Parking lot car photography...get close.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com

  Hi Pentaxian friends.

Every Thursday during the summer, local car enthusiasts gather at the parking lot of the FarmerBoys restaurant. It's a very crowded area, having the Best Buy store sharing the same parking area. It's practically impossible to capture an entire car without having a disturbing background. So my solution was to get very close and only photograph portion of cars. I used my Pentax K-5 and the Pentax DA 15mm limited. That way, I was able to get really close to the cars, while capturing as large of a portion as possible, without "fish-eye" results.

It worked okay, you can still recognize the cars and there absolutely no people or annoying buildings in the images.

Of course, I like to over-saturize this kind of pictures. I didn't use the HDR approach. I just pushed the saturation, clarity, vibrance, and luminance sliders, within Lightroom 3,  almost all the way to the right.

There are really no rules in photography, except maybe in photo-journalistic images.

Thanks for reading and visiting,

Yvon Bourque

Some suggestions on photographing local car shows with your Pentax DSLR

I am not sure about all Countries in the world, but here in America, it seems like every town has regular car shows. I'm not talking about a three day event, inside a coliseum, with a steep admission fee. I'm talking about local shows, involving local car enthusiasts and usually held in a parking lot of a restaurant or along the Main street, and free for all. It's a place where everyone can go and look at all the work some guys have done to their car, antique car, roadster, Pick-up truck, etc.

We have several of these shows each week where I live and since we are along the path of the old "Route 66", it even more prominent around this region. Every Thursday night, in the parking of "Farmer Boys" restaurant, people gather to look at the restored old cars and customized cars and trucks. Often, music is supplied by local talents. It's a place for owners to show their beloved machine and a place for everyone to admire them.

There is something about the love of automobiles in the heart of all Americans. It seems that most like to photograph cars. One problem I found in these car shows is that it is difficult to photograph the cars without having someone in your way, or having a cluttered background, or the cars being too close together. About two or three weeks ago, I went to the show with my K20D and brought two lenses with me; the DA 10-17mm lens and the DA 16-45mm lens. Most of the pictures I took were with the DA 10-17mm lens. It allowed me to get very close to each car, and by getting very low to the ground, I was able to isolate the cars successfully. Some of the pictures were just a portion of a car, but easily recognizable.

I think that one of the biggest mistakes that photographers do, including me, is that we don't get close enough to our subjects. Sometimes, we are so far from our subjects that it becomes hard for someone else to look at our pictures and recognize what is the actual main subject.When I take my time and really think what the picture I'm about to take should be entitled, or what message or story it should convey to the viewers, I find that I am more successful. So, for this kind of events, get close, think about what the picture should be entitled, ask yourself if the image in your viewfinder will convey the intended message or story to the viewers, and if the answer is yes… click! If the answer is uncertain, move to a different location or angle. If you just shoot at random, you may still get good pictures. However, you might even surprise yourself at what message the pictures convey, and it might not be even close to what you intended it to be.Simplicity is also a key to good photographs.

This is just my way to photograph. Some like my pictures, and some don't. The important thing is...go out there and take some pictures.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

New Technology meets old technology in this 1930 Model A Ford.

Isn't that a beauty?

Hi photographer friends and especially Pentax users. The pictures below were all taken with the Pentax K10D. I used the DA 16-45mm and the DA 70mm limited lenses. The results are what you get when you blend the new technology with the old.

As stated a few weeks back, I am posting pictures of old cars every week. This week’s car is special as I met Connie at Goody’s where my wife and I usually go for breakfast every Sunday. When I saw the car in the parking lot, I told my wife that I had to take pictures of that beautiful restoration. While inside the restaurant, I asked our regular server “Roseanne” if she knew who owned the car. She pointed me toward Connie and I asked him if it would be okay to take some pictures of his car sometime. He was agreeable to the idea and we actually met today, Monday January 21st, in the parking lot of Goodie’s.

Connie even brought me a few pictures of the car before restoration and wrote the letter below, depicting the story of how the car’s restoration came about and how he got the car.

You can certainly see how much work had to be done to restore the Model A to what it looks like today.

‘This is a model A Ford 5 window coupe. It was restored by my brother over a period of several years in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. It was given to him by his wife as a hobby project when he retired from his job. It was restored in his garage in Custer Park, Illinois and painted by a good friend who I had the pleasure of working for after school when I was 14 years old”.

“The model A is known as a “ginny” meaning it has been restored to nearly it’s original condition. The engine, running gear, suspension and all systems are as near as possible to the way Henry Ford made it when new”.

“I received the car upon the passing of my brother in 2006. I try to honor his memory every time I drive the car and thank him for allowing me to have it. Some of the pictures with this note show how much effort he put in restoring this car. I have only had to do minor repairs to bring it to its’ present condition. The car runs extremely well with a top speed of nearly 50 miles an hour”.

“I had to have the car certified by the California Highway Patrol before registering it to my name and the officer checked the engine number and told me it was an original 1930 engine and not to replace it”.

“Since the car was in Illinois and I was in California; that presented a slight problem. I purchased a car hauling trailer and my nephew towed the car to Flagstaff, Arizona as he has a business in Tucson, and I picked it up there.”

“My brother wanted the car to be used and shown so others could see how it was in the early years. I have had the car in several shows this past year, including the San Bernardino County Fair “Show and Shine” spearheaded by Richard “Tex” Navarro and the Route 66 car show sponsored by the Route 66 museum in Victorville, California., as well as a car show sponsored by the Sterling Inn, Victorville, California. I routinely drive the car to an off-the-cuff car show at a coffee shop called “The Grind” where a group of hot rod custom car owners meet on Saturday mornings. I also drive the car to a restaurant called “Goody’s” in Victorville and have had several interesting conversations about the car usually from older people who relate to having one like it or similar to it during their younger years. One lady told me that she and her boyfriend, later her husband, had their first date in one just like it. I can only imagine what was going through her memory at that time. So it’s not only me that enjoys this car, it touches many people in many ways. Another gentleman told me that he worked at the River Rouge Plant and remembered working on the assembly line in 1930 and helped build them. (He really must be old)”

“I wish to thank Yvon for putting my story on his website and I hope everyone enjoys the pictures and the story.”.

Connie Trimby

This car saw America in an uncomplicated time, when there were no computers, no cell phones, no iPods and certainly no digital cameras. The highways were uncluttered and the gasoline was cheap and abundant. We will probably never see such simple life in our future, but it’s nice to see some relics from the long gone era. The cameras of the 1930’s couldn’t have taken the pictures herein with such color rendition and clarity. Progress is a two sided sword.

It doesn't have sleek lines like the current cars, but it certainly had character.

A lot of love went into rebuilding this car.

The stereo system is missing! Actually, instead of auto-everything like today's cars, it had manual everything.

I would be smiling too if I owned a beautiful piece of american history.

Yep...we were zipping through at an astonishing speed.

This is what a 1930 engine looks like without all of the polution devices.

I want to thank Connie for his wonderful story. It was a privilege for me to have the opportunity to take pictures of this beautifully restored 1930 Model A Ford, and to meet Connie. As a bonus, I even got to take a ride in it.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque