Category: Automotive

Bugatti

Posted under Automotive

Bugatti

I recently received an e-mail from Gary Grobson, a photographer and retired architect who had some nice comments about my web site. Of course I had to check out his web site as well and I was quite impressed by his work. One of the areas I really found fascinating was his Circles gallery. I really liked the interesting shapes and forms found in these images. I asked him how these image were created and he sent me a Photoshop action which he uses to create these images. If you haven’t seen these before, the images are created by taking a square crop and using the Photoshop Polar Coordinates filter a couple of times to create the circular image. Naturally I had to play around with some of my images to see what I could come up with.


Ground Level

Posted under Automotive

Ground Level

This is another shot I took at the North American International Auto Show held in Detroit, Michigan. I was looking for something different than just a picture of a car. I had put on my Sigma 15mm fisheye lens and was looking for interesting angles to put it to use. I was walking through the Mercedes exhibit and decided to see what I could get if I took something while seated on the ground. I liked the curve I got in the floor and ceiling. When processing the image I felt that the distortion of the flooring created a sense of motion, almost as if I had moved the camera while taking the shot. I liked how the combination of the floor and ceiling almost create a vortex in the center of the image.


Goldenbird – 1955 Thunderbird

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Goldenbird - 1955 Thunderbird

One of my favorite car shows of the summer is the ‘Eyes on Design’ car show held annually at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford mansion in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan. The show always has a great collection of interesting vehicles old and new. This picture shows a customized 1955 Thunderbird which was given the name ‘Goldenbird’ by its owner.


Artist at Work

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Artist at Work

If you look through my body of work it should come as no surprise that I like to take pictures of classic cars. Some people, however, like a more traditional way to capture an image. I took this shot of a person sketching a car at the 2010 Concours d’Elegance held at Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan. I wish I had the skills and patience to do some images by hand, I think it would be fun.


Car Show

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Car Show - Talbot Lago T-150-C

Another shot taken at the 2010 Concours d’Elegance of America at Meadowbrook showing a Talbot Lago T-150-C, also known as the ‘teardrop’ design. While not a perfect shot of the car itself, I picked this image because I liked the context. Normally I try to keep people out of the shot, but I liked the position of the gentleman in the back and the way he seems to be looking at the car. I also liked the people in the far background, not to mention the Bugatti off to the side. In processing, I made one change to the image. I used the Painting – Oil preset in Topaz Simplify to make the image look like a painting. I then reduced or eliminated the effect on the main car. I think the effect is subtle and helps separate the car from the background. Compare the finished image to the raw image below.


This past weekend I attended the 2010 Meadowbrook Concours d’Elegance held at Meadowbrook Hall on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The show is never a disappointment, with a large collection of classic automobiles. I really enjoying photographing the details of classic cars. The cars, particularly of the 30’s and 40’s were a wonderful combination of art and engineering. A perfect example is shown above.


’35 Chrysler Airflow

Posted under Automotive, Uncategorized

'35 Chrysler Airflow

Every year the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology holds a benefit car show called Eyes on Design. The event is held at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan. What I like about this event is that it always has an interesting collection of automobiles. Each year the event has a particular theme. This year is was on automotive design: past, present and future.


1 Fine ’59

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1 Fine '59

This shot shows the back end of a 1959 Buick Electra 225 which was on display at the 2009 Concours d’Elegance held at Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The Meadowbrook Concours is always a highlight of the summer for me, since I love to photograph classic cars and this show has them in abundance.


This shot shows a 1936 Cord 810 S/C Phaeton which was on display at the 2009 Concours d’Elegance car show held at Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan. I’ve always been attracted to the Cord, particularly those from the mid 1930’s. I love the design elements, particularly the ‘coffin’ nose and the exposed exhaust pipes. The car just has great lines and exudes class.

I originally posted this image on Flickr shortly after the event. A couple weeks later I was surprised to receive an e-mail from the owner! His daughter had seen the picture on Flickr and had told her dad. One of the highlights for me about this car was the unique color. …