Another Classic Car Show

chuckinsocal · June 29, 2010

Went to last Friday's weekly Cruisin' Grand Event in Escondido CA. Here's some of what I came back with. Comments are greatly appreciated.

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If anyone's interested the full gallery, 43 images, is here.

Thanks for looking.

chuckinsocal · June 30, 2010

I guess not many people are interested in classic and custom cars :cry.

SUMGUY · June 30, 2010

I do, just not qualified to give you any helpfull C&C!

black mamba · June 30, 2010

Hi Chuck,

One of the more frustrating aspects of shooting car shows is at obvious play here....the close proximity of the vehicles. It makes it almost impossible to get full-car shots. You get forced into partial or abstract shots.The problem is that a partial shot....as most of yours are....is kind of like an unfinished story. It's not very satisfying and leaves the viewer wanting more.

So, now, a more close-up abstract might be called for....as in your shot of the hood ornament on the red Ford. Abstracts, to be successful, should highlight a feature or part of the car that's particularly interesting. The hood ornament satisfies that requirement, but the framing could be much better. You should have positioned yourself so that only the red hood is seen as a background. Further moving around could have produced the most desirable placement of the ornament within the picture. You had all the elements for a pleasing shot....you just need to focus more on what the final shot is going to look like. Pay particular attention to extraneous ( and unnecessary ) elements that may ruin the story you're trying to tell.

Again, shooting shows is tough. Avoid partial shots as much as you can....they rarely work well unless they're fleshing out a full-shot story. Abstracts can be very appealing, if well executed.

Good luck,

Tom

chuckinsocal · June 30, 2010

Thanks guys for looking and for your comments.

Tom, I agree with what you're saying. Given the crowds, placement, even the lighting, etc, it's nearly impossible to get a good angle or perspective on a car.

I went to a show a while back and decided to do an essay of sorts on all the chrome that was so prevalent back in the day. The results were disappointing at best.

This time I decided to do an essay of sorts on what makes a specific year, make, and model unique and identifiable. Back in the day it was the grille, headlights, tail lights, unique curves, tail fins and the like and the differences were often very subtle from year to year. It was important for us as kids and car enthusiasts to be able to identify the subtle differences between a '65 and '66 Mustang for example. It was a part of our culture at the time.

So, my intent was to try and capture those unique elements hopefully from an interesting perspective and with decent composition, framing, lighting, etc. Actually, even though there are some duds, I was pretty happy with most of the results in my gallery.

You say partial shots "leaves the viewer wanting more". I'm not sure that's such a bad thing. It may make the photo more memorable and sometimes mystery is more fun than actual knowledge.

Again, I agree with what you've said and I hope I'm not sounding defensive because that's not my intent. I just wanted to provide some insight on what my thought process was when I took the photos.

So now the challenge is to figure out what my theme should be for this week's show

. And, yes, I do need to get better at this.

Thanks again for your comments.

black mamba · June 30, 2010

I think the interchange of concepts, techniques, and even aspirations, between those of us who shoot car shows is a very positive thing. I'd like to see more emphasis along those lines here on this forum. I know I can learn from those whose passion runs parallel to mine.

I like your idea, Chuck, of developing a theme for each outing you attend. I've used the same philosophy on a number of occasions and some of my best work has come from those endeavors. Shooting with a plan has got to be more productive in the number of winners.

There's room for any number of approaches and interpretations when practicing our art. I'm looking forward, Chuck, to seeing more of what you come up with.

Take care,

Tom

vintagemxr · June 30, 2010

I've done a fair amount of shooting at car and motorcycle shows and it is indeed difficult to tell any kind of story or get a clean shot of a vehicle without clutter, people, unwanted reflections, or odd shadow situations. On the other hand, when there's not much around the car it's easy to drift into the "shoot from eye level" 3/4 view that simply becomes another documentation shot of a nice car. Nice, but not very interesting.

I've shot a great many of the partial shots like Chuck has presented here. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. A bit of art (pin striping or lettering) on the car can make them tell a better story or sometimes some odd bit like an item hanging from a mirror, or in the case of "Grandpa and Grandma's car" with the doilies, becomes a key part of the story.

One of my real frustrations, besides the "legs and butts" background clutter, is that most guys display their car with the hood up and while then engine can make a nice photo, having the hood up pretty much ruins any over all shot of the car.

I've begun making it a point to shoot hood and radiator ornaments lately. There is quite a variety, they tend to be arty, at least the very old ones, and as a photo group they become more interesting. Above, the photo is weakened because if you look the far side of the hood is up and the clean lines there are lost. Different car below, hood closed:

I suppose whether or not the photo works often times depends on the intent of the photo and desire and knowledge of the viewer. People who are into motorcycles or cars often love my photos, others who don't know cars or bikes just see a picture of an old motorcycle or an old car badge, i.e. "So what?" I believe who you imagine your audience to be should have an effect on the photo composition.

By the way, I spent all of my teen years (1960's) in Escondido. I have many happy memories of that area from a time when it was a lot less busy.

Doug

chuckinsocal · July 1, 2010

Thanks for your post Doug. You've made many excellent points. In fact I was thinking that this week I'd focus on hood and radiator cap ornaments. We'll see if I can make that work.