Saturday, July 13, 2024
You know the drill. You pass by that something many times and each time you tell yourself that you are going to do something with it, but it never really happens. This can be something as simple as putting away a piece of paperwork that you pulled out for reference three months ago, or it could be that little repair that needs to be done in the kitchen. Maybe, it is something that is a little more complex like, next time I am out this way, I will check that store out, or try that restaurant. In the case of this trek, it was dealing with a subject that I have passed by more times than I can count over the last few months. Each time I drive by, I look at the car and think how cool it looks sitting there. The thoughts of photography enter my mind, of course, but within minutes I have talked myself out of doing anything with it. It stayed in the back of my mind though, and every so often I would think about a photographic possibility with it. Of course, any ideas were quickly trashed because this car was parked in a dirt bowl, next to a later model car with nothing much of interest around it. The light was never good, and without bumpers, the car just looked off.
Even though I kept convincing myself that this car would not work for a photograph, the reality of the situation always reared its head. This was a Dodge Challenger (’73 as I found out) which I just don’t get the chance to photograph. Another reality was that this car just suddenly appeared there one day, and I knew that it would just as quickly go away. It would be reasonable to assume that I was on borrowed time with this car as it was, so if I were ever to get a photograph of it, I should probably get out there and do something with it.
But there just wasn’t that much going on around the car to tell the story, or to keep the photo interesting.
A couple of days ago, Toni and I were heading home from Mount Airy which took us on one of my favorite country roads for a drive which just happened by this very subject. Toni was driving and I had her slow down as we passed by. There was no specific reason that I asked her to do so, only that I had gotten in the habit of doing so over the last few months in order to check this car out. This was the first time that I had been in the passenger seat and could really take it in without pulling into the parking lot.
When I saw the car, all the familiar reasons why a photograph would not work popped into my head. There was a newer import parked right next to it, there was not much of anything that was interesting around it, and there were some key parts missing off of the car which helped with the body lines. Despite thinking all those things something happened which has not really happened in quite some time. I saw the colors of the scene. The pale blues of the car and the reddish orange of the dirt in the background. The color palette was quite pleasing, and that one element got my mind going about some possibilities with this car. If I concentrated on the colors, I might be able to do something visually pleasing here after all. There was a solid spark of creativity which I had not really had for going on three months or more. I was cautiously excited about the possibilities and began thinking about what kind of day I might want to come back and get some photos.
But would those photos really work out? Probably not. If I were a better photographer…maybe.
I could recognize those signs of me getting in my own way and knew that it was directly related to the slump that I have been in for a while now. Only a week ago I had gone out and felt like I had accomplished something worthwhile with a camera. That followed a trek where I all but forced myself to go out and remember how to work the camera. The details of what has been going on can be found in my last Behind the Camera which was more soul bearing than I am accustomed to, but I think it sums things up quite well. Having the self-awareness that I have developed; I knew what was going on and have yet to panic about it. I’ve just reached the point where I need to make strides to get back in the creative frame of mind which was why that burst of creativity was such a big deal to me. I knew that I needed to follow that idea and let it develop something as part of the creative process that I have been missing for a while.
As you all well know, I love a good cloudy day and there was no doubt about it that Friday was one of the best days we have seen. Sadly, I was not in the role of a photographer for the day. Instead, I spent the day with Toni and Sierra as Sierra went through a closing on house. This was followed up with changing locks, finding a plumbing issue, and moving a couple of loads of her stuff into the house. There was no time to be a photographer, and even less creative energy left available. There was no denying the sky though, and even Toni pointed out how beautiful it was. As things calmed down towards the end of the day, I was finally able to appreciate the sky in a different way… A creative way.
I was starting to get those subconscious urges to get behind the camera which have long been absent. It felt great to have those feelings again, and I realized that I was seeing possibilities now where I would have dismissed things. Could it be, could the tides be turning? Well, as I was trying to wind down after getting home, I started to look at the weather because I was feeling like photographing the old Dodge in Roaring River on Saturday morning as there would be a break in the moving party which would be back in full swing on Sunday. The weather was looking pretty good with clear skies in the morning which was the time that I figured would give the best light on the car. However, there were low and mid-level clouds expected shortly after noon for just a few hours. These would be like the clouds that I had seen in the sky earlier that day.
I knew that the chances of getting a sky shot with the Dodge were going to be difficult at best and I wanted a subject that would take advantage of those clouds. I went through my mental inventory and landed on a red barn which I had photographed a few times in past that had several compositions which would show off a great sky. It wasn’t far from home, and it was on the way to the Dodge. I wasn’t feeling overly positive that I would be able to wake up early in the morning, so I started to think that getting the clouds in the afternoon would be the better choice for me.
Sure enough, when the alarm rang, I checked the weather. Clear skies for the whole morning and the clouds were still showing to come in later in the day. I was more excited about the barn because of the possibility for the sky and I had been by to look at the Dodge so many times without it really resonating with me. This had me feeling doubtful that I was going to be able to do anything with it. The barn was a known quantity, and as long as I had a good sky, I was going to be in good shape with it.
I rolled over and went back to sleep. Apparently, the day before had worn me out more than I thought. I might not be a fan of this over 50 thing after all.
When I finally did get out of bed, I had a slow morning and got my morning activities done before settling in to watch the weather. The clouds were getting pushed back an hour or two and they were looking to be a bit thinner than expected. However, it was looking like the clouds would show up. There was even a slight chance of a shower at 3pm. Looking at how the clouds were going to build up, I was figuring I would leave home around 1:30 and be in position to shoot from 2-3 in order to take advantage of the buildup of clouds over the barn. It should be decent light with the angle of the sun illuminating the side of the barn closest to me.
Around 1:30 I went to look at the sky and confirmed that the clouds were, in fact, overhead as expected. I threw on some shoes and headed out with the camera. It took me a little extra time to find the barn because either it moved, or I forgot how to get there. I’m thinking that it moved. I was able to track it down though and even though it was not at the end of the same road I remembered it being, the scene did look familiar to me. Apparently, they just moved the entire farm over.
There were a few raindrops that had been falling on my windshield, but I wasn’t bothered by it just yet. Looking at the barn, the field which I was expecting to have rolled hay was now corn. The stalks looked fine and gave a nice texture and color to the scene. There were problems though. The red of the barn wasn’t nearly as vibrant as the greens were and since it was in the shadows thanks to the clouds over the sun, it just looked very drab. The sky overhead, was actually quite clear which really didn’t go along with the wide-open scene being the shadows. The rain was also falling heavier now, and it was at such a rate that I was not feeling good about keeping the filters dry and clear. Looking at the clouds, it did not appear that they were going to be heading over the barn any time soon and with the rain getting heavier, I decided that this scene wasn’t going to be it.
That didn’t bother me because I had other photos of the barn that were much stronger than what I was going to be able to create at this time. What bothered me was that even with a boost in my creativity, I was still very efficient at talking myself out of getting a photo of a subject. This one should have been a gimme because I knew the compositions that worked here, and have gotten quite familiar with it, even doing a mentorship here last year. This was just not the encouraging experience that I had been hoping for.
Instead, I was driving back up the road which was looking all too familiar for them having moved the whole farm to a new road. The rain was falling heavier now, and my thoughts were pretty much aimed at going home. It wouldn’t be a defeat at all. The weather wasn’t right, and I didn’t like how the scene was looking. These things happen to photographers all the time. I was wondering what the Dodge was looking like and how the weather was there. The one thing that I have come to understand about the showers that we are getting around here recently is that they are very isolated and just a matter of a few miles down the road might yield a completely different weather pattern.
Well, the weather did change as I went down the road. The rain was falling at a very heavy rate, and I was just hoping that some of that might be getting on my grass before it turns into dry hay. Things were not looking up, but the light was getting brighter between the swipes of the wipers which meant that the rain might be ending soon. After a few more minutes it did stop, and the sun was back out again. I was still a few miles from the Dodge so there was no telling what I would find there. I wasn’t holding out hope though as the sun was likely going to be on the wrong side of the car at this time of day.
When I finally arrived at the shop where the car was, it was sitting there just as I recalled with a Corolla parked next to it. There was a good deal of sun, and it appeared as though no rain had fallen on the car. All of my arguments against a photo were still quite valid, but the counterarguments that showed potential in the scene were also valid. The shop was open which meant that I could get permission to work the car that was an incentive for making it happen today. I mean, I was here with the camera. If nothing else, maybe I could get a shot in the can and then go back and work the barn under different conditions. It was worth asking if he minded.
Of course, I had made that decision after the truck was parked and the engine turned off. It was as if I was in auto pilot and conscious thought was no longer a factor. I tracked the shop owner down and asked permission to get some photos of the car. He gladly allowed me that opportunity and just like that I went over to the car and started to walk around it. Honestly, there was nothing that jumped out at me as being a great photograph, but I did like the colors that were present and there was no doubt that the patina was right up my alley. It was looking like I was going to be shooting more isolations than anything which told me that I needed to get the long lens attached to the camera. This has become my workhorse lens over the past two years, and I was hoping that it would do its magic here with this old Dodge.
Now that I had the camera built and ready, I started to eyeball the different views and angle through the telephoto lens. This is helpful so you can better understand the compression that the lens will offer and see how the scaling works with the different compositions. I wasn’t really seeing anything that I loved to start out with, so I just started to dial into the areas that were of interest to me. The first one that I decided to work was focusing on the body line over the rear quarter that showcased the blue paint against the red clay in the background. It was this color palette that had drawn me to the car most recently, and I liked the gentle curve of the quarter panel. It was not an expected composition from me, but I think that it worked very well and is something that I can see doing again should the situation call for it.
The mirror was the visual anchor for the whole image while the pinstripes guided the eyes along the bodyline. The blurred background just had enough texture to keep it from being empty space, but the colors complimented the car very well and added a bit of excitement to the composition. There was plenty of patina to tell the age of the car, and the vertical staining on the door tied in perfectly with the erosion marks on the hill behind the car. The chrome trim over the windows helped to pull the eyes down to the quarter panel while the roof was allowed to escape out of the frame. There were only two versions of this composition shot and I was pretty confident that I had the first shot in the can.
The next composition that I worked was on the opposite side of the car where the C pillar came into the quarter panel. I really liked the rust and patina here and framed up a shot that I felt would work well. I knew that the shapes were going to make the photo read wrong on this side, but I didn’t like the looks of the car on the other side for this shot. Since there was nothing here that identified which side I was shooting, I had plans on flipping the image in post, which I did. The resulting photo reads perfectly, and the visual elements are much stronger than if I had shot the “correct” side for the composition. All of this was decided upon without much thought. It was just an understood thing as I was talking myself though the shots. This is the way I am used to working and it was so very nice to just be there in the moment and not think about things like technical aspects and how to position things in the frame. I was working beyond that level once again and it felt great!
Now that things were coming along much easier, I decided to look at the shot that I had previsualized when Toni had been driving a couple of days before. It was going to be a full on shot from the front driver’s side. This would allow me to give the car some nose room and to avoid the Corolla to the right side. I thought about changing the lens to my standard zoom, which is better for including backgrounds, but something told me to keep the long lens on, and just give myself some distance. The background wasn’t all that important except for color, and I didn’t need that much of it to make the photo work.
Once I got into position, I found two compositions that worked. One had the car roughly centered, but at the lower third of the frame. The other was a bit wider that allowed the car to rest in the lower right third with some nose room to the left. The grass and trees that appeared on the hill behind added to the design of the composition and I liked how it was all coming together. I shot a handful of frames here with both of the compositions. They were turning out to be my favorites of the day because they were what I had come out here to get.
Ironically, the whole idea for the composition and even the shoot had come from the way that the colors worked together in the scene. Yet, when I started editing the photo, the colors seemed to make the shot look boring and completely expected. Not wanting that kind of response to a photo, I decided against color and went to black and white. Almost immediately, I had a stronger connection with the photo without any color at all. It was all about the textures and the patina seemed to show up even better without color. The edit was pretty straightforward, and the end result was better than I expected from a color image. This was pure instinct driving at this point, and I was finding that I wasn’t having to do much thinking through any of this. Things felt very familiar to me once again.
The next composition that I shot was one that I had wanted to figure out when I had first pulled into the parking lot. The “Challenger” emblem was still intact on the grill, and I knew that there was a composition to be had here if I worked it long enough. This was where I spent the next few minutes as I looked from both sides of the car to figure out which way was going to be best. I knew that I didn’t want to waste my time with a straight on shot of this emblem because I knew that diagonals would be my friend here. There was a really serious problem that I was having here and that was a bit of the hood trim which had fallen across the emblem. Well, it wasn’t exactly blocking it, but it was in the way of a smooth composition. I didn’t want to move it, but nothing was going to work with it here. I took a finger and lifted it slightly to see if moving it would cause any damage. It was very flexible, so I carefully moved it up to the top of the grill where I let it rest. I really don’t like doing this, and 99% of the time I wouldn’t. In this situation since the car was being sold as-is and that piece would never be able to be restored, I felt it was not disrespectful to move it slightly out of the way.
The view that opened up gave me so many more possibilities and I found an angle that would work quite nicely. In fact, the composition turned into something that featured the repeating lines of the grill which had the perfect curve to the right. The emblem was just a visual anchor, and I could see this as a great black and white shot. This is how I usually deal with shots of these grills since color rarely enters into the view. Wouldn’t you know it though, much like the composition before that I just knew would be in color, this one failed as a black and white. Well, failed is a little strong of a term as it just didn’t have the impact that I wanted it to. There were colors that were captured on this grill from the dirt and age. There was a faint orange, red tone that appeared on the grill in the upper portions while the lower portions had a cooler tint as they reflected the sky above. I chose to skip the black and white conversion and concentrate on the colors instead. With a little tweaking, I was able to get a fantastic color balance to the grill which further highlighted the emblem. It was truly an isolation with a lot of elements that all worked together perfectly. In fact, it was one of my favorite shots from the day.
My most favorite came at the end, after I had decided that I had everything that I could get from the car. As is my routine, I did a walk around the car looking for anything that I might have missed. I liked the taillights, but there wasn’t a good composition with those because the bumper was missing. No matter how I composed the lights, nothing worked out. I kept including different elements to help tell the story, but the lights kept getting lost and the meaning behind the photo kept getting watered down.
I kept trying until I had pretty much the whole car in the frame. The photo was no longer about the lights, but the car wasn’t looking bad from this angle. There was a lot in the background that I didn’t care for, but there were also things that I liked such as the road that seemed to be right in line with the car. Almost instantaneously with that thought, I thought of that scene at the end of The Fast and The Furious, where Dominic and Brian have that last race across the train tracks. Of course, Dominic is in his Dodge which was quite a bit nicer than the one in front of me. However, the scene just fell in place before me. I backed up so that I could get the whole scene in the lens. I didn’t want to go wider because I would lose the road due to scaling. All I needed was to get the cross arms both in the shot to frame the road ahead.
Once I had that in place, I was able to really take note of the sky. While the sun was out overhead, the clouds to the South were looking really nice. They seemed to compliment the colors of the Dodge which helped to link the sky to the photo while also bringing the road into context. I even had an idea of how I wanted to edit this one which I ended up doing exactly as I envisioned. There were two issues with this composition that took most of the time to deal with. The first issue was dealt with at the time of capture. That was the traffic. As this was a “T” intersection with a long road going through the frame, it was not the easiest to get a frame with no cars present on the road. This just took time to get the scene clear and then I wanted some different lighting options as well, which meant repeating that process several times over.
The other problem that I had was the existence of power lines at the top of the frame. There were three of them present and they were a bit distracting to the overall scene. The ones to the right of the frame didn’t bother me at all though. I chose to deal with this in post as I liked the scaling of the scene at the focal length, I was shooting it at. I might have been able to undercut the lines at 200mm, but I would have given up some quality on the car as well as changing how the road looked in the distance. Fortunately, removing power lines has gotten much easier in Lightroom over the years, so I was able to take care of this in that software. I did have to use a mixture of the tools to accomplish it through and it was far from a one click fix.
The end result was just what I had hoped for though and there was a story to be had in this photo. Even if you have never seen the movie, I think that just about anyone would see this as a prelude to a race that can no longer happen for this old car. The only thing that this old gal is waiting for is another train to pass by. There is a hopefulness to it as well as a bit of sadness. These are the types of photos that I love to create, and I feel as though it has been a while since I’ve been able to do that. Reading further into it, I was able to create this photo on a subconscious level rather than thinking through all of the elements as I put it together. The composition just developed and came to me which is all part of listening to the landscape. I was finally able to hear how something wanted to be photographed once again. With my thoughts removed, I am so much better able to convey the story of the scene, and it felt completely natural for me.
When I was done with that last composition, I was ready to head home. There was a fleeting thought of going back to the barn, but it somehow didn’t seem as interesting to me, and the sky was looking rather blank in that direction. No, I was satisfied from this one car and felt like I had two solid shots from it. I was really feeling more like myself and that was the best part of the day. When I got home, I saw that I had shot a total of 21 frames which was a few more than I had thought that I had done. As I went through the RAW files, each composition that I had worked had merit and deserved a representative from each one to go through the edit process. By the end of that process, I had five keepers to add to the collection. I feel that they are all strong ones, and I am very proud of each one. Who knows, one of these might end up in my 12 most significant list at the end of the year.
The success of this trek really came as a surprise to me. While it was this Dodge that had started the process rolling, I had talked myself out of shooting it more times than I could count. Even going out to it, I wasn’t holding out much hope in getting anything special. I had so little confidence in it that I was really wanting to shoot a known quantity first because I felt like I needed some low hanging fruit to get rolling. As we saw, that turned into a bust and all that was left was this Dodge sitting in the middle of a dust bowl. I still don’t know how to shoot it, but I’m so glad that I was able to listen to it as it told me exactly how it wanted to be captured.
I hope that you have enjoyed the trek and the photos that resulted. The past few months have been kind of all over the place with what I’ve been shooting and what has been posted here in the blog. For those that love my old, rusted cars, this one has to be refreshing for you. It certainly has been for me. Should any of these photos speak to you and you find yourself wanting to look at it time and time again, keep in mind that I do offer prints of my photos. you can order them directly from the website, or you can email me your request with the size that works best for you. I can do photo prints on photo paper, fine art paper, canvas, and metal to fit your own needs and aesthetic. No matter what you choose, just know that you are getting a piece of high-quality art that looks exactly as I intended it to. I have no control over your monitor or device so the colors might be a little different, or the brightness might be a little off when you are looking online, but there is nothing to hide behind in print form and that is why I love a printed photograph. Let’s talk about yours today!
Don’t forget that I do also offer mentorships, both in person and virtually. There are several fully customizable options to choose from which will benefit the beginner to advanced enthusiast. I’ve also had some professional photographers come through this program from time to time, so there is something for everyone. All you need is the want to improve, and the time to dedicate to that improvement. Let me help guide you down the most efficient path for your own journey.
I know everyone gets tired of the shameless self-promotions at the end of these blog entries. I wish it wasn’t something that had to be done, but the truth of the matter is, a good portion of my income comes from clients just like you who purchase prints or hire me out to teach photography. I don’t do this as a hobby anymore and I do ask that photography pays the bills. This has been an official business since the Spring of 2019. I’ve survived the pandemic and have grown my business in different directions since then. Even though I do have a YouTube channel and do weekly videos, I am a long way from getting monetized in these ventures. Even the two hours I’ve spent on this blog is done for free. If you think about it, I went to work at 1:30 this afternoon and got home two hours later to start editing. It is now just after 10pm and I’m still typing the blog. There was no time clock to punch in, I’m not salaried, and I get no reimbursement from sponsors for this activity. This is a full day’s work without pay. How many days would you go to work at a job that didn’t pay you? Well, I do this time and time again knowing that my only paycheck comes from my clients who see value in either my photography, or my knowledge. This is why I have to remind folks at the ends of these blogs that the prints are for sale, and to a point, my knowledge is for sale as well. Perhaps one of these days, I’ll get to say that this blog, or this video is brought to you by…whomever and you would get to listen to how I use that product and love it. Absent that day happening, everything that you see and read here is brought to you by Greg Kiser Photography that exists in the old school business model of provide a product for the customer, rather than just being an influencer who is sponsored to make content which is to be consumed.
Thanks for joining me on this trek, and I hope to see you again real soon!
Until next time….
