Cars

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I know that some of you are into cars, and I have taken a few photos of cars that I really like. But, by and large, from a photography standpoint, I $#@&ing hate the things. They are visual pollution. Give me a dollar for every time something I wanted to shoot had a car parked in front of it, obstructing the shot, and subtract a dollar for every decent picture I've ever taken with a car in it, and I would still be a rich man.

I wish they would all vanish from the face of the earth. Except for the mail trucks, of course.

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I couldn't agree more. I've been returning to one location for a month to get a shot, hoping that there will be no cars parked there, but there always are. :bang:
 
Stephen Shore said that cars are "time seeds" in photographs. You take a picture with a car in it, and as the years wear on, the car becomes a more and more distinctive marker of a certain era in time.
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2005/12/art/n-conversation-stephen-shore-with-noah-s

Although, if you're trying to achieve a timeless look, yeah, then cars suck.

That's the saving grace of the whole thing, I think. Eggleston comes to mind:

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And one of my very favorites of his:

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I try to shoot cars like that, but it's a stretch for me. My irritation with them shows...this is one of mine where I was trying to channel Eggleston:

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whenever I see a comment like this, I begin to wonder if I have ever built a photo around a car or whatever the topic is. Now I have done a lot with trailers and trailer parks, but I had to struggle to think of anything around a car.

Finally I remember one photo from my Hurricane Katrina work. Maybe the only worthwhile car photo I ever did.

Charles Harry Gray of Bay St. Louis Mississippi, with his FEMA trailer and his 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. His Rolls was out of town being serviced when Katrina hit, destroying his uninsured mansion he had overlooking the Gulf along with the rest of Bay St. Louis. And, he really did live in this FEMA trailer until he rebuilt. Charles is certainly not poor but inherited the Rolls from his aunt, who was a DuPont (as in DuPont, one of the top 20 industrial companies in the US) I sometimes stop by to see Charles when I am in the MS Gulf Coast.

Charles-Gray-Rolls-&-FEMA-trailer.jpg
 
I got into photography by way of my car hobby. I love cars, fixing,driving,and shooting pics of them. Without cars i never would have found this place ,plus sometimes a weekend in the garage will be at least as exciting as developing film in a darkroom.

You see visual pollution , I see something that i can make better.
 
(Some) cars are beautiful.

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Aston Martin DB5

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Lamborghini 400GT

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Italian one off car whose name escapes me
 
whenever I see a comment like this, I begin to wonder if I have ever built a photo around a car or whatever the topic is. Now I have done a lot with trailers and trailer parks, but I had to struggle to think of anything around a car.

Finally I remember one photo from my Hurricane Katrina work. Maybe the only worthwhile car photo I ever did.

Charles Harry Gray of Bay St. Louis Mississippi, with his FEMA trailer and his 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. His Rolls was out of town being serviced when Katrina hit, destroying his uninsured mansion he had overlooking the Gulf along with the rest of Bay St. Louis. And, he really did live in this FEMA trailer until he rebuilt. Charles is certainly not poor but inherited the Rolls from his aunt, who was a DuPont (as in DuPont, one of the top 20 industrial companies in the US) I sometimes stop by to see Charles when I am in the MS Gulf Coast.

Charles-Gray-Rolls-&-FEMA-trailer.jpg

Bob that's a terrific photograph. Even without your commentary there's so much in there.

I know a local chap who is a millionaire, drives a Roller and has several other prestige motors as well as a couple of trucks and plenty of land. He also lives in a caravan - out of choice.

Incidentally, you can tell that Charles' car is an old English girl by the amount of oil spots underneath! ;)
 
My brother fixes old cars. This pretty things was donating bumpers, trim, door handles, etc... to a ’62 Parkwood wagon.
 

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