truck along the side of the road with some other old cars and trucks further into the property that I had passed a couple of weeks ago in the rain.  I was thinking that they would work for a mid morning shoot due to the terrain they were in.  The only problem was, they were about 20 miles away in Stokes County.  I didn't have time to argue with myself, I headed back West on the quickest path I knew.

King of the Road

I thought I had gotten lost at one point, but I continued on, and was so happy when I passed the old house that I had shot prior to finding the old truck on the side of the road.  I was close now!  There it was, just as I had remembered it.  Most importantly, it was close to the road and there was no house overly close by on that side of the road.  I felt like there was less expectation of privacy here, so I chose to go ahead and start working the truck without knocking on everyone's door to find the owner.

I loved the style of the truck, but I wasn't overly happy with the color combination on it, and honestly, it almost could pass as a running and driving example.  It was worth shooting though, and I was happy that I stopped by to give it a try.  I spent a little bit of time with it before moving on to some cars that neighbored it to the side, just inside a tree line.  I had spotted them from the road before, and figured that they were no close to any house than the truck so I cautiously went over and starting working on....of all things....an MG Midget.

Elderly Brit

I absolutely fell in love with this little car.  It fit my Wabi Sabi philosophy to a "T".  There was an inherent beauty to this car that had long since passed its prime.  It almost seemed to be smiling at me.  It might have been the truck that lead me to this location, but I found my treasure with the old MG.

Out of respect for the owner, I was using my 70-200mm f/2.8L for its long reach, and the added benefit of compressing the background so I could isolate what I was shooting.  I really like this lens for that ability, and also it had a terrific ability to throw the background out of focus with ease.  I've found that many times with these types of images a limited depth of field is very much desired for my visions.

After I had worked on the MG for a while, I moseyed on through looking at other options.  I found another couple of trucks on a hill, but I felt that they were a little too far into the property and opted to leave them for another time when I had permission.  Since I had not been approached, I felt like I would still be fine working with the GMC along the side of the road.

Grounded

The extreme contrast of the truck was causing me problems with exposure as the sun crept up in the sky.  I did happen to see a nice hood ornament though, and remembered how much I liked the one from the old Pontiac just last week.  I decided to get in close with the telezoom and capture a detail shot of the ornament.  While I was working on that composition, I heard some commotion across the street at a house.  A gentleman was coming out of the front door to get the morning paper.  He seemed to be interested in me, but not concerned.  I wondered if this could possibly be the property owner.  I figured I would wave and continue working.  As I worked, he continued to walk my way, and I saw him start to cross the street.  I figured that he was coming over to talk with me at this point, so I turned the camera off and went to meet him.

I introduced myself, and asked if he might be the property owner.  He replied that he was and still didn't seem overly concerned about me being there.  This was a good sign!  I informed him why I was there and would love consent to go further into the property since I had seen a couple of more trucks deeper in.  Without batting an eye he said that was fine with him and that all those cars were his son's and he just keeps parking them in his way.  Ok...we have a good sense of humor about this.  We struck up a very nice conversation, and I tried to make sure that I had put him at ease about my intentions on the property.  He told me to help myself and stay as long as I liked.  I thanked him profusely, because I knew there were at least two other trucks that I wanted to get closer to, and now I had the needed permission to do just that!

Just Plain Tired

I happily walked across the property to check out the two trucks that I had seen from my earlier location.  They were both bathed in a strong early morning sunlight.  The light blue one was broadside into the light, and the entire front of the truck was in the shadows.  This wasn't going to work out for me as there was too much contrast to work with.  I opted to focus my attention on the beige truck that was parked next to it.  An interesting element I found in front of the truck was a bunch of old tires laying up against the front bumper.  Yeah, that was going to be important to the composition as it really shows the abandonment of the truck.  The light was bright, but I was able to dial in a usable exposure with the camera and I cranked off several different compositions.

While I was working this truck, I looked over my shoulder and saw what appeared to be an old red 4x4 truck deep in the weeds about 20 yards to the right.  It wasn't all that promising for a picture, but I decided to check it out anyway.  As I made it to the other side, I was almost surprised to see another old GMC truck which had been hidden from me before.  This one was an old Quality Oil truck, and was in just the right state of disrepair, and was at the right angle to take advantage of the morning light.  Fortunately, I still had the long 70-200mm lens fitted which allowed me to shoot from within the trees so my shadow didn't creep into the frame.  Nothing ruins a nice photograph like the evidence that it is a photograph.

Down and Out

Yeah, I was excited about this truck and the composition I was able to work with it.  Unlike the other vehicles, I had a little more breathing room to fit the truck in the frame with some compositional flexibility.  I worked several angles as well as framings on this rig.  I found that this one was the most satisfying, and allowed the viewer the chance to see the general surroundings of the old truck.  I was happy that I still had the nice warm morning light which gave an overall sense of warmth, while the blues of the truck cooled the scene and provided a nice calming balance.

Reinventing the Wheel

After I was satisfied that I had what I needed with the bonus trucks I didn't even know about, I decided to head back up to the front of the property to see if the new light was going to allow me any additional compositions.  As it turned out, when I got up front, I found this nice trailer illuminated by the sun with an interesting surprise on the side that was lit up.  The wood siding had "New Idea" in blue on the slats.  As with the blue truck, the blue was a very nice contrasting color for the overall warm tones of the wood and rust.  Not to mention the irony of a "New Idea" on something so old, and in such close proximity to a wheel...far from a new idea!  I have to admit, this picture was more composed out of humor than anything else.  Yeah, I even have a photographic sense of humor it would seem.

An English Smile

With the sun coming up, the sky was turning a nice shade of blue, and I could tell that the exposure latitude was still well within reason.  I wanted to stick with my cool blues and warm earth tones for another attempt at the old MG Midget.  I decided that the reign of supremacy of the 70-200mm had come to an end.  I swapped it out for my normal zoom, the 24-70mm f/2.8L which would allow some more flexibility with perspective as well as background inclusion.  I wanted to get the blue sky, and I wanted to really add some visual punch to the front of this roadster.  I was seeing all sorts of potential with this formula, and decided to turn the world on its ear...well, flip the camera to portrait orientation that is.

Midget Among the Giants

I shot this one at about 35mm and fairly close in.  I was able to get the cool blue sky as a smooth backdrop against the warm trees, which worked very well with the warm toned convertible. Here is one of the few times when I was welcoming a featureless blue sky.  The passing clouds that I would have normally wanted would have not worked against the trees....not at all.  This was perfect!  In fact, I think that after reviewing all of my images from the day, this is absolute favorite!  I just love the way the colors work together, it is a dramatic composition, and it really conveys just what I wanted photographically.

I was done....the sun was getting too high in the sky at this point and the shadows were getting more and more intense.  I was happy with what I had...about 90 images on the memory card.  There was nothing left to do but go home and start the editing process.  While I was going back to the truck, Mr Lewis was coming back across the street.  I met him at the shoulder and we started to talk again.

He was almost apologetic as he asked me for my name and some contact information.  I could tell that he was concerned about his son's property and if something had happened to any of it, he wished to be able to contact me about it.  I gladly gave him my contact information and assured him that I had touched nothing on the property, and had left all of the vehicles as I had found them.  This, of course, lead to another very pleasant conversation about my photography, my time at Appalachian State University, and the fact that he had a Granddaughter who was attending ASU currently.  He also had a Grandson who was studying Criminal Justice locally.  Since Mr Lewis had been so nice to me, I offered to lend any of my experience in the police work to his Grandson.

After several minutes where we were both quite cold, we parted ways...friends of sorts.  I now have an open invitation to return to the property any time and to stop in and see him.  I'm quite fortunate to be able to build relationships with these property owners, and I have my photography to thank for that.  I am seriously thinking about going back and visiting Mr Lewis and showing him the pictures from today.  I figure his son might be interested in them since he intends on keeping every one of these vehicles and restoring them at some point.  What a better way to get his "before" pictures!