New Year, Old Cars

Monday, January 8, 2018

Impressive Stance

We are eight days into the new year and I have not been out with the camera since last year.  I would like to come up with a really good reason why that is, but mainly it is because I am a wuss.  It has been cold...like really cold for the last couple of weeks now.  I have just not wanted to go out and be miserable for no good reason, so I've stayed inside for the most part.  With all of this cold, it seems that everyone I know is out photographing frozen waterfalls.  The thought crossed my mind, but after the initial impact of seeing waterfalls frozen, they left me completely empty.  There was just not much that I really wanted to photograph with the frozen falls.  I'll leave it to the hundreds of other photographers doing just that for the past couple of weeks.

I decided to spend the first warm day (just above freezing temperatures) out with the camera, but what to photograph?  The forecast was for cloudy skies with freezing rain starting after lunch.  We know how I was feeling about waterfall photography, so that was out.  I was still having a lot of fun with photographing old cars, and I thought that I might go out and hunt a few of them down.  With the threat of bad weather after lunch, I decided that I needed to have a bit more guarantee of subjects since I was only going to have a few hours to work with.  It only seemed natural to head out to White's Service Station in Germanton for the morning.  I know that they have a bunch of vintage iron in the yard that I can play with.

Motley Ford

I got there about thirty minutes before they opened and the weather was great with solid overcast skies.  I was wishing there was a bit more texture in the clouds, but at least I didn't have to worry about high contrast sunlight as I was walking through the yard.  Since I know that the owner likes for photographers to "check in" with him, I waited until they opened to let them know that I was there and make sure it was still ok for me to walk the yard.  As I was waiting, I could see that the sky was opening up a little bit and the sun was starting to shine through.  This was not a big deal as it would add a little depth to my images to have some sun in the scene.  When 9am approached, I got out of the car and went to the shop.  It was still closed.

Hollow Scowl

I didn't have to wait long before somebody rolled up.  The few minutes that I was there though, I got cold.  I was already losing feeling in my fingers and was considering putting on my gloves.  I had a quick exchange with the guy who rolled in, and he checked with the owner to make sure that it was ok for me to take a scenic walk through the property.  He said that it was fine, and requested a card from me.  With that, I was on my way.  I grabbed my gear from the car and started walking.  It didn't take long before I started to warm up.  Unfortunately, that was because the clouds were gone.  I mean there was not a cloud in the sky.  This was no good.  Everywhere I looked, the lighting was all wrong.  I looked for cars in the shade which might have emblems to photograph.  There were very few of those around, and most of them didn't have good enough emblems to worry with.

Fender Jewel

I did come across one car where the sun actually made a great picture.  There was a fender ornament that had an opaque "V" in it.  The sun was back lighting the ornament and the graphic inside really stood out.  I worked with this for a good little while to get the right angle on it.  For some reason, I didn't want to fill the whole frame with this bit of chrome.  Instead, I wanted to place it within the frame and give some abstract clues as to what was being seen.  The end result was much more dynamic than just a straight on photograph of the main feature.  This was just one of the quirky images that I got from the day.

Honestly, I was really wondering if I was going to get anything worth while since the sky was staying pretty much crystal clear as I walked from one end of the yard to the other.  There were a bunch of really interesting cars to be seen, but the problems I was running into was the lighting, and the proximity of the cars to other cars.  In the cases where cars were grouped around other cars of a similar era I was good.  However, far too often, I was finding great cars surrounded by some late model vehicle, usually import.  This became very problematic, and with the light dictating the direction that I could shoot, I was really starting to lose hope.

Low Beams

In order to try and make the best of the situation, I spent a lot of time searching out compositions that I could do where these problems would not be an issue.  I've found that photographing headlights have been very rewarding when shooting intimate compositions of cars.  I did happen to find one that had a nice twin headlight arrangement under a sculpted fender that had a good deal of patina on it.  I struggled with how best to photograph this, and found that going high and shooting down made for the best composition.  I was able to anchor the image with the lights and use the spine of the fender as a bisecting element.  The sun was strong on the left side, while the right side was in the shadows from the body lines.  A nice tight crop with the camera and I was in good shape to include only what I wanted in the frame.

Ghost

In an odd turn of events, I found a car that had no emblems left on it.  However, where the hood emblems had been, there was a nice ghost image cut into the patina.  Of course, this is an easily recognizable shape and for those who are familiar with the older cars, it is an image that you will understand.  For me, I love the textures of the rust and the hint of old paint where the emblems had protected the metal for decades.  Again, it was a quirky image, but one that I think turned out really well.

Sun Spots

In some cases it was the emblems that caught my eye.  In other cases it was the lack of emblems that caught my eye.  On this particular Buick, I found that the interplay between the emblem and the weathered trunk lid were the ideal subject to photograph.  I'm not sure how the trunk turned out like this, but the green on the car had faded off to one side, and within that area was a lot of surface rust.  The sun was hitting the trunk lid pretty hard, and that made the faded paint really change color.  There was a hard shadow from the emblem that gave it depth, and a little rusty runoff from the tail that gave it life.  The faded paint with the orange rust looked like a sun with some sort of winged ship headed for it.  I know, very geeky thing to see, but that was the image in my head after seeing this.  With a little careful use of the polarizer, I was able to capture this specific interplay between the ornament, paint, and rust.  Oh, and I had to shield the front element of the camera with my had to keep any lens flare from happening at that angle.

Resurrecting

I had been out here for about 2 hours at this point waiting on the clouds to show up.  I was really starting to think that they were going to be a no show at this rate.  I continued to shoot for the conditions and looked for compositions that would work using the sun.  I found this old Ford which I have photographed before and it seemed to work with the sun.  I went ahead and started to look for compositions.  Because of all of the cars around it, I had to get in close and crop tight to the car.  At first I was not happy that the door was open, but after working on the composition, I realized that the door was blocking a '90's model Hyundai from my view.  I figured that the door was just fine where it was.  Because the sun was so bright, I didn't have to worry about my exposure with the sky.  Everything actually went very well without the need for any filters other than the polarizer.  I got down nice and low to avoid any of the cars that were in the background, and fired off some frames.

Light Textures

When I got done with the overall view, I started to look for intimate views of the car that I could shoot.  Of course, since this car had its headlights, that became a focal point for me almost immediately.  I got in nice and close and chose to focus on the pitted rust which was a nice contrast to the smooth glass of the headlight, and the marker light below was a nice contrast in tone that balanced out the tone of the headlight.  There was just a hint of paint visible which told the story of the car.  It was a simple image, but darned if didn't turn out nice!

Custom Patina

Speaking of patina...This car might have been pretty much completely rusted on the front, but the passenger side was still in pretty good shape.  There were even emblems still in place on the fender.  With that wonderful mint paint and vivid rust developing, I couldn't help but try for a shot.  I embraced the fact that the door was open, and used the curve of the skin as a geometric element to compliment the bit of wheel arch.  The rust provided a diagonal element that helped to frame the emblems.  It was a fun image to shoot!

Under the Shade Tree

The clouds were actually starting to roll in at this point.  I started to retrace my steps going back to compositions that I wanted to shoot earlier but had been unable to because of the sun.  The funny thing was, it was about 11am at this point, and the freezing rain was supposed to be starting in an hour.  Looking up at the sky, I was pretty sure that there was going to be no freezing rain falling today.  I was still rather skeptical about the density of the clouds as they were just starting to come in very thin.  It did give me the chance to shoot a few images with some blue sky interest which played well with the warm tones of the rust on the cars.  

Long Forgotten

Eventually, the clouds did come in as they were supposed to hours before.  This opened up lots of possibilities due to the diffused lighting.  That didn't mean that it was going to be easy though.  In this image of the same Ford I had been shooting from the front, I wanted to include the sky which had some nice texture to it.  The exposure latitude was too much for the camera though since the sun was actually behind the clouds just above the frame.  I opted to shoot one of two HDR photographs for the day to deal with that exposure latitude.  The other one that I shot was the opening image for this entry.  With four images, I was able to capture all of the information that I needed in order to create the image that my eyes were able to see.

Derelict Row

Now that the lighting was working for me, I was able to go and work some of the areas that I had wanted to before.  There is a trio of cars from the '40's that I have photographed before, but not quite this close in before.  I composed images that showed them all, and some that just captured the front clips of each.  That was the composition that I found most appealing for these cars because it gave a lot of visual weight to the Chrysler in the foreground, which still sharing the scene with the other two cars.  In the past, I would have stopped here, but today, I decided to work on these cars individually as well.

Mint to Be

I got down low to the ground to capture the front quarter of the Chrysler which was resting on the bumper.  It seems that the mint green that is on this car was a very popular color in the day.  Fortunately, it does look good with rust.  There are a lot of stories behind this fascia.  I can only imagine what it looked like rolling off of the assembly line some 70 years ago.  The chrome all shiny, and the mint green paint resplendent as it was on display in a showroom.  These days, it rests on its bumper because the wheels are long since gone.

Protruding

As I continued to work around this trio of cars, I found that the backs of the cars could be accessed by climbing a short (and very loose) embankment.  I did just that and got into position to shoot the trunk of a (imagine this...) mint green Plymouth.  The rust on it looked as though it had been painted on by hand.  It was one of the more interesting patterns that I had seen in a while.  The nameplate stood out rather subtle in comparison to the chrome light housing over the tag mount.  It all worked together very nicely though.

Brushed Rust

Not wanting to stop photographing the rear of this vehicle, I moved over to the side to capture what I am starting to recognize as a genetic link to Plymouths of this era.  They all seem to have these same body lines that work so nicely in a photograph.  Of course, the hand painted rust under the mint green paint is always a treat for my eyes.  The hardest part here was keeping the camera steady on the loose dirt as I was slowly sliding back down the embankment.  Fortunately, I was able to hold everything together in order to make a few exposures on the back of this car.  While I was working it, the black car next to me really started to grab my attention.  The rust just looked amazing under the fuel filler neck.

Caustic Residuals

Before I slid down the embankment, I had to grab a photograph of this pattern.  It took a little doing to find a composition that worked well with the rear of this car.  There were so many complex lines and shapes.  I found that doing a close crop, anchoring on the bumper and the fuel filler made for the best composition.  There is still a great abstract quality with the image, and the patina is the star of the show.  We can file this one under the quirky images that I have been shooting today, but sometimes it pays to step outside of the box occasionally.

Mint Crackle

Since I was in a quirky mood, I went back to the car that had taken the spotlight with the group shot and started to look for abstract images to shoot on it.  In addition to the mint green paint, I was drawn to the lines created by the window trim, and the way that the paint was cracking.  I decided to focus on those elements for a while.  I tried both the portrait view which kept everything nice and compact, and then stretched it out to a horizontal composition that showed the swooping lines of the car.

Chrome Lines

There is just something magical about cars from this era.  They all have so much personality which just spills out into the camera.  They are just so much fun to photograph, and I just honestly can't get enough of them.  The patina on most of these cars just adds to the whole composition.  So many different textures to see on these old cars!

At the Yard

As the clouds came in thicker, I started to look for other images that I could shoot that included the clouds.  I found this beautiful old Buick (I think) sitting off to the side of the yard.  Of course, the grille was well over the top, and turned into a great focal point for several photographs.  One of the compositions that I worked on was a shot that highlighted just the grill as it looked over a row of cars from the early 60's.  The tree above the hood provided some much needed balance to the composition and this one turned out to be one of my favorites from this car.  However, the HDR image that opened this entry takes the prize as my favorite of all.

Earth Tones

One of the things that drew my attention to the car in addition to the grill was the embellishments on the fenders.  This was so upscale back in the day, but these days just screams "I want to put crap on my car to make it look faster".  The design of these old cars was just spectacular, and I hate that the current generation is cheapening the design elements.  This is what these are supposed to look like.  You can tell it was designed into the car from the beginning and they still look the part.  The deep green paint with the rusted patina work great together in stark contrast to the chrome that is still holding on all these years later.

Hood Scoop

Another testament to the design of the car can be found on the hood.  The original scoop is still there, although I have a sneaking suspicion that the 8 has fallen off at some point, leaving just the "V".  Either way, this was a pretty classy hood ornament that was recessed into the hood with an emblem below.  The deep surface rust around the chrome helps it to stand out in the picture.

Chrome Rows

At about 1pm, I decided to call it a day.  Looking at the weather, there was ice headed my way, and more rain after that.  Since I was about 30 minutes from home, I decided that I had better get home before the roads got bad.  I had about 80 frames in the camera so I was feeling pretty good about the day.  Despite the fact that the first half of the day was spent trying to wish the sun away, I had made the best out of the lighting situation.  I was expecting to have about ten images or so from the day.  You can only imagine my surprise when I got done culling and editing my images and found that I had 23 that I deemed worth keeping for the collection.  Yes, it was a great day, and not too bad for a first trek of the year.

Tommy's Garage

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Wide Grin

It is actually Thanksgiving Day, so I should probably say "Happy Thanksgiving!"  The truth of the matter is Toni is at work, and it just isn't feeling much like a holiday without her here.  Since she was going to be gone all day, I decided to be a little productive and go out and try to get a few pictures.  The weather was supposed to be clear and cold.  I wasn't going to do much with landscapes with that kind of forecast, so I decided to go and hunt some Old Iron instead.

I got up when Toni left the house at 5am, and headed out to Yadkinville, NC, where I was hoping that an old Plymouth was still sitting.  I had visited it two or three times in the past with varying degrees of success.  I wanted to get out there as first light was hitting so that I could get the warm sun on it, and avoid the bright undiffused sun of daytime.  While I was driving, I was looking in my mirror and saw that there were actually clouds in the sky.  There was an opening near the horizon as well.  It was shaping up to be a great sunrise from what I could see.  The problem was, I had nowhere to shoot it from.  I had to enjoy what turned into a fantastic sunrise from the mirrors of the truck.  Oh well, my intention wasn't to go out and do landscapes today anyway, and I still got to enjoy the sight.

I arrived at Tommy's Garage shortly after sunrise and was happy to see that the car was still there.  The problem that I was facing was it was sitting next to a late model Chevrolet, and Oldsmobile.  I was going to have to get creative with how I shot this car.  I had already planned to shoot isolations of the emblems and chrome.  However, the car was in much worse shape than I had remembered which made it difficult to get in to find great details.

Splitting

What used to be a pretty straight front end had been torn apart.  The hood was now split in half, and the chrome trim on the grills had been removed.  What chrome was left was torn from the front and bend down.  At least the "Plymouth" emblems remained for a focal point.  The patina of the car was still very nice and worth playing around with.  I was able to get a few view of the front of the car as the sun was still low, and behind the clouds.

Looking Over My Shoulder

One nice addition to the lot that had not been there before was an old Chrysler drag car called "Baby Hemi" next to the trees.  As I was composing shots on the front of the old Plymouth, I couldn't help but include the little dragster in the back.  It was almost like a generational comparison between the two.  It interested me, and gave something to put in the empty space in the upper left of the image above.  I liked it so much I used that little car once again for a supporting role in an intimate capture of the antique.

Baby Hemi

This old Plymouth has always fascinated me with the classic lines.  The front end has been my focus for years, but today it was the rear that caught my eye.  I liked the lines and the curves of the rear end (and yes, I know what you are thinking right now).  What can I say, I enjoy some curves.

An added element that was present on the rear of this car was the wheels.  These were intricate spoked wheels with plenty of patina to match the condition of the car.  The whitewall tires were period correct, and also helped to balance the color tones.  This is the first car I can think of that I wanted to use the tire and wheel as a focal point in so many shots.  It just played along so nicely with the flow of the design.

Dynamic Pose

Like I said, those wheels and tires really set the lines off on the rear of the car.  The soft angles, the matching patina...it all just worked together.  For a little touch of character on the right rear quarter, the side window was rotated slightly out of the closed position.  That window shared lines with the roof, and helped to make the whole image flow.  At first, I was wishing that the sky had been cloudy for this shot, but decided that the blue tones were very much needed to balance the overall warm tone of this image.

Lenses and Rust

As I was wrapping up the morning, I went to the rear of the car.  I didn't find any emblems or adornments that I really liked back there, so I started to look at the lights.  There were some interesting lines present that framed the remaining lights on the passenger side.  I started to work out a composition surrounding those lights.  I decided that I needed to include the bumper as a visual frame to the bottom.  The vertical lines of the body and trunk lid helped to frame the lights, and the patina took care of all the negative space.

After about an hour and a half, I had hit all of the areas that I thought that I could.  As I was packing up, I decided to try one more composition looking through the windshield.  It was helpful that the glass was mostly gone, leaving a nice broken frame to work with.

Broken Wheel

it was a different image than I usually capture, but there was something about it that I really liked.  It was odd enough that it didn't make my first round of cuts, but as I was looking back through the 51 images that I had shot I had a change of heart.  It was good enough to be one of the seven that I deemed good enough to be keepers.  Considering it was a day where I just went to get a few emblem pictures, I ended up coming back home with a lot more.  I really do like this car, and I'm glad that it still sits there.  I don't know how much longer it will be though, since it is pretty much a rusted shell at this point.  At least I've had plenty of time to play with it on many occasions.

A Quick Trip to Yadkin County

Friday, October 21, 2016

With my recent schedule at work lately, I have been racking up some overtime, and have been needing to burn some hours.  As it turned out, I had the opportunity to take a half a day off today, and got my work done in time to take advantage of that.  Before going in, I checked out the weather to see if there might be a chance of doing some photography during the afternoon.  With mostly cloudy conditions, and a chance of rain, I was all set to go and do some waterfalls.

One of the closer waterfalls to me is not one that I have photographed all that often.  It is in Yadkin County off of Styers Mill Rd.  It is a really big waterfall for the Piedmont, and it can be rather pretty at times.  The problem that I have with it is the vandalism along the sides of the falls.  Years ago when I went there, there was spray paint on both sides of the falls which was very, very difficult to clone out in post processing.  Because of the paint, it is very hard to make a satisfactory image of the whole waterfall.  However, I'm starting to look into doing some more intimate shots of waterfalls these days, and wanting some practice at isolating specific elements of the falls.  With the dry days that we have had recently, I figured this might be a good time to try this waterfall again.  My intention was to work only with my 70-200mm lens, and keep the shutter speeds relatively quick for waterfall work.  I wanted more detail in the cascades.

Like Liquid Lace

When I arrived, I found that I had very mixed emotions.  On the one hand, there was nobody else at the waterfall, so I had the place all to myself.  On the other hand, there was evidence of all the people that had been there long before me.  The spray paint was still there, and there were beer boxes trapped under limbs in the middle of the stream.  There were also a few trees that had fallen since the last time I had been there, blocking the view of most of the left side falls.  The weather was just about right though, so I decided to give some isolation shots a try.  I picked out parts of the waterfall that really stuck out to me, rather than trying to compose a shot that encompassed everything.  The results were pretty good, and I was liking what I was capturing, but was wondering about the lack of colors in the images.  Seemed that brown was the predominant tone, and the rushing water was the only other hue to bring balance to the image.  Fortunately, the water played a big part in these intimate images.

It wasn't long after I started to make exposures that the clouds started to break up.  I could tell that the sun was causing some major exposure problems in the water when I was checking the review image in the LCD on the camera.  I was starting to get large areas of blown out detail which I didn't want.  I needed to be able to capture all of the nuances of the cascading water to make these images work.

Rhythmic Flow

It turned into a waiting game.  I would compose the image and then set what I thought would be a good exposure when the light was right.  I found myself around f/29 and 1.3 seconds for the most part.  I would watch the clouds move overhead and try to time it to where they covered the sun.  Sometimes, it was only seconds that I had to work with, but I took advantage of those seconds.  However, the longer I was out there, the less frequent good light showed up.  I decided to cut my losses and head out in search of other subjects that could actually make use of the sky.

I started driving around and found the sky to be wonderful, but the clouds were quickly breaking up, and it seemed that in order to follow the the clouds, and good light, I was going to have to work my way back East.  I was headed that way, and happened to pass by an old Pontiac I had photographed several years ago.  I've been wanting to work this old car again, but have been a little hesitant since I have seen signs of life on the property.  Since it was the middle of the day, I felt that if anyone lived there, I would have a decent chance of catching them at home to ask permission to photograph the car.

When I got there, the corn had all been harvested, and the car that was parked in the yard had not been moved in some time.  I could see no signs of occupancy, so I decided to take my chances and grab the camera.  I started out with the 70-200mm lens, but found that I was not able to get the compositions I was thinking I would with that much reach.  I stepped down to my 24-70mm which is a very flexible lens, and it allowed me to get up close to the car from several different angles.

Quietly Resting

Of course, by this time the sun was really not doing me any favors.  Most of the clouds had faded, and moved to the East.  I was here though, and I wanted to see what I could come up with on this car.  There was a good deal of filter use for these images.  Not only was I using a polarizer, I was using in some cases, 6 stops of neutral density for the sky.  It was not ideal, but the histogram was showing that I was capturing detail in the images without clipping at either end of the spectrum.  That was promising.  As with the first time I shot this car, the best light was from the rear of the car, so I spent some time back there once again.  At least there was not as much need to hold back the sky when shooting from the back of the car.

Oh the Memories

Once again, my favorite image of this car was from the rear.  There are some interesting compositional tricks for this shot.  There is a clothes line just off of the passenger side fender of the car.  Sure, I could clone it out, but I really don't like doing that unless it is absolutely necessary.  Instead, I decided to blend the posts in with the tree in the distance.  You can still see both posts for the clothes line, however, they don't create a visual distraction because they become part of the tree in the distance which is a much more appropriate element to the image.  There is a great sense of depth in the image because of the implied diagonal of the composition which I really like.

When I was finished working with the Pontiac, I found that the sky was pretty much awash with blue, and the wind was really picking up.  I decided to head toward the house, and scout any other subjects I might could come back for at a later time.  I found a few, but none would work in the current lighting, so I just made mental notes, and called it a day.

It wasn't until I opened up the images in the computer that I saw that the RAW files actually looked better than I had thought they would.  It is very hard to judge a picture from checking the LCD, which is why I mainly just look at the histogram to make sure I haven't lost any tonality in the image.  They looked good from this objective measure, but the subjective measure had to wait until I could see them outside of the sun.  I was pleased, but was really wanting to do more with waterfalls today.  Oh well, I'll get them next time.

A Feed Mill, and a Pair of Chryslers

June 22, 2014

Derelict Mill

I have had this location on my to-shoot list for some time now.  I have scoped it out at various times of the day while going to other places but haven't quite found the right time to shoot it.  I had decided that an early morning storm coming in from the West with a relatively clear sky to the East would make for a dramatic shot with the mill lit up under foreboding skies.  That was the plan, and according to the weather forecast I was very likely going to see just those conditions developing this morning.  I got up early so that I could beat the sun out there, so I would have plenty of time to work out a composition before the clouds came in at 8am.

When I arrived, there were just some thin clouds in the sky, nothing much at all.  I spent some time dialing in my composition, and playing with exposures.  I actually got a few really cool shots with a pink sky overhead.  Typically, I would have been all over those images, but for this particular subject, the color just didn't work.  It needed more muted tones to be successful so I discarded the pink skies.

As the sun came up, I started to realize that I wasn't going to have the light show that I wanted, and was expecting.  There were still just very small strands of clouds in the sky to work with, so I went with my plan B which I had figured out on the way out to the mill.  It was time to do some more work with my 10-Stop ND filter which would reduce the amount of light that entered the camera enough to turn a 1/2 second exposure into 8 minutes.  I already had a 3-Stop ND Grad fitted to control the exposure in the sky, so adding an additional 10 stops of light reduction was serious!

The picture that leads this story off is the second attempt and represents a full five minutes of exposure at f/18.  The clouds show a very nice cottony movement across the sky, and there is even a little bit of color left in them...but not too much.  This mill has a sad aura around it, and I wanted to capture an image that represented that.  When I looked at the LCD, I wasn't sure if I had gotten it or not, but the sun was coming up fast now, and my exposures were shrinking down into the 30 second realm.

Office Space

I went ahead and moved in close to the old structure and looked for some intimate shots.  I came across the front area and found that all of the windows were long gone.  There were still some tools inside, and there was this one right at the window which caught my eye.  With the low sun shining into the building I had enough light to work with so that I could capture this old rusty implement  framed in the window.  The fact that the window frame was all but completely rotten was an added bonus for me.

There wasn't a lot else to work with here at the mill because the sky had gone to a fairly empty blue shortly after sunrise.  After making another quick check of the hourly forecast and deciding that my time would be better spent going elsewhere, I decided to pack it up and see what else I could find to put in front of my camera.

Derelict Mill in B&W

As an interesting side note, I have been doing a lot of studying on the extreme ND filters and have found that typically their effects are much better rendered in monochrome.  Because of that, I was actively thinking in B&W when I was shooting the old mill.  When I got home, I made the conversion with this image and was quite literally shocked at how the sky turned out with the addition of a high contrast red filter with a little bit of subtle tonal tweaks.  The clouds even formed a natural vignette in the frame to help keep the eyes where they are supposed to be.  I knew I had a winner with this image when I saw it on my screen.  I could see this one printed out very large and framed for the house!

___________________________

With the mill behind me, I set off on an unguided tour through Yadkin County in search of something else to photograph.  I was still in my rustic mood, so I was looking for barns and old cars to photograph.  What I saw wasn't all that promising in the current conditions, and I was starting to wonder if I was going to find anything else before it was time to get home.  As luck would have it, my travels landed me back in a familiar part of town where I have been several times before.  I knew that there was a car there which has provided me with several stunning images...but these were night shots as there was a lot of clutter in the area.  Despite that, I decided to check it out since I was in the neighborhood.

The old Plymouth was still there, and still in the same condition.  However, the already tricky location of this car was made much, much worse by the two trucks that were parked close by the car.  What's a photographer supposed to do?  Well fortunately, there was another vintage Chrysler parked on the back side of the lot, and there was only one other car parked next to it.

As you can tell, this one wasn't in the best position either.  It was worth a try though since last time I wasn't able to shoot it since I was working in the dark, and black just doesn't show up well at night.  In order to capture this car the right way, without including the other car beside it, I had to get a little creative about angles, and focal length choices.  I still had my 24-70mm lens attached, and decided that it would work fine for what I was going to have to do in order to photograph this old sedan.  I added a polarizer to help control the glare, and I went to work on the Chrysler.

Royale Adornments

What you see here is not a product of visual trickery with Photoshop.  I didn't make the neighboring car disappear at all.  I just got in close and chose a wide angle to keep the right edge of the frame skirting down the side of the car I didn't want included.  I also got down low to emphasize the grill which I though was the focal point of the car, and what told the best story.  When you have an understanding of the camera, and the lenses, you can avoid many of the problems that you come across in the field at the time of the shot, as opposed to waiting until you get home to clone things out, and crop your frame.

Discarded Luxury

If you have been following me recently, you will already know that I enjoy photographing the fronts of cars.  I like the grills, emblems, and hood ornaments.  This Chrysler had it all, and the shapes and textures of it all begged to be photographed.  I flipped the camera on its side and got in close to capture the essence of this car.  While things still shine, the debris from the trees really leaves no question that this once proud car has seen the last of its passengers...at least for now.

Simple and Effective

After working the available angles on the Chrysler, I decided to have another go at the Plymouth sitting beside the street.  The location of this car makes for difficult photography all by itself, but today I had two trucks which were added to the mix that were guaranteed to make things much more difficult that I had planned.  After having such success with the black car, I was feeling pretty confident about this rusty sedan.

All Grins

When I just can't shoot the whole car, what else am I supposed to do other than pick out the parts of the car I really like.  The nose of this one has stayed in my mind since the first time I saw it.  For a completely un-aerodynamic profile, the curves and lines of this car are nothing short of sensuous.  It was that essence I worked so long to capture.  I eventually found myself in a zen state and I was finding angle after angle to showcase the workmanship and lines of this old car.  I could probably shoot the angles on this car all day long without getting tired...and from the looks of it, I did spend quite a bit of time working the front end of this car.

Rough but Solid

The Face

Shedding a Tear

There is just something about this car that I just can't get enough of.  The patina is very unique and rather uniform over the entire car.  While it is missing pretty much everything, it still seems like a complete car.  This car still has a personality, and I glad that I have the opportunity to capture it.  After nearly an hour in the lot, it was time to head home and get my (responsible) day started.

I had about 60 images from the morning, and I'm pleased to say that I have 10 images that I would consider keepers from this set.  This is much better than the three or four I was expecting as I was actually pressing the shutter button.  Now I just need to see which of these images will make it into the gallery rooms here.

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure...or Art

April 13, 2014

It would seem that my luck with the weather just won't break.  I've been wanting to do some landscape work to showcase the changing seasons, but have been met with nothing but clear sky days which seems to lack the look that I'm after.  After most of my days off passed me by with less than stellar conditions for photography, I was about to throw in the towel on any Treks for these sets of off days.  With my last day off here, I looked at the weather and decided that I might as well give it a try and see what happens.  The weather was forecasted to be mostly sunny with some passing clouds.  This was promising, but I was holding out little hope.

I had planned to stay close to home as I didn't want to make a huge investment in gas to drive out to the mountains where the clouds were likely to be few and far between.  Knowing that my window of good light would be early in the morning or late in the afternoon, I opted to get up early and try for a sunrise shot over the Old Guilford Mill.  One last look at the weather and I thought to myself I would be wasting my time, but I decided to go anyway just to see what would happen.

As I arrived at the Mill going a back way, I was met with a surprise...the road was now closed!  I couldn't get across the highway to the Mill from Stafford Mill Rd anymore.  I looked to see if I was going to benefit from parking where I was and walking the rest of the way.  The sky didn't seem to be doing anything promising at all, so I decided to drive around and come in off of the main road and reevaluate.  When I returned, there was a faint pink in the sky, but nothing very dramatic.  I ran through my bag of tricks in my head and decided that there wasn't much that I could do with the scene that was in front of me.  It was time to move on and see what else I could find.

I had remembered finding a couple of old barns along Hwy 311 when I went out to shoot the Mustang at twilight.  I had seen them in passing and had not really evaluated their potential, so I decided now was a good time to do just that.  I knew that they were on the West side of the road, which would make the lighting work for the morning.  I had hope that I would find something soon.  However, when I arrived, the lighting was all wrong, and the barns were just not that interesting.  I didn't even stop the truck, I just kept on moving along.  I was going through some more possible locations in my head of things that I could capture with my camera.  The sky wasn't all that great, and I was running out of the nice, warm morning light.  Frankly, I was starting to think that my morning was going to be a bust.

I found a side road that I could turn around on, but instead of turning around, I decided to follow it since there was a sign that advised of a dead end.  I sometimes luck out and find some pretty cool barns at the end of dead end streets in the country.  Since this was the edge of Stokes County, I thought my chances were pretty good.  Within about a half of a mile, I drove past a small repair shop with what appeared to be a junk yard behind it.  Hmmmm, I see some old cars out there that look pretty good, but they weren't open for business.  I continued on down the street and to my disappointment found nothing worth taking any pictures of.  I turned around and headed back out to the main road...but before I did, I slowed down at the junk yard.

What I was noticing as I was creeping by was there was no fence along the property.  It appeared as though the yard was open.  I drove up to the shop which also had no fences or gates.  I looked very carefully for any signs indicating that I should not be trespassing.  I also tried to spot any signs warning of junkyard dogs that would make a fence irrelevant.  I saw no signs that would prevent me from walking around a little bit.  I parked the truck and decided that I would carry the camera around to see what I could find.  Even at this point, I wasn't convinced that I was going to get any pictures, but seeing that the lighting was changing, I figured I would miss out on any opportunity if I didn't take advantage of this one.

Cracked but Intact

Cracked but Intact in B&W

As I was walking the rows and looking at all of the cars ranging in vintage from the '40's up to the early '90's it appeared, I was starting to get excited about some possibilities.  When I came upon this mid 50's GM truck, I decided that I had found something worth snapping a few pictures of.  The wonderful patina was just part of the story with this truck.  One of my favorite elements was the fact that there was no front suspension and even the headlight buckets were dangling to the ground.  Yeah, this old truck was beat down and it was showing every bit of its use along the years.

I had some issues with the composition due to the sky being relatively blown out.  I had to elevate the camera to the top of the tripod travel in order to crop out the sky.  As a bonus of the camera position, I was also able to capture a perspective that really showcased the old truck in all of its grandeur.  With only a polarizer fitted to my trusty 24-70mm lens, I started to fine tune my composition and exposure.  I found it difficult to work with other vehicles in such close proximity though.  It took some doing to compose an image where the visual distractions were minimized.

Off Kilter

Old Goat

Feeling Blue

After I got my mojo going with the GM truck, I started working the rest of the junk yard.  I found all sorts of really cool vehicles, and quite a few of them were in a position to photograph.  I found that I was drawn to cars that had been painted bright colors, but were now suffering from a good amount of surface rust.  I also looked for iconic cars that were immediately recognizable.  In the case of the old GTO above, I found it difficult to compose images of some of the cars due to so much brush having grown up around them.  It was a balancing act, the less of a car that was visible, the more recognizable the shapes had to be.  With the GTO, I felt that its personality (with the help of that hood) would shine though the weeds. 

There were also quite a few cars that I was not familiar with, but that seemed to have a very strong personality.  In the case of Feeling Blue above, the quirky grill and brilliant blue color grabbed my attention.  It appeared that for the most part this car was intact, and in pretty good shape.  Had it not been for that rusty fender, and patchy rust along the other body parts I might have let this one go.  However, the formula was all in place for a successful photograph and I set it up and fired the shutter.  It only took two frames before I was convinced I had a good thing going.

Blistered in the Sun

Patience

As the sun got a little further up in the sky, I decided to harness the power of the light and start working some cars that were fully out of the shadows.  I was also happy to see that the sky was starting to show some blue with the occasional passing wisp of cloud that works so well with a polarizer.  I found a group of 50's Chevrolet's and an old 40's Plymouth which happened to be rather resplendent in the morning light.  They were close together unfortunately, and there were some much newer cars on either side that posed some compositional issues.  I chose my shooting location and camera height very carefully so as to include only what I wanted, and nothing more.  I found that a low shooting position provided enough cover of the background clutter so that I could isolate the main subjects of the photographs  I was so happy that the grass was green finally because it really helped to set the color of the rust off in the pictures.

I was on a roll now, but the sun was really gaining some intensity.  Every once in a while, I would luck out and find that a thin cloud had covered the bright orb and the light was a bit softer.  It was in these moments that I tried to be set up and ready for the next shot.  there was just so much out here, I was seriously doubting that I was going to be able to take advantage of it all before the light was all gone.

Calico Shell

Open to the Possibility

Signature Pontiac

Just as I thought I had a handle on what all was present in this junk yard, I found a whole different section even closer to the road.  I was in classic heaven at this point.  Most of the time, the junk yards that I've seen have been either make specific, or carried just more modern pieces.  This junk yard had a little bit of everything and I was seeing vehicles that I had never seen in person before.  I was still drawn to the typical formula that I have worked with for a while now.  I liked the funky patina found on many of these old cars, like what I found on the old GMC truck.  You could tell that this truck had been painted many different colors before, and the previous owner had been working on sanding the body down, which allowed the many hues to show at the same time.  It was also very obviously tortured, and had been pilfered through.  All of these things made this old truck a perfect candidate for a few frames.

The Apache truck which was parked on the row next to the GMC was not quite what I would consider my typical "Old Iron" subject.  There wasn't that much rust, and most of the body was a uniform color.  However, the look of this truck, along with the hints of rust, and the textures on the body panels drew my interest.  The open hood started asking question, and I started wondering if this was a project truck that was stopped prematurely for one reason or another.  In any case, I was hooked.  It was asking questions, and I was listening.

Tattered Badges

Values Put to Rest

The Memory of Speed

One of my favorite finds of the day was the Mustang nearly hidden by the brush.  There was nothing really special about the old pony car, but I did like the blue paint as it contrasted nicely with the colors of the dormant grass and weeds.  As with the GTO before, the shape was instantly recognizable  so I wasn't worried too much about the growth it was behind.  The question was....how to photograph it?  If I went too high I would get too many of the surrounding cars and that was cluttering my composition.  I needed to get down low for this one...but wait, there were contrails in the sky above.  Have I ever mentioned just how much I hate contrails in the sky?  Well, I was just plain disgusted until I stopped to consider what I was seeing.  The contrails were in the perfect part of the sky that went along with the visual flow of the car, and they were showing motion, and even speed...something that this car hasn't been able to show in quite some time now.  Photography is all about contrasts, and I had contrasts in spades with this shot.  From the basic warm versus cool colors, to the painted versus rusted, and finally the element of speed versus stagnation.  Yep, this was a good composition!  I dialed in my polarizer to get the maximum effect in the sky and cranked off a few frames to make sure that I had the proper exposure since I was dealing with a lot of different tonal values.

Speaking of values, every once in a while I run across a scene that speaks to me on a deeper level than what I am looking at.  Values Put to Rest is one of those images.  Of course, I was drawn by the bright faded side of the truck with the sun shining directly on it.  The text read "Holsum Bread" which grabbed my attention even more.  The first thought that came into my head was that this should read Wholesome, but I guess that was the advertising trick.  The brand name made me immediately think of something good.  I didn't really like this truck for a picture though, but I kept coming back to it.  Then I saw that the old bus that was just to the side was an old school bus, long since retired.  I started to think about kids, and society, and my job, and any number of other deep thoughts.  Then it hit me, society has changed so much since the time when these vehicles would move along the road.  Our kids who used to be so "wholesome" have changed over the years and that is almost a forgotten quality.  Having both the school bus and the bread truck in the junk yard all of a sudden spoke volumes to me.  I had the message, it was just a matter of creating the image to go along with it.

After about two hours in the junk yard, I realized that I had not been bitten by any chained up dogs, and my truck had not been towed.  In fact, I hadn't even been questioned by any of the neighbors.  I had about 40 images on the camera, and I was pretty sure that a handful of them would turn out pretty well.  I was happy with the morning, but had no idea that my hit rate would be better than 25% for this day that I had very little hopes for when I got out of bed.  I guess it goes to show that sometimes, my best treks are when I just go out and get lost...and on those days I end up finding myself.