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One of the nicest classic car shows in Michigan is the annual Eyes on Design show held at the estate of Edsel and Eleanor Ford. They always have an interesting theme and a great collection of cars spanning old to new. This particular shot was taken at this years show and shows a collection of 50’s era automobiles. I believe the car in the foreground is a 1950 Oldsmobile 88 Holiday Coupe. Very little processing was done on this image with the exception of the square crop.
I’ve been doing some work on the layout of this blog and I would really appreciate your feedback. Mostly I’ve been playing around with the look of the sidebar. There are aspects of the current sidebar that I like, and aspects that I’m not happy with. I’ve created a couple of different styles and I would really like to know what you think of the alternatives. Below are four links. Clicking the link will change to a different style. View the different styles and leave me a comment with your thoughts. There will be some more changes in the future, but this is what I have for now. Thanks!
The image above shows a Stover Windmill which is on permanent display at Michigan’s Greenfield Village. The Village was created by Henry Ford as a place to showcase American industrial achievements. I was visiting the Village to attend their annual ‘Motor Muster’. I’ve been to the Village several times and I have always liked the look of this windmill. It is quite large and I think it looks nice against a blue sky.
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.
The picture above shows Newberry Hall on the campus of the University of Michigan. The Richardsonian Romanesque building was originally built as a home for the Students Christian Association. It is one of the oldest buildings on the U of M campus, with construction beginning in 1888 and completion in 1891. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Currently the building houses the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology which recently added an addition on the back.
The image above was taken on a recent visit to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. I went for the annual Motor Muster, but spent some time touring the various exhibits. I’ve previously posted images from the Machine Shop, and this is another one from the same shop. My goal in this shot was to try and capture the feeling of the machine, gritty and oily. You can see metal shavings from the cutter, but what I really liked was the can of oil. The title of the image comes from the writing on the can ‘Dark Cutting Oil’.
I like to take pictures of classic automobiles but dealing with lighting conditions that you can’t control, reflections of cars and people, etc. can make it difficult to get a nice final image. I like to focus on the details which make these cars so interesting and sometimes the reflections are really a distraction. In the image above, I actually liked the reflections. The picture shows a 1932 Packard Stationery Coupe on display at the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) show held at the Gilmore Car Musuem near Kalamazoo, Michigan. I took the shot primarily because I liked the way the reflections looked in the curve of the spare tire holder and other places on the car.
It’s hot here in Michigan, and elsewhere throughout the US, so I thought it appropriate to post this image of a child cooling off in a fountain. The picture was taken in 2008 during Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk held in Detroit, Michigan. The fountain is located along the Detroit riverwalk, just behind the Renaissance Center.
