Desoto

So I've finally started to figure out a project that I can pursue for awhile. I've have wanted to do this for quite a long time, but actually finding the subject has been difficult. Anyways I started this past week working on photographing old cars. I posted about why cars mean so much to me in an earlier post, but there are a few things that motivate me to photograph these cars. First, cars have been a huge part of my life since day one because of my Dad. He has been a car guy all his life and grew up around and surrounded by cars in an era of low gas prices and lots of power under the hood. So one of my objectives in this project is to photograph these cars not as a piece of metal but as a period of time when chrome and fins were idolized. I want to photograph them not just as a car, but to look at them in close up shots and angles that have not been seen before and that celebrate the artistic quality of the curves and the overall design. The second thing I want to do is look at their surroundings. I see a lot of these cars as people as odd as that may sound. Their grills and headlights were designed to look a particular way, either happy or mean to convey aggressive styling. When I see cars that have been left in a field to rust or pushed into the corner of a junkyard I can see a sad depressed look on them. With chrome that is rusted away and parts that have long been stripped off they definitely look neglected and pushed aside to make room on the roads for new sleeker looking cars. I want to capture what these cars are surrounded by and how that makes them look. The third thing I want to do is to see what time has done to them. I want to photograph the rust, dust, dirt, and anything piled on top of them (or in them) over the years that they have been sitting.

These photos were taken at a little gas station/garage just outside the center of Leominster, MA. This Desoto Firedome (which is a name most people now would not even recognize) goes back to the mid to late 50s. I am still researching to find out exactly when this car was made, but it actually was not in bad shape. It looks like it is being restored (or was at one time), but it was still in its neglected state among the other rusted vehicles. Anyways, this is a work in progress and I would really like to know what everyone thinks. I will be moving on to another car and hopefully an actual junkyard this week. I would like to continue this idea and more pictures from this shoot will be up shortly.