“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”– Martin Luther King Jr.

Labor Day always makes me think of my Dad. You see, my father was a steelworker. From the day he was discharged from George Patton’s army to day he retired, Dad worked at the Bethlehem Steel plant near Baltimore, at that time, the largest tidewater steel mill in the world. Like all of my uncles—my mother had 13 brothers and sisters—he was a staunch trade unionist and felt if that you owned a car he believed it should be made in America. But like many kids, I didn’t always agree with my parents.

In 1964, I bought a used 1958 Volvo PV444 sedan —it cost me $395 at the time—  and my Dad was upset with me about purchasing the car because it used Swedish steel. That was before my cousin Mike would shock the family further by purchasing a Triumph Spitfire, In those days the largest customer for American-made steel were US car makers like General Motors. Ford made most its own steel at its River Rouge steel mill. Dad wasn’t a big Ford fan either.

Fatherly Advice

Labor Day reminded me of one of the few times that my Dad felt it was necessary to dispense fatherly advice. While I was in high school and long before any of those “take your kid to work” programs got started, Dad took me to work with him and introduced me to his workplace at the Open Hearth furnaces at Sparrow’s Point. There are many ways to turn iron into steel, the Open Hearth process being the most brute force way to do the job. Iron is heated in giant furnaces and then blended with other minerals at extremely high temperatures to produce molten metal.

The building where he worked housed several open hearth furnaces and was so huge you could have parked the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise inside. Both ends of the building were open to the air and inside, creeping along the roof like a demented spider, a giant crane moved back in forth to grab and then pour immense ladles of molten steel into I don’t remember what. The heat was oppressive. Before introducing me to some of his friends, Dad waved his arms in front of this spectacle as if to say “some day all of this will be yours” but instead, he being a man of few words,  simply said to me “don’t work here.”

Then it was time to meet his boss, a rough-looking red-haired man named “Brick” and then one of his co-workers they all called “Jaguar Joe.” Since my Dad’s name was Joe and he was first on the job, the new guy became “Jaguar Joe” because he owned the only foreign car parked in the acres of parking lots around the plant that was brimming with Detroit Iron. His car was an XK140 and while drivers of lesser European cars—the Japanese were not even a blip on our radar yet—were hazed and had obscene remarks scrawled in the red dust that spewed from the smoke stacks and landed on every car on every parking lot, Jaguar Joe was left alone, because his fellow workers admired the style and performance of his Jaguar roadster.

A few years later, while standing on the running board of my 444 Volvo, I reminded Dad about Jaguar Joe and he reminded me that “this car was no Jaguar.” Thirty-six years later, I finally got my first Jaguar, a 1986 Series III XJ-6, pictured above, but it was a real Jaguar and my Dad was finally proud of this foreign car. He didn’t get to see my second Jaguar, the XJ-S before he passed away and I think he would have liked it even more.

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One of the classic rules about photography is that light has four major qualities: color, quality, quantity, and direction. As photographers who are seeking to master the art of exposure, seeing that light is the key to mastering the art of exposure, especially when it comes to photographing cars.

Learning to see light is not difficult but takes some practice by not just constantly making new images—it doesn’t have to be of cars—but also taking the time to analyze those photographs after you’ve created them. For example, the exposure for the black Jaguar (above) was 1/320 sec at f/8 and ISO 400, which is one and one-third stops less that the camera indicated as “correct.”

I’ve always believed that camera’s designers realized that no amount of automation will produce a perfect exposure under all possible lighting situations and what some people might consider the correct exposure. others might not. You are the final arbiter of what’s really correct. To help you home in on an ideal exposure, your camera’s Exposure Compensation feature lets you increase or decrease the automatic exposure by your choice of one-half or one-third tops to get the exposure you like. (I prefer one-third stops but this is not a “my way or the highway” blog.) Using the camera’s LCD screen and histogram can help you fine tune what what you really this is best.

One of the first tips that I give aspiring car photographers is that they should underexpose black cars to render them as black and overexpose white ones, so they look white. When you think about this concept, it makes perfect sense: By forcing the exposure to middle gray tones, you’ll end up with a white car that looks gray or a black car that looks gray too. For example, the exposure for the white Nissan Skyline (above) was 1/500 sec at f/10 and ISO 200, which is two-thirds stops more that the camera indicated as “correct.”.

For more on this subject, check out my post Understanding Digital Exposure Techniques when you have time.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat Joe to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.75, Starbucks has raised the price of Earl Grey), click here. And if you do, many thanks.

Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography that’s out-of-print but new copies are available for $21.49 from Amazon or used copies at prices that are all over the place. Kindle version, for some reason, is really expensive.

“The best way to learn how to photograph cars is “Practice, practice, practice.”—Joe Farace

Since there isn’t always a car show scheduled so why not shoot your own car?

On any given weekend pre-pandemic there was a car show or Concours d’Elegance happening somewhere. And that seems to be changing for the better, You can also find information about local shows in newspapers, enthusiast publications, and the Internet.

Lately, Mary has been finding local shoes on the Colorado Cars & Coffee group on Facebook. We found out about the group when we happened upon a small show at a local McDonald’s—nope, didn’t have a camera with me. But we met some nice people including the owner of a flawless 1957 white Susan Sommers Thunderbird and saw some great cars including a beautiful Bayside Blue Nissan Skyline and a charming 1930’s Ford pickup truck.

These kinds of impromptu shows are a growing phenomenon within America’s car culture and are not associated with a special event or organization but occur on a regular basis at a local donut shop or burger joint. These kinds of gatherings can be harder to find but make the effort because they are smaller in size and attract a different kind of enthusiast and cars. In addition to social media, visit shops that cater to cool cars, such as tire and wheel stores, upholstery, or paint shops, in short anyplace where you see interesting cars parked outside. Ask about upcoming shows, including those informal gatherings.

How I made these shots: The photograph of my now-departed Jaguar XJ-S at top was shot near Denver’s Mamie D. Eisenhower Park. It was made with a Pentax K-100 and smc Pentax-DA 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED lens at 200m with an exposure of 1/350 sec at f/8 and ISO 200. One of the oldest tricks in the car photography book is to wet down the street to create reflections. I didn’t have permission or a hose to do that here so the water you see was added in post production using the wonderful plug-in called Flood from Flaming Pear Software. Download the trial version and give it a try,

The photo of my wife’s (former) low mileage 2006 Mercedes 350 SLK was made at a nearby lake using an Olympus E-M5 Mark I with Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R lens at 29mm. Exposure was 1/125 sec at f/6.3 and ISO 400.

You can see more of our old cars by using the blog’s Search feature and searching for “our cars.” 

In early 2015, my partner Cathy and I were informed by our German friends, Barbara and Wolfgang, that during their visit to the US they would be stopping in Niagara Falls, New York. Given that we could drive there in just over an hour from our Toronto surburb, we made plans to meet and enjoy the view of the Falls from the US side.

After spending a relaxing day by the Falls, they suggested we go back to their hotel and walk to the famous Anchor Bar to sample the best chicken wings ever. However, as we parked our cars both Wolfgang and I were very surprised to find a rare and unique collection of cars in the parking lot. They were competitors of the 2015 Trans-America Nova Scotia to San Francisco Rally and had parked their vehicles in the same lot outside of the hotel!

Initially I thought this was a remake of the classic movie Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies starring Tony Curtis. That is, until I did some research on this event and their participants. It turns on out that one team consisted of a 97-year old mother with her son driving a 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III. They would finish fifth overall!

The cars ranged from a 1927 Bentley to a 1977 Triumph Stag. There was even a 1967 VW Beetle. Competitors were from the USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Europe and Malaysia. Unfortunately I did not have an opportunity to meet any of them but it was a real treat to see the collection of cars in the parking lot. If you would like to see the results of the event, please click here.

All of this already has me thinking about competing in similar events in the future; Hey, does my 1988 Mazda Rx7 qualify to enter? I’m not sure that the rotary engine could survive the event…

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.

In the spring I happened across a story about the annual Grand Prix Festival at Watkins Glen, NY. I mentioned his event to a fellow photo club member and he raved about it as he had been there a few years ago with his Lotus. I registered my partner Cathy and I for the Roadster Rally in my 1988 Mazda Rx7 convertible. Our group of Roadster Rallyists was limited to two-seater convertibles only—if you had a t-bar roof you need not apply! There were other rallies available to other car types and even motorcycles.

We met at a park in nearby Montour Falls. As we were greeted by the other members of this particular rally, I was struck by the distinct display of cars. Peter and his wife Gerry were parked beside us in their Miata which they won in a raffle. John and Sue were behind us in a 12 cylinder Jaguar E-type with more chrome under the hood than I’ve ever seen on a Jag. He bought it on eBay from photos without seeing the car. Beside them was the father and son duo of George Senior and Junior in another beautiful black Jaguar. I’m not sure which had more variety: the cars or the people!

During the meeting we quickly realized that this was a navigational rally of sorts. I have participated in my fair share of rallies, but Cathy and I had not entered a navigational rally for almost thirty years. I was hoping for a “follow the leader” event here. After all, my car has an odometer that was in kilometers and not miles. My plan was to simply follow the bright yellow Pontiac Solstice in front of us. The organizers had outsmarted me however as the route map had both miles AND kilometers on it! It is a good thing too because within 45 minutes you could see participants scattering in various directions. I thought of the bumper sticker “Don’t follow me-I’m lost too!”

The highlight of the day was to drive two laps of the original Watkins Glen course used in the late 40’s to early 50’s through downtown which included crossing the train tracks and Stone Bridge . The pace was slow and safe through the town as an estimated 20,000 spectators lined the sidewalks. Once we were out of town on the back part of the circuit I had a quick look at my speedometer and I am sure that it was higher than the posted limit!

After we parked and settled into Watkins Glen, a selection of racers that were participating in the US Vintage Grand Prix at the nearby Watkins Glen International racetrack did a run through town. Ahh, the sights, the sounds, the smells. As we were leaving the track on Sunday and we shared a final wave with George Jr., I was reminded of something our bed and breakfast host had said months before when we made our reservations, “This is better than Christmas!”

Senior International Travel Correspondent, John Larsen has created a photo magazine documenting the 2016 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival. You can preview a copy of the magazine and purchase either a printed or digital version by clicking here.

I want to thank everyone who came out to last Saturday’s show, especially those hardy souls who brought along memory cards and were able to shoot the new full-frame 36-megapixel Pentax K-1 that I brought to the show and that was used to make all of the images you see here.

Look for an in-depth review of the Pentax K-1 on Shutterbug magazine’s website in the near future.

This monthly event is held from 8-10 AM on the First Saturday of the month, during the summer moths, The time is limited, I guess, because the nearby Dick’s Sporting Goods opens at 10AM and they need the lot space. Nevertheless, this seems to be the best hand-down Coffee & cars event in Colorado. There are a lot of different kinds of cars and lots of nice people with interesting stories to tell about their cars.

In addition to all the local automotive beauties we will also feature a host club each month. In June, 2016 it’s the Pikes Peak Little British Car Club, so I’ll be sure to be there. Hope you can make it. At this present time we are considering having a Coffee & Cameras event at a nearby (and really nice) Starbucks after the June show.

• Date: Sunday, September 20, 2015,
• Location: Oak Park, 64th Place and Oak Street, Arvada, Colorado.
• Time: Registration (for entrants) begins at 8:00 am, Voting (by spectators) ends at 12:30 pm

A gathering of over 500 English vehicles (cars, 4WDs and motorcycles) is the largest in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States.

It was first started in 1983 as a joint effort of the many English car and motorcycle clubs in the Denver area. The Austin-Healey, Jaguar, Lotus, MG Car Club, MG T Register, Morris Minor, Rolls Royce, Sunbeam, Triumph, TVR, Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing and British Motorcycle Association clubs will all take part in the planning and promotion of this annual event.

The purpose of the Colorado English Motoring Conclave is to further the operation, preservation and owner participation of the great British marques. You’ll see a wide assortment of British marques, learn of sources for specialized services, enjoy food, fun and entertainment in the park and visit local vendor.

This is a big sprawling show so there won’t be a formal or informal PhotoWalk but please say “Hi!” to Mary and I when we see you at the show.