Today’s Post by Joe Farace
One question that I often get via the Contact page (and your questions are always welcome there) is where do I find some of these car museums that I’ve featured here from time to time?
Let me start with a confession: I’m not a person who enjoys vacations so sometimes when Mary twists my arm or I join her on a business trip, I look for car museums or collections to visit. When we went to Las Vegas for our anniversary, I looked around and found the Shelby American Museum that gave free tours once a week and was (formerly) collocated with their factory. The Museum has since been moved to a separate location and from what I hear is slightly smaller but is still worth a visit.
I would have never been to the Unser Racing Museum or got to meet and talk with the late Al Unser, Sr. except for accompanying Mary on a business trip to Albuquerque.
Here’s what I do: I use Google to find car collections or museums that are located in the area where I will be traveling. After looking at their website, I contact them asking if they have any rules related to photographing their cars. I’m interested in learning if they have any rules, such as about using flash or tripods (never use’em in museums) or monopods (maybe sometimes.) Occasionally I get lucky and even collections that are only open for rental purposes or events, invite me to make an appointment to shoot photographs, as happened with a private collection in San Diego. And if you’re in San Diego, don’t miss the awesome San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park. So always ask for permission before popping int the door and always be polite.
Tips: To avoid crowds, I try to visit any museums or collections during the week and many times I am the only person there, so the staff is almost universally wonderfully open and friendly. At the (now closed) J&R’s Vintage Auto Museum, the owners invited me into their restoration shop and showed me some of the projects they have ongoing.
The point of all this is to do a little research, ask about visiting and go during the week and I expect that you will have a great time meeting some wonderful people and get to photograph some amazing cars.
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