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.

One of my favorite subjects to shoot are classic automobiles. In the past I’ve focused on exterior details, but after a while you need a break from taking another fender shot. As a result, I’ve started spending some more time trying to get some interior shots to go along with the exterior shots. Interiors are harder because the lighting is generally bad, particularly for coupes and sedans. Also, most owners don’t let you climb in the car so you have to find a way to get your camera in a position which will take a nicely composed shot.

It’s almost summer so that must mean its time for classic car shows! I recently attended the Classic Car Club of America Museum ‘Experience’ show, held annually at the Gilmore Car Museum in Western Michigan. The show always has a great collection of classic automobiles, all of which have been beautifully maintained and/or restored.

The Motor Muster at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan manages to get a great collection of automobiles. Many cars on display are ones that you would see (or would have seen) driving around your neighborhood. However, the show also gets a few cars which are more unique. One example is the Hudson Italia. This car grew out of a need for Hudson to offer a sporty car to compete with other manufacturers. I personally don’t find this particular car attractive when viewed whole, but I love some of the details. This particular shot shows an area just over the passenger side headlight. Looks vaguely like the Star Trek emblem to me! A couple of years ago I saw this car at a different car show and took this shot.

This past weekend I attended the 2009 Eyes on Design car show held at the Edsel and Eleanor Mansion in Grosse Point Shores, Michigan. The event is an annual affair and is a fund raiser for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology. This is the shows 21st year. Each year has a different theme and this year highlighted advertising and cars. Many of the cars on display had a framed advertisement for the vehicle next to it. It was interesting to see the way cars have been marketed through the years.

This past weekend I attended two car shows, each showcasing vintage automobiles. The first show that I went to was on Saturday and it was the annual ‘Motor Muster’ held at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. The ‘Motor Muster’ is a huge event, with hundreds of cars, motorcycles and bicycles from past to present. While the show has some very nice cars, and the location at Greenfield Village is wonderful, it is disappointing in one regard because the show is laid out in such a way that you really can only see the fronts of most cars. Still, I was surprised that I came away with a large number of good shots this year.

This shot of a Saleen S5S Raptor was taken at the 2008 Concours d’Elegance car show held at Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester Hills, Michigan. This show always has an excellent collection of both vintage and new automobiles. I’m looking forward to this year’s show.

This image was taken in the Depot Town area of Ypsilanti, Michigan. I was visiting the area to attend the annual Orphan Car Show held nearby. As I was walking to the show, I saw this sign. I really liked the vintage character of it. This part of town has some really nice old buildings and many of them have been rehabilitated. I took this shot with my 70-300mm lens on my Olympus E-3. Processing was fairly minimal.

This is a close-up of the hood ornament of a 1952 Pontiac Chieftain automobile. This car was at the Gilmore Car Museum for a car show. I used my 70-300mm (2x crop factor) lens and a small aperture to make sure the background was blurred out. Processing was minimal, although I tried to bring out the head and downplay the color of the car itself.

This is another in a series of ‘photo art’ images which shows some of the front side details of a 1936 Auburn 852 Phaeton automobile. The ’36 Auburn was designed by legendary car designer Gordon Buehrig and exhibits many interesting touches. I’ve always been attracted to the Auburn’s and Duesenbergs with the chrome exhaust pipes coming out of the side of the engine compartment. To me these exhaust pipes give a feeling of power to the automobile. This particular automobile, when new, sold for $1725, which is roughly equivalent to $26,000 after adjusting for inflation. Pretty good car for $26,000.