“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”― Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Over the past several years, my personal photography has enjoyed a sort of rebirth. This burst of creativity is sometimes the topic of dinner table conversations between Mary and me. She alternately credits a change in camera systems from the DSLRs that I had been using or maybe it was a change in my home and office environment to the home and the community we moved into almost ten years ago. Maybe it was both.

Certainly living and working here on what I like to call Daisy Hill has renewed my interest in a personal assignment of documenting my world that I began in Baltimore in 1971 but I think improvements in digital imaging could be another catalyst.

How can hardware and software increase a person’s pursuit of creativity? Here’s a few ways new digital tools have sparked my interest in making and sharing new images:

• Immediacy: When I open an image in Photoshop any changes that I make in color, contrast, or composition happen right now on my 5K iMac’s screen. This immediacy translates into the ability to experiment without wasting any time. I believe that trying something new, even if it turns into a disaster, stimulates a person’s creative reflex.
• Flexible Materials: Using any photo quality ink-jet printer—I need top get a new one‚—gives me access to an incredible variety of papers that matches the type of image that I’m printing becomes part of the creative process and can heighten an image’s impact.
• The Internet: The World Wide Web lets me share images with others in ways that I could never have imagined when I began working with the first digital imaging software in 1990. The Internet lets me communicate with photographers around the world as, in turn, leads to a motivation to create more and better photographs.

PS: Please follow me on Instagram or Twitter to see what I’m up to with and without cars.

Any burst in creativity that’s happened to me or might happen to you comes from inside. Your vision is also affected by inner and physical health, which was one reason why I was excited to get the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine recently. Whether it’s a new camera system, new home or new digital imaging technology or a combination of all three of these factors, I’m glad to be able to share my thoughts on the digital imaging tips, tools, and techniques that I find useful with all of you here each day this coming year. Happy New Year.

If you’re not one of those photographers who think the 1970’s was Jurassic times, Andreas Feininger’s 1973 landmark book, Photographic Seeing is available used from Amazon from around $15 as I write this. For another approach to creative inspiration, pick up a copy my friend Rick Sammon’s newer book Creative Visualization for Photographers, which is available from Amazon for $34.93, as I write this.

When some people see the above photograph they often assume that I was just walking by this little tableaux and happened to have my camera with me and took this picture. The truth is much more complicated than that. Let me tell you the story behind the photograph.

It began with a request from the significant other of a local racer and car collector asking me to photograph five of her boyfriend’s favorite cars to make a wall-sized print for a birthday gift. For a shooting location, I suggested that we use an outdoor living history museum that has a 1920’s gas station on its property. I then asked for and received permission from the museum to photograph the cars shortly after they closed when nobody but the curator would be there and the light would be just right. But that’s not exactly what happened…

Before the shoot I assembled a team that included drivers who would bring the cars to the location and I drove the 1956 Chevy Nomad because it was always my dream to own one. That’s probably the closest I will ever get. The little caravan also included a  pickup truck filled with camera equipment and a tall ladder that I planned to use as a shooting platform.

When the group arrived at where the collection was stored, one of the cars, the ’56 convertible, had a flat tire and we had to put the spare on. On the way driving to the museum the ’57 Bel Air tossed a wheel cover, which we didn’t notice until they arrived for the shoot. The driver of that car had to retrace his steps to find it. Thankfully finding it unscathed in some weeds.

When our merry band arrived at the museum, instead of being empty the parking lot was packed with cars because an emergency meeting of the museum’s board of directors had just been called. (We later found out it was because of a death of a board member.) I asked my client if she would talk with the people and get them to move their cars and while they were glad to oblige, it took time.

Rather than playing the shoot by the seat of my pants, I had previously made a sketch of the final composition and gave it to my assistant and between the two of us we gradually got all of the cars moved into position that you see in the final composition. All of this took a lot more time than making the actual photo—I was perched atop a 25 foot ladder—that was made with a Canon EOS 50D with a 16mm lens and an exposure of 1/60 sec at f/16 and ISO 100.

And yeah, he liked his birthday gift just fine.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat me to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), please click here. And if you do, thanks so much.

Although, I’ve never owned a Chevrolet Corvette, I have always been fascinated with the marque. If you are at all interested in Corvettes, please read about my attempts to buy one over the years as part of my review of David Kimble’s book Corvette Racing, elsewhere on this blog.

The above image was made a few years ago at Mazda Speedway at Laguna Seca using a Canon EOS 50D and an EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens with an exposure of 1/250 sec at f/16 and ISO 200.

The 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona will run on January 30-31, 2016

caption: Canon EOS 30D, 70-200 EF 2.8 L Series lens @ 200mm.  Exposure:  1/250th sec. at f/7.1  and ISO 100

After recovering from a stroke, my motorsports friend, Larry, and my brother, Allan, and I decided to finally cross one of the major international races from our bucket list and go to the annual Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2007. While they were enthused about spectating, I was more interested in taking photos. Having been a contributor to a number of Canadian motorsports magazines previously, I contacted the Toronto Star and learned that there would be a local team competing in the top class in the 24 hour event. I mentioned this in my email, along with a link to my website and tear sheets of previously published motorsports photos. The next day I received a favorable response asking if I required any assistance in obtaining press credentials!

caption: Canon EOS 30D, 17-55mm EFS lens at 38mm. Exposure:  1/6th sec. at f/5.0  and ISO 400

I was late in converting to digital as I had been shooting with Olympus 35mm gear for many years and had been holding out for a digital Olympus body that would allow me to use my assortment of Zuiko lenses without adapters but I could not wait any longer. With the potential for coverage in a national publication I purchased a Canon digital SLR with the kit lens, an EF 70-200 f/2.8 L series lens and a speedlite, along with some memory cards. I managed to try the new gear a few times before our trip but could not practice any motorsports photography.

caption: Canon EOS 30D, 17-55mm EFS lens at 18mm. Exposure:  0.4 sec. at f/6.3 and ISO 400, with Canon EX 430 speedlight and second shutter firing.

Due to delays with our flight and sorting out our rental car, I missed obtaining my press credentials the first day at the Daytona International Speedway. However, the three of us stood on a small grandstand in the infield and took in the sights, smells and sounds of our first visit to this classic event as night practice was in progress under the lights of the famed Speedway. After taking it all in for a few minutes I grabbed my camera and took my first photo of the action on the track. As soon as I looked at the image I realized that I had to change a number of settings to get the result I was after and almost deleted this blurred image. Thankfully I did not as it truly replicates the speeds and lighting that we witnessed that January evening in Florida. Surprisingly, it has become my most successful image in my stock photo portfolio!

John Larsen is located in the Greater Toronto Area, whose PhotoGraffics website contains samples of motorsports and hot air balloon photography from numerous Canadian balloon festivals.

However, the Copyright Office declined to provide the exemption to third parties who diagnose, repair or modify a vehicle on behalf of the vehicle owner. The Copyright Office concluded that extending the reach of an exemption to cover third-parties requires a legislative amendment undertaken by Congress. Access to a vehicle’s telematics or entertainment system was also specifically excluded from the exemption.

Earlier this year, in support of the industry and consumers, SEMA provided comments to the Copyright Office seeking an exemption from the DMCA for circumvention of controls on vehicle software for the purpose of vehicle diagnosis, repair or modification by the vehicle owner. “The issue of copyright affecting the ability to diagnose, repair and modify vehicles has come up recently due to the proliferation of advanced vehicle technology, specifically software, in modern vehicles,” said SEMA CEO and President Chris Kersting.  “SEMA has always maintained that the right to access vehicle systems to utilize, maintain and upgrade vehicles is legal as fair use under copyright law, as are activities undertaken to achieve interoperability with aftermarket products.”

The DMCA was enacted in 1998 and prohibits the circumvention of measures put in place by a copyright owner to protect copyrighted works. The law also includes a provision allowing the Copyright Office to grant exemptions from this anti-circumvention provision, and the exemption for vehicle repair, diagnosis or modification was granted under this provision.

A copy of the SEMA comments is available on the Copyright Office website.

To make interesting photographs at a car show, indoors or outdoors, you gotta love cars. A passion for the subject you’re photographing is always a plus and enables you to look beyond the surface of a car to see its essence, its soul.

Next to your camera, the most important thing to bring to a car show is lots of memory cards and large capacity cars too. Indoors or out exposure can be tricky, so you should always use one of Farace’s Law for photographing cars: Be sure to overexpose white and light colored cars and underexpose black or dark colored ones. When using automatic exposure, I bracket in one-third stops in aperture-controlled mode to maintain consistent depth-of-field. One or more of the three shots is always usable.

While I shoot most cars in color, I often use the camera’s black and white mode to produce images that have a vintage look. Can’t make up your mind? Shoot it in RAW+JPEG and make the decision later. Of course you can just shoot in color and convert to monochrome in the digital darkroom.

Be sure to make images of parts of cars. Don’t be frustrated by the lack of space and crowded conditions found at some shows. Use that to your advantage by finding small details, such as details in a Bugatti’s grille or the sensuous lines of a street rod’s fender and capture them in sharp focus. That’s why I prefer to use wide-angle zooms that let me get close and fill up the frame with part or even the entire car while eliminating distractions. Make sure your zoom lens allows close  focusing. Start by working in close and gradually back off the zoom ring until extraneous details appear in the frame, then crop them out.

Update: The Tenth Annual Corvette Mountain Madness People’s Choice Car Show in Grand Lake, Colorado is August 17, 2019. Admission is free and runs from 10 AM to 2 PM. Click the link for more information.

Has it really been 60 years since the world fell in love with Chevrolet’s Corvette? Fans of “America’s Sports Car” will have a chance to rekindle that romance with a dynamic Corvette 60th anniversary display at the Sept. 19-22 AutoFair at Charlotte Motor Speedway that every die-hard Chevrolet enthusiast and sports car fan will appreciate.

The fall AutoFair features more than 50 car club displays and more than 7,000 vendor spaces that offer a plethora of automotive parts and memorabilia. More than 1,500 collectible vehicles of all makes and models will be available for sale in the car corral that rings the 1.5-mile superspeedway. In addition, up to 200 cars will be auctioned by Dealer Auctions Inc., and kids can enjoy face-painting, bounce houses and other games and entertainment in the huge Play Zone.

The new-for-2014 C7 Corvette Stingray is a technological marvel on par with any European supercar but for a fraction of the sticker price. It also marks the first Corvette generation not available or serviceable through all Chevrolet dealerships. By visiting one of the specially trained and equipped C7 Corvette dealers, an enthusiast can drive away in a two-seat dream machine powered by a 455-horsepower, 376ci V-8 that shifts through a seven-speed manual transmission for $51,000. That drivetrain is cradled in an aluminum chassis and covered by a carbon-fiber roof and hood, all of which have been sculpted into the most aggressive envelope since billionaire Bruce Wayne combined a Stealth fighter with an urban assault vehicle. Zero-to-60 times are in the sub-4.0-second range, and top speed is expected to nudge 200. Even with acceleration in the jet fighter range, the Stingray still manages a miserly EPA highway fuel consumption of 29 miles per gallon – the same as a Honda Accord sedan or Toyota Matrix economy car.

The Corvette 60th anniversary display at the Charlotte AutoFair will feature a 1957 fuelie, ’63 split-window coupe, ’78 Indy 500 Pace Car replica, supercharged ’13 ZR1, anniversary edition Corvettes, 100th Anniversary of Chevrolet 2012 Centennial Edition Grand Sport and many more examples of the “Plastic Fantastic.”

Hours for the Sept. 19-22 AutoFair are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday. Ticket prices are $10 per day for adults, and children 13 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Fans who buy a ticket for the first three days get the fourth day free. Parking for the event is $5. For more information on the four-day event, contact the speedway events department at (704) 455-3205 or visit www.charlottemotorspeedway.com.

I’ve never owned a Chevrolet Corvette but always wished that I had.

The first Corvette that I didn’t own was in 1969 when a friend decided to sell me his 1966 coupe. It was stunning example and I can still see it in my mind’s eye: all slick and silver with knock off alloys and outside exhaust. I couldn’t quite meet his asking price so it slipped though my fingers.

Over the years there have been other brief flirtations including a black Greenwood C4 that was too expensive for its poor condition. Then there was the red ZR-1 that I really loved but was treated so shabby by the dealer that I walked away from the deal. That’s another car that’s stuck in my mind. It’s been a while since I’ve gone Vette shopping but David Kimble’s new book—Corvette Racing—is giving me the itch again.

Corvette Racing is a lushly produced 256-page coffee table book from Motorbooks that is chock full of 155 and 95 beautiful photos including Kimble’s own beautifully executed and informative cutaway artwork. Starting with a fascinating look at the early days of racing a car whose six-cylinder engine, automatic transmission and weak brakes were clearly that was not ready for a race track, the first chapter details the efforts of Zora Arkus-Duntov and the “Real McCoy,” a  special that was raced at Sebring in 1956, to make the Corvette a true sports car.

The book shows  the history of factory-sponsored and private racing efforts, chronicling the history of the various Vettes that have been put to the test on the track. While I’ve seen and photographed Corvettes on the track I was much more familiar with all of the street variants that have been available since 1953, so Corvette Racing was an eye opener for me. The quality of printing on high quality paper, especially for some of the early images, is  incredible and there are lots of surprising entries, such as a portrait of Betty Skelton who ran the flying mile at 137.773 mph in an early Corvette. Because I never got over that silver ’66 I really enjoyed reading the chapter entitled “A Second Generation Fights back” showing the racing accomplishments of the mid-year cars but there also more her for fans of C3’s and C4’s including that ZR-1 (of mine) that got away. This is a fun and informative book written for Corvette lovers of all levels, including wannabes like me.

The last entry in the book marks the Corvette entry at Petit leMans in October 10, 2010 and now with the recent launch of the C7 Stingray, the latest generation racing Corvettes are ready to start breaking records and winning anew. Corvette Racing is loving depiction and tale of all that went before and is the perfect gift for the Corvette enthusiast in your life—even if it’s yourself.