Posted the remaining photos from the 2011 Back To The 50′s Weekend just now. You can go straight to the gallery here: 2011 Back To The 50′s Weekend Gallery
Here are my picks from this batch. I luvz me some smokey burnouts, so that’s what you get this time ’round, plus a surprise bonus at the end. Enjoy!
And for today’s bonus – remember these?
For those wanting to go directly to the gallery: 2011 Back To The 50′s Gallery
Posted up the first batch of photos from last week’s Back To The 50′s Weekend tonight. For those not familiar with the show, it’s one of the largest in the region typically spanning four days over the weekend leading into the 4th of July, and is held at one of the local parks here in town, Cascade Park. This year I heard unofficially that they had in the neighborhood of 900 cars, so it’s a show worth attending if you live in the region.
One of the nice things about the show is that it’s very consistent – the layout stays the same more or less from year to year, the participants contain a fair number of regulars, and there’s always a large contingent of quality vehicles to look at and enjoy. I have mentioned before that I like it when shows have a lot of turnover in vehicles because it keeps things fresh and interesting, but in the case of the BTT50′s show I’m not so bothered by the consistency because there’s enough cars attending that you get fresh metal each year, yet also have the regulars which give the show a happy family kind of atmosphere. There’s always something to enjoy on display, so it’s a good balance I’d say.
Regarding shooting the show, this is the 4th year I’ve done so, though last year I kind of only skimmed through it because it was so hot and the light so poor the day I attended. With so many cars on display, my typical approach is to shoot it pretty casually as I make a lap around the display circuit. Now, I suppose I could try to shoot every vehicle and give complete coverage of the event, but in truth it’d be too exhausting and I also only can attend for a day as I have limited time, so I tend to snap what catches my eye and go with that. I do this with other shows too to some extent, but here more so I’d say. I also make it a point to catch the burnout runs as they tend to put on a decent show and it makes for some great photos. I think it’s a club that does it because the cars are consistent from year to year, but not 100% sure on that.
With that, I guess it’s best to show some pics, ne? As usual, these are my highlight picks out of the batch that got uploaded. There’s often no rhyme or reason as to why I choose the ones I do, but mainly it’s cars that are a bit unique in some way or have some element to them that just appeals to me. I usually try to only post ten or so here due to space concerns, so definitely take the time to look through the gallery and find your own favorites.
This Merc only has 28,000 original miles on it, and with the original paint and interior too!
It’s a purple Nova, what more can I say?
Showin’ the love.
This is interesting. I didn’t catch it at first until it was pointed out to me. It’s a Chevy Panel Truck converted into a pickup, all steel, and with an HHR grill. It works, and quite well.
And finally, I like red.
More to come shortly!
Been a while, huh? Yeah, sorry about that. Since my last post things have been pretty quiet around here, but that changes tonight. Tonight, I ran across a local cruise night on the way to dinner. I had heard about it before in the past, but never got a chance to photograph it, and after a while it just slipped away while I got tied up in other things. Luckily, I had a camera with me, my new Canon G12, and this ended up being a perfect test for it under some real-world shooting conditions.
The G12, so you know, is the replacement I picked up about a week back for the Ricoh GR-D III I had that got put up on eBay. You can read why it got sold here in detail, but the gist is that the focus wasn’t very reliable for my needs, so away it went (though I liked it a lot in a number of ways anyway). The G12 so far has been super – very reliable focus, great colors and contrast, quick and easy to handle, and overall a very transparent camera to shoot with. Image quality is top-notch for a compact camera, and if I never said what camera I used for these you’d probably never guess it wasn’t my D3 from looking at the photos. It’s a little bulky size-wise (a LOT compared to the GR-D), but it’s manageable and still smaller than any DSLR I own. I bought it to use as my “go everywhere” camera, and it paid for itself tonight when I came across this get together.
Regarding the show, unfortunately not much to say. I had the family in tow and I only had time for a quick pass-through to take the snaps that I did. Everyone looked like they were having a good time chatting and hanging out, so what more can you ask for on a comfortable, sunny Wednesday night? I did recognize a few cars there from other shows in the area, but never got a chance to speak with any of the owners. Still, some interesting rides nonetheless, and some I had never seen before, so it’s a win.
Here’s a few of the cars that caught my attention the most. The full gallery is here. In the future I’ll be going back I’m sure to check up on things, but for now enjoy these snaps from what otherwise could have been another boring weeknight. Cheers!
Haven’t seen a Prowler in quite some time. I still can’t believe they had the balls to put it into production, but they’re very cool and always grab your attention, even after all these years. The 90′s was a cool decade for cars in many ways I still think.
Love this sweet Olds, especially the interior.
And how about a Ford with a Chevy engine? Works for me.
Completed and uploaded the last of the photos from the 2011 Choppers Rod & Custom Show. That makes for 151 in total for the whole set. A great show it was and very enjoyable to shoot. With that under my belt now I’m looking forward to the warmer weather and the throngs of outdoor shows that’ll fill up my schedule.
Full gallery: 2011 Choppers Rod & Custom Show
Here’s my picks from the last batch:
Second batch of photos from the 2011 Choppers Rod & Custom Show are up in the main gallery. You can view them here: 2011 Choppers Rod & Custom Show
Here are my picks from the latest upload:
Stay tuned for the next batch!
Pretty cool graphic, huh? Wish I could take the credit, but no, it’s a scan of the cover of the program from the 2011 Choppers Rod and Custom Show held in North Olmsted, Ohio. I wanted to show it to you though, because this is a show I highly recommend going to if you get the chance.
Before I go any further though, for those who’re looking to go straight to the gallery, here’s the link: 2011 Choppers Rod and Custom Show gallery
Now that that’s taken care of, let’s get down to business. This is the second year I’ve shot and attended this show, and so far, I’d say it’s probably my favorite. The reason for this is that it’s a very intimate show with a lot of character and some truly excellent cars on display. It also has variety in it’s favor, and by that I mean that there aren’t a lot of repeats on display from last year. That’s great because compared to some of the larger shows like the Autorama and World of Wheels, you have more fresh metal to look at and enjoy. As a photographer, I really like and enjoy shooting new material, so having good turnover every year is a plus. One of the factors contributing to this is that the show has a theme every year. This year’s theme featured vehicles from 1956. Of course, there are other vehicles present, but since the theme changes every year it guarantees at least a certain amount of new rides on display. I like this idea and it helps greatly to make the show interesting.
As for the cars themselves, hmm, where to begin? It’s always difficult to write about the vehicles in attendance at a show because there are simply too many, even at smaller shows, and so you’d be reading a book instead of this blog. For individual cars it’s better to highlight just a few and let the pics talk for themselves, so as always I’ll have my picks at the end for your enjoyment with some brief captions. Generally speaking though, the cars at this show display a high level of workmanship and finish, with a kind of down-to-Earth feel to them that I don’t always pick up on at the larger shows. Maybe it’s the fact that the show itself is smaller and more personal than most. Or possibly that because it’s essentially a club show, that basic connection shows through in the display and atmosphere of the show. Whatever it may be, the cars in attendance have great presence and that makes for a worthwhile and enjoyable time spent viewing them.
At Choppers, the general make-up of entries is primarily hotrods, older classics, and drag cars – quite a few drag cars in fact, which I particularly enjoy. There are also some bikes, scooters, and specialty vehicles. One thing you don’t have is a lot of modern vehicles, but there are a few, and they’re primarily dragsters. You also don’t see a lot of muscle cars like I tend to find at the bigger shows and at smaller shows in western PA. If you like older vehicles and more classically styled grass roots hotrods, then this may be show you need to go to.
OK, so enough writing, lets see some pics. These are my picks out of the first batch of photos that I’ve posted. How and why I pick particular vehicles to show is a closely guarded secret (LOL, actually I just wing it and go with what catches my attention), so enjoy my mad curator skillz and let’s jump right in.
First up is this great 1948 Willys Jeep. I just love the color combo and the finish is simply stunning in person. Must be great to ride around in and see the looks people give.
Next, this 1932 Ford Coupe stands out quite a bit to me because of the overall classiness of its simple design, and also because admittedly I’m a sucker for race cars and cars that tend to feature functional style over pure looks. Either way, it’s a beaut.
The sign on this barn find reads, “BARN FIND! 40 Ford Deluxe Coupe, ’65 327 CID w/ 350 Turbo 10 bolt Chevy r/axle, 12 volt system, Stored in a barn in Medina since the late 60′s/I’m not for sale!, What you see is what we found.” That pretty much says it all.
This 1929 Chrysler 66 is a real wolf in sheep’s clothing if you ask me. Notice anything unusual about it perhaps? No? Nothing? That seems to be the point. Take the time to give it a true once over however, and it’s hard to ignore the “Viper” logo on the valve covers and the five exhaust runners per side. Of course, that’s assuming you have enough time to look before all you see is its tail lights. Very sweet.
Lastly, a car that I came across at the recent 2011 Cleveland Autorama, this 1951 Henry J is a real treat. Love the color and its clean smooth lines. Missed a shot of the interior at the Autorama, so made up for that here. So very nice!
And that’s it for now. More photos to come in the next few days, and I will post here as always whenever there’s an update. Thanks for looking!
The third and final batch of 2011 Cleveland Autorama photos have just been uploaded, making for a total of 230 all together. Here’s the link to the gallery: 2011 Cleveland Autorama
Here’s my highlights from the last batch:
First up, this extremely unique Harley-Davidson historical timeline custom bike. It reflects the changes made in Harley’s from the beginning to current, and yes, it is rideable (saw the video).
Next is this highly customized 2010 Chevy Camaro. Not quite my cup of tea stylistically, but the workmanship is fantastic and of very high quality.
This custom bike caught my eye as well. I like the look of a bare metal finish a lot, so that’s what drew me to it.
Another bike(?!) that caught my notice for obvious reasons.
Out of all the cars at the show, this panda Toyota Corolla GT-S is very likely the car I’d want to drive the most. Simply love these and saw tons in Japan when I lived there. This one is VERY nice.
This ’49 Ford is nearly all in original condition. Bought by a woman in the 40′s who coincidentally lived about 5 miles from me, it was only driven on the weekends for church and shopping. It has only just over 13k original miles on it and only needed to be repainted due to paint damage from storage. Otherwise, it’s totally minty.
There was also this beautiful Ford Boss 429 in attendance. Love the color.
Last up, this unique custom Corvette. I’m not sure if it’s to my taste either, but again, the workmanship is top notch, so that definitely gives it my respect right there.
And with that, the 2011 Cleveland Autorama set is a done deal. See you for the next show I’m shooting, the 2011 Choppers show. Bye!
Second batch of Autorama photos have just been uploaded to the main gallery tonight, you can find it here: 2011 Cleveland Autorama
Today’s highlights:
A very sweet Ford hot rod:
A fantastic ’57 Chevy Bel-Air ratty dragster:
A beautifully restored ’65 Jag:
Haven’t seen a DeTomaso in quite a while, especially one this nice:
And an 80′s Porsche 930 Slant Nose to go with it:
And to wrap up, a Chevy-powered BMW 325e:
Still more to come, so stay tuned!
Went to go shoot the 2011 Cleveland Autorama about a week back. If you want to get to the gallery right away, here’s the link: 2011 Cleveland Autorama
This is the second time I’ve shot it and this time I was able to pretty much cover the whole deal, barring a few cars that weren’t convenient to shoot at the time. Like last year, this show had a good mix of vehicles and vehicle styles, and overall the quality level was quite high. In some ways I like it better than the Pittsburgh World of Wheels show because there seems to be a larger number of unusual vehicles on display, plus there also seems to be a bigger crop of new entries and not as many repeats. It also has a good sized swap meet/flea market and lots of miscellaneous vendors, which WOW doesn’t, so it makes for a wider variety of attractions. That said, they’re both good shows, just different, so definitely go visit them both and decide for yourself.
This year saw some interesting rides that I hadn’t seen before. They maybe were around before and I just missed them, but more than a few times while shooting I had participants tell me they just finished their car and this is the first show for it. That’s good, because I like to see fresh blood coming out and displaying their rides; it makes for a bit of excitement and something to look forward to each year. Perhaps it’s the timing of the show, what with being so close to the end of winter and people rolling out their fresh winter projects that causes it to be like this. In any case, it makes for a good show and one fun to shoot. I came home with over 200+ photos after about 6 1/2 hours, so there was no lack of material, that’s for sure.
Hard to say what my favorites were this time through. All of the cars were very high quality and very clean and well presented. Usually, I tend to gravitate towards the rat rod/drag cars as a personal preference, but not many rats to be found this year compared to last I think, so I was a bit disappointed. Drag cars were plentiful, same as before, so there was some solace in that. More than explanations, though, I think the best thing is to just show you what caught my eye out of the lot, so here’s my highlights and notes from the first batch of photos posted.
This Chucky inspired Charger is pretty sweet. I have a soft-spot for Chucky because Child’s Play was filmed in Chicago where I grew up, and we went to go see them film it for the scene where they blow up the toy store. That toy store BTW, was a dance club we used to go to in High School, so it has extra nostalgia value packed in. Anyway, the car’s cool.
Next up is this Joker inspired ‘Vette that has some of the best paintwork and airbrushing I’ve seen in a while. The 3D layering effect is flawless and really adds dimension to the car (bad pun I know). The rear rims are also some of the deepest I’ve seen ever. And, it’s got eyes, and you know eyes are badass.
On the extreme end, you have this beastie sporting some serious cat-killer rims. There isn’t an animal in town that could escape those. For reference, I’m 5’9″ and the rims topped out near shoulder height. I feel sorry for the brakes.
This was by far the best display at the show I’d say. Modelled after a gas station and garage, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything like it. Apparently, the owner runs a dealership, and the details show it. Very original and well put together.
This seriously blown ‘Vette also caught my attention. Would love to see and hear it run, I’m sure it would be spectacular.
And finally for today, a stand out set of His n’ Hers Ford Mustangs, covering not only the gender gap, but the generation gap as well. Most excellent!
More to come shortly!
Came across these two photos while going through some slides from when I was back in high school. Gotta love the rarity of a true random Delorean sighting from back in the day. Slides are stamped “May ’87″ and the camera was a Ricoh XR-P if I recall.
And a nifty Porsche 924, too:
