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!

Cover and center-fold photos:

And the originals:

Many thanks to Gayle and everyone at the United Way of Lawrence County!

Went out to shoot the 2010 Memories car show here in downtown New Castle  on Sunday, 8/29/10. Before I go into details about it, I should say that I really am lucky to be living where I am in many ways. While not a bastion of urban style or trendiness, we do have easy access to a few major automotive events right here in town that are something to be proud of – the Back To the 50′s Weekend, the Downtown Cruise-In around the 4th of July, and the Memories show. (don’t forget the weekly Friday night Riverplex cruise-ins either, as well as a few others) With all that access to awesome and fantastic rides, you tend to get a little spoiled, and that’s great in my eye.

Anyway, this year’s Memories show brought in 500 cars I’m told. And compared to when I last attended in ’08, the difference in attendance was quite apparent. Not only did cars park along the main drag downtown, but also on the side streets, parking lots, turn-a-bout, and even a bridge as well. I was quite impressed, and it made deciding what cars to shoot even more difficult. For the record, at most large shows I attend, unless I’m there all day or multiple days, it’s almost impossible to shoot every car in attendance to post online. And to be honest, it’s often not worth shooting them all. That’s not to say that the one’s I don’t shoot suck or anything, but after a while you start to see the same thing over and over, so I tend to shoot what catches my eye or stands out from the pack in some way. Sometimes it’s the color or the way a car’s built, the unique features it has (double blowers, for example), or subject matter (vintage racer). Sometimes, it’s even being in the right place at the right time and presenting a nice composition. I can’t say I’m not biased by what I like, but definitely I try to be fair and mix it up, and of course sometimes I just miss an awesome car that didn’t catch me for some reason, but turns out it’s really cool had I looked closer. Eh, that’s just the way it goes, so if you see me at an event and think I’m missing a particularly great ride, stop and say hi and point it out. I’ve found some doozies that way, so it’s always welcome.

Well, enough talking, the main gallery for the show is here, and I’ve picked some faves which I’ve posted in this blog entry for you to enjoy right away. As always, thanks for looking!

How about this – all original w/ no restoration:

And here’s a good example of a car that doesn’t immediately show its charm points unless you look closely. Full LS3 ‘Vette drivetrain in a ’50 Olds wagon. Sweet, and the swap work looks flawless.

And I LOVE this old school hotrod, which if I were going to build a car it’d be something just like this. Very well done!

Attended the second night of the New Castle Cruise Nights this past weekend. Held in downtown New Castle, 7/1/10 – 7/2/10, this event ran concurrant to the Back To The 50′s show that was also taking place in town at Cascade Park. Many cars present I saw at both events, and from talking to some of their owners, many make it a point to attend both as the atmosphere is completely unique to each event. Truth be told, I think the Cruise Night is the better of the two because it’s more open and has somewhat of a festival feeling to it. This year it also seemed to have more spectators and the ones there seemed to be having a better time. Same for the car owners too, based on what I heard from those I spoke to.

In any case, this year I went more to relax than to shoot, so I decided to try an experiment and took my ’63 Konica Auto-S with some 200 ISO print film instead of my usual gear. Lightweight and easy to use, the Konica caused no stress at all, and with its fast f1.9 lens and excellent low-speed handheld capability, let me shoot well into the evening. Considering it’s 47 years old, it did a bang-up job. Sharp, clear pics with excellent contrast and color, minimal distortion, and a nice vintage feel that went well with the cars, especially since many were contemporary to the camera in its day.

Here’s the gallery link for the full set. I only shot one roll because it was late and it got dark fast, but that’s enough to give a feel for the show. Definitely, I plan on shooting another show with this camera; I’m thinking the Steeltown Shakedown would be an awesome match-up for it!

In the pics below you’ll see the crew working the top of the tower, standing on the floor of the bell room that housed the school’s bell, which was laying nearby rather solemnly. There was a dome and cross above the room that added another 20-30ft in height to the structure, but that had been removed the day before. The entire time, firefighters were spraying water onto the rubble pile in an effort to keep the dust to a minimum, which also added a bit of drama to the scene, and can really be felt in the pics I took of the lonely, fallen bell. Ironically, I also came across an old election sign laying nearby for school director, which together with the fallen bell, gave the scene a strong sense of finality and being a somewhat gritty end to the long era of the school’s existence.

And finally, the slideshow for the complete gallery of images from the derby:

And like before, here’s a slideshow of the full derby gallery up to this round: