plural noun: ruminations

I have always tried to be honest with my readers about my opinions of the pros and cons of any of the cameras, lenses and techniques that I used or tested. It doesn’t matter to me whether any of these approaches to photography was done for therapy (like this and my other blog can be for me) or for publication because I feel that not doing so honestly would be doing all my readers a disservice.

That’s why you should know that no manufacturer, their representatives or agencies has ever paid me in money or merchandise to say what they wanted me to write; to say anything other than what I believe in my heart to be true. This approach to photographic ethics has, as I’ve found to my chagrin over the past forty years, had an adverse affect on my income and visibility as a writer.

As the photo magazine scene and photo book publishing industries imploded removing a traditional outlet for me to reach out to photographers, I wanted an uncensored and creative outlet for my writing but more importantly wanted to let my original book and magazine readers know that I was still alive, had images to share and something to say about this pursuit that we all love.This and all my previous blogs have accomplished part of that goal.

While this blog remains free to access, it’s not free to produce. There are costs associated with producing it from the cost of domain renewals, server space and software that both runs and protects the site. My Webmaster must be paid to keep this and my photography how-to Blog up and running and unencumbered by the inevitable software and security issues that plague all on-line activity.

Yes, there are a few sponsors here but they don’t begin to cover the cost of operating this blog. I also don’t have the kind of personal sponsors that many manufacturer-paid bloggers have that are paying them to write and do presentations saying favorable things about their gear and helping these companies sell their products. The sponsors you see here are companies owned and run by people who respect what I do and my ethical approach to photographic writing. The current, and all of my former sponsors, never tell/told me what to write and what to say about their products or their competitor’s products.

On this special day, I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you who have taken this little blog to your heart. In a few weeks it will have been our twelth year of operation and while the site is not as active as it once  I wanted to thank each and every one of you who takes the time to visit the blog and our sister photography how-to blog/website.

Caption: Photograph of me and my daily driver and brand-new 1971 Porsche 1.8 liter 914 was made by my friend Bob Geldmacher when we were out driving around in the snowy Maryland countryside back in the day.

There is no doubt that 2023 was a challenge for all of us automobile enthusiasts with a volatile new and used car marketplace that seemingly defied all previous trends. That may have contributed to my personal lack of wheels. It has a challenging one for me to even keep up with crating, writing and photographing twice a week posts. Hopefully 2024 will offer more opportunities to participate in more car related activities in the coming year.

So on behalf of myself and Mary we would like to wish you all the merriest of holidays and as Tiny Tim once said…

“God bless us one and all.”

I don’t want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need—Mariah Carey

…a car.

It has been a little more than three years since I said goodbye to my Mercedes Benz CLA 250. And I don’t miss it—much. In fact, I really don’t miss any of the cars that I’ve owned over the years with the exception of my 1968 Porsche 912 and 1984 Jeep Wagoneer. Like Tyler Hoover has said many times, its seems that all recent German luxury cars, including those from Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. are moving away from high quality materials and build quality to focus on electronics.

The CLA while relatively attractive looked so generic that when my neighbor Freddy came over to look at it, he told me that from across the street he couldn’t tell if it was an Acura, Lexus or even an Accord. Yikes! If I had purchased the less expensive Accord the ownership experience would have been more pleasant and maintenance costs would have been much less. These days the homogeneity of design is epidemic and most cars and especially SUVs all look alike. Have you taken a peek at any of the new Jaguar sedans? When the XJ40 was launched in 1986 Prince Philip while looking at it reportedly said, “Thanks God it still looks like a Jaguar.” Now that he’s no longer driving, I don’t know what he would think of their current generation of boring-looking sedans.

The Myth of German Build Quality

In the Bloomberg article, The Worst Luxury Cars of 2020, featured the $161,550 Mercedes-Maybach GLS stating, “I wondered why, when the decidedly cooler S-Class already exists, anyone would buy this vehicle in the first place.” Also on the list: Porsche’s 911 Speedster. Bloomergs’ Hannah Elliott exclaimed, “the now-irrelevant Speedster felt woefully behind the times—and not yet old enough to be cool again.” Sadly Devon Dalio, co-founder/partner at P-Squared Private Equity, died when his Audi crashed into a Verizon store in a shopping center recently and burst into flames like a scene from a Lethal Weapon movie. Burst into flames? German build quality?

Since I still am driving my wife’s 2016 VW Beetle Convertible, there are two cars that are currently on my radar, hopefully for next year. To be honest only one of them is on my Christmas list, an Audi Allroad of 2013-2014 vintage, which I consider to be the anti-SUV. The other car that’s on Mary’s Christmas List for me is a Range Rover Sport.

Before I address the first question that just popped into your head, I want to address one that popped into my head; consider it another one of Farace’s Law or maybe just Farace’s Bad Luck: Every time that I’ve purchased a car I really didn’t want to buy but had my arm twisted by a woman, it has been an unhappy experience. In Mary’s case it was a Porsche 924 that could have been a nice car but the costs of maintenance and repairs quickly exceeded the purchase price, much like her VW Cabriolet (which she loved, by the way.) The CLA 250 was another one of her picks and another Mercedes Benz she insisted on was a  ML350 diesel SUV. It was dependable enough but I didn’t enjoy driving it, which was pretty much the same experience I has with a 2-door Range Rover Evoque. But that was my purchase, so my bad. I guess I’m not an SUV guy.

On your mind

OK, I know that both of these cars are well-known nightmares when it comes to the cost of ownershio and especially maintenance and repairs. But let me tell you this: I owned that very same 2-door Evoque for three years and my only expense during that time was for oil changes and a set of new 19-inch tires. My neighbor, Tommy, on the other hand, liked mine so much that he bought a 4-door Evoque. His was more of the typical Range Rover experience and he now drives a Toyota Tundra.

If I buy either car, it will be from CarMax and with the CarMax extended warranty. If you familiar with Doug DeMuro’s experience with a CarMax extended warranty on a Range Rover you know this long-term warranty can be a good idea. especially for cars like these that have a checkered repair history. You don’t need this warranty for an Accord or probably any Japanese car but German and English cars are another story and, I think, an extended warranty represents a smart investment.

These are just a couple of cars that I can’t afford and vehicles I don’t think Santa has on his Christmas list for me. And I think I’ve been a good boy. I hope that Santa has lots of goodies for you in his bag and hope that all of you have the Merriest of Christmases.

PS. And if you’re wondering why I don’t just buy a nice low mileage Accord, here’s why. Whatever kind of car I buy next might be the last car that I own at for a long time. And I would be prefer that it has some character. OK, so maybe I’m nuts…

Since I can’t afford either car and If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat Joe to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, thank you.

Still don’t know what I was waitin’ for—David Bowie

When it comes to cars—new and used—and car related events, the pandemic has played havoc with automotive enthusiasts. Car shows have been canceled, postponed and rescheduled but attendance at some Cars & Coffee events remain strong, at least for the time being, New and used car prices have climbed to historic highs, with crazy dealer markups for new cars, especially for popular models, limited editions and high performance cars.

Recently the wholesale price of used cars has been dropping each week but I have yet to see any downward pressure on retail prices, especially here in Colorado. It might be different where you live. Most industry analysts expect used car to bounce back again in the Spring of 2023—not that means anything. What does all this means is that when it comes to finding a replacement for my Mercedes-Benz CLA 250: I have pretty much given up hope of getting any kind of Joe Car in the relatively near future. On the other hand, family car-wise it seems Mary’s Subaru Crosstrek’s days may be numbered…

While this blog is free to access, it’s not free to produce. There are domain and server costs associated with producing it including the software that runs and protects the site. My Webmaster has to be paid for keeping the structural and technical aspects of this and my original photography how-to Blog up and running and free from the inevitable issues that plague all on-line enterprises. I don’t have any personal sponsors as so many manufacturer-paid bloggers have and the few sponsors the blog does have do not cover its cost of operation. The difference comes out of my own pocket.

Because of that and the time pressures of running this site and writing three blog posts a week for it, seven posts a week for my photography how-to Blog, and posts and images for my wildly unsuccessful boudoir photography business, I’ve decided to integrate future automotive photography and car show posts into my main Blog and website. I started doing that occasionally with posts such as this (click) and you can expect to see regular car-related posts on that blog. After this post, I will no longer be writing any new posts for this website but the site will remain active for the foreseeable future so that you have access to the more that 500 posts that will be archived here.

Thanks for your support over the years and I hope that you visit JoeFarace.com from time to time.

Recently I did an informal lens test, comparing a 15mm prime focal length lens with 17mm mirrorless camera prime lens while photographing the annual Chenango Car Show and was surprised, or maybe not so surprised, at the results shown below.

The lenses in question were the Rodney Dangerfield Olympus 17mm f/2.8 lens (top image) that was mounted on my mother-of-pearl Panasonic Lumix GF3. This compact lens has an angle-of-view of 65 degrees and seems to have gotten expensive, like many Olympus products, under the new OM Systems banner. Used copies of the lens are available at mostly affordable prices.The concept of angle-of-view is often used interchangeably the field-of-view and refers to the angle over which the camera’s sensor )or film plane) seen through the lens and is usually given as the diagonal of the image or sometimes the vertical and horizontal directions.

The other lens was the Voigtländer super-wide Heliar 15mm lens (bottom image) that was mounted via an inexpensive ($24.95) Fotodiox adapter on my beloved Lumix Gx1. The Voightlander, on the other hand has an angle-of-view of 110 degrees, not quite double that of Oly’s 17mm lens.

Yet all the equivalents in the world tell you that one is really what amounts to a 34mm lens compared to a 30mm lens, which doesn’t sound like much either. Take a look at the above photo and decide for yourself.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($3.50), click here.

Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography with new copies are available from Amazon for $21.450 and used copies starting around six bucks.

According to the facts and figures that Your Advocate Alliance (YAA) has been featuring on their YouTube channel, the wholesale price of used cars has been going down for the past for month. Not that I’ve noticed anything resembling lower used car prices here in Colorado for the past few months. But that’s not unusual for us; any trend that seems to benefit the average consumer seem to lag for us Coloradans. OK, that may not be 100% true. Until very recently gas prices have been going down fairly steeply here, keeping in mind that our “regular” gas is rated at 85 Octane for some BS reason. Today Regular gas was $3.33.9 at my local Murphy’s, if you’re interested.

In other used car news: A ValuePenguin study has that found that states in the Midwest and West purchase the oldest used cars compared to other regions. And…

• The 10 states where people look to buy the oldest used cars are evenly split among the Midwest and West.
• Northeast states make up half of the 10 states where people seek the youngest used vehicles.
• The metro area where residents look to buy the oldest used cars — Spokane, Washington — isn’t in one of those top10 states.
• The only metro where people seek cars less than 5 years old, on average, is in Florida. Interesting since the average age in Florida is 42.2, so maybe they are at the peak of their earning power? Overall, 19.1% of the Sunshine State’s population is 65 and older, the highest percentage in the nation. By comparison, the average age here in Colorado is 36.9; I apologize for moving the average upwards. The 65 and older population account for 15.1% of the population.
• Nearly one in five inquiries for used vehicles are for those with a 2020 model year.

What all this means to me is that I still haven’t found a car—or been able to afford one—to replace the Mercedes Benz CLA 250 that I sold nearly four years ago. I’ve been driving the Subaru Crosstrek and VW Beetle convertible from Mary’s fleet of cars, with varying degrees of tolerance. Don’t like the Subie that much. The brand, while beloved by many, seems to have lost the funky edge it had when Mary and I bought the white ’82 Subaru GL  wagon (for around $10,000) pictured all those years ago. Now the Crosstrek is just a transportation module, more than a car.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($3.50), click here. And if you do, thank so very much.

With Labor Day coming up in just a few days, car show season is starting to wane. While Espresso & Exhaust in Parker, Colorado is a year-round, weather-or-not event, other show aren’t scheduled during the winter months. So before the snow starts to fall and people lock up their classic, collector and just plain interesting cars for the Winter I’m hoping to attend, at least, a few more shows that I can photograph with one of my film cameras. In fact, I am currently tracking a few nice used Nikon F4’s on eBay now that I am seriously considering purchasing. And would really like to shoot it or one of my Canon or Contax film SLRs at any remaining Cars & Coffee events or any car shows in general.

So I’m calling on all my wonderful blog reader to let me know if there are any car shows left this year that are within a reasonable driving distance of Parker, Colorado. Please click the CONTACT tab and let me know all the details. Thanks.

Races are not always run on bright sunny days, sometimes they race at night. Events such as the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, some races in the American LeMans Series and even local drag and oval track races include occasional night races.

Caption: This image of a racecar made during a night race at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca has an exposure of 1/80 sec at f/5.6 at ISO 800 and an on camera flash was used. In this case, I “dialed down” the Canon 550EX flash by minus one and one-third stops, reducing the impact of the flash.

One of the problems of using flash at a motorsports event is that if you’re not careful you will produce a static-looking image that looks like the car is parked on the track, instead of going fast. That’s why in addition to using flash, you’ll also want to pan the camera using the kind of techniques covered in my post “At the Track.” Sure, using panning and slow shutter speeds can produce a slightly blurry photograph but the car will look as if it’s in motion, not stationary.

How much flash you should use under these conditions is not just a matter of applying a formula and depends on many factors including ambient light, camera’s ISO setting, lens used as well, as the speed and reflectivity of the car itself. As in much of sports photography, experience will be your guide. Start by using the flash at full power and then lower the output after reviewing the results on your SLR’s preview screen. If you can adjust the flash output, use the flash’s diffuser panel (if it has one) to spread the light.

Caption: Why you would even want to make flash photographs of night races? This photograph was made during the night portion of the six-hour American LeMans Series race at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca. The cars use reflective decals and the additional combination of headlights, dark backgrounds, and flash produce drama. Exposure with a Canon EOS 50D and EF 75-300mm lens was 1/250 sec at f/4 and ISO 800 with an EX 550 flash.

Safety Tip: Shooting at any racetrack especially at night can be dangerous. You should only make photographs in designated areas and if you use flash make sure that you only fire it at the side of the racecar. Using flash when a car is coming directly toward you is not only foolish but places you and the driver in serious jeopardy. He or she has enough to do without being blinded by your flash.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($3.50), click here.

Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography with new copies are available from Amazon for $21.450 and used copies starting around six bucks.

There are always a one or two cars that we’ve owned during our automotive life that we really miss and, for reasons we can’t remember, sold. Today continues a series of posts about cars that I have loved and cars that I’ve owned. If you would like to write a post—it’s not difficult and I;ll help—about one of your favorite cars, please drop me a note using the Contact tab.

Today not many people remember the Arnolt-Bristol automoble, so here’s a brief history lesson: Stanley H. “Wacky” Arnolt was a Chicago industrialist,who imported  cars into the United States during the 1950s. Though sold as American cars, Arnolt’s cars were constructed with British mechanical underpinnings, Italian bodywork, and final assembly, sales and distribution in Warsaw, Indiana.

For the Arnolt Bristol, Arnolt purchased two hundred Bristol 404 chassis with the 1971 cc, six-cylinder 130 hp engines (licensed from BMW) from Bristol Cars Ltd in the UK. The Bristol chassis were sent to Carrozzeria Bertone where they received an aerodynamic body that with a hood designed to clear the car’s three single barrel Solex 32 carburetors.

To launch the car, Arnolt created a racing team for the 1955 Sebring 12-hour race and in their first attempt, the cars finished first, second and fourth in the Sports 2000 class. The following year they took second and third in class. In 1957 the team withdrew after driver Bob Goldich’s fatal accident. That accident and his friend’s death caused Arnolt to withdraw from racing.

Despite racing successes, the cars did not sell well and right now (maybe) only 85 of the 142 cars that were built are known, in conditions that vary from needing complete restoration to Concours quality. Some of the cars did not sell until after 1960, with the last car sold, fitted with four headlights, remained unsold until 1968. The car that I co-owned with a friend was one of the later cars and we gave it a eleven-month rolling restoration, painting it in the livery of the racing team. We had fun with it, exhibited it in shows and it always won some kind of prize, more often than not first place in the sports car category.

In 1970, the car in unrestored condition and missing such amenities as a windshield, top, grille and lots of other stuff cost us $395. I would have to add three more zeros to that number to be able to own one—in any condition—today.

UPDATE: Since I wrote this post, the vintage racer who owned the car for many years sold it to a gentlemen in the UK who contacted me and told me of his plans to restore the car. That never happened and he, in turn sold the car to another gentleman in Lichtenstein, who not only planned to restore it but sent to a Carosserie in Switzerland for a frame-off restoration. He later sent me some of the photos showing how the restoration was going and from what I could see, the car looks stunning. If I ever get photographs of the finished restoration, I’ll do another update.

In all of the many years that this website/blog has been on-line we have featured all kinds of different cars. To be fair, many of the automobiles appearing on the Our Cars, section have, at one time or another, belonged to Mary or I abut that is changing. We’ve featured the Ford Taunus that belonged to my friend Asher Pavel’s late mother and we’ve also featured the Mazda RX7 belonging to our Senior International Travel Correspondent, John Larsen. All this got me to thinking…

We want to expand the Our Cars feature to include YOUR car. And before you get to thinking that this is just for owners of Duesenbergs or Lamborghinis the answer is no. It could even be a Hillman Minx like our featured car today, All you have to do is take a peek the post about John Larsen’s RX7 and you’ll know what we are looking for; It’s an interesting car with an interesting story. The same is true for Asher’s mom’s Taunus. So yes you can be nostalgic too, maybe about a favorite car you no longer own except in your memories and some photographs.

I would like to feature your car in the same way. All you have to do is click on the Contact button and tell us about your car in a sentence or two. If you don’t have any pictures and depending on where; you;re located, we may be able  make arrangements to photograph the car and sit down and talk with you about it.

There is no charge for this; this is just a way of showing the kinds of cars that readers of this blog drive. There is one caveat and that is people living in Colorado will get photographed first. If you’re out-of-state, you have two options :

1. When I will be out-of-state, I’ll post a travel notice and make it easy for you to get in touch with me when I’m on the road.
2. If you have a good picture of your car and can write your story about the car, we’ll treat it as a guest post. But, check first (click Contact) for details on how many words to submit and image file sizes.

I’m looking forward to seeing your car featured here.