A stroll around Autorama

There are an awful lot of light fixtures in the ceiling of the Cobo exhibit hall. The reason I know this is because most of them seemed to be reflected in the cars I was trying to photograph at the Autorama this past weekend. Those obnoxious light reflections are all over the shiny sheet metal which doesn't make for the best looking car images. Dodging crowds of people streaming by the cars made things difficult as well as I tried squeaking out a shot or two. However the lower level of the hall, set up for the low-brow crowd saved the day. No shiny surfaces were in evidence on the rat rods in the Cobo basement. Coated in primer or worn original paint, or in some cases no paint at all just bare sheet metal, the low-budget, low-brow rat rods hearken back to a simpler time of hot rodding when a lot of enthusiasm and a bit of automotive know-how could put you into your own personalized one of a kind ride.

Outta My Way

Just posted a new piece titled "Outta My Way" to my Zazzle store site. The base photo was shot while visiting a car show last summer. I really liked the image and had been kicking around ideas for awhile on how to best treat it. My thought was to create the feel of early evening, looking in your rear view mirror and seeing this hot, street rod bearing down on you. After manipulating the image to where I wanted it, the type was added. My original intent was for the words to appear as if they were spray painted across the front of the image, but that method made them difficult to read. The best solution was to darken the lettering which resulted in better separation from the background but the sprayed/mottled look was largely diminished. The finished image doesn't match exactly to what I had in my head but it comes close.

Farewell to cruisin' 2010

The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler and pumpkins have begun to pop up everywhere you look. Summer is really over and with it the car cruising season, although I still see the occasional die hard driver, tail pipes roaring, making his way up the road. As a fond farewell to another year of cruising, here are a few shots of cool cars taken during the past months. You can almost smell the exhaust.