Back Road Automotive

Old cars and trucks can be found just about anywhere, and often don’t require a trek off the beaten path. Others are hid in undergrowth where they were parked or dragged after they were no longer considered a viable means of travel. Old junkyards, inside barns, and around abandoned farms are all prime locations. The most obvious place for a quick photo fix is a car show. There, one can find classic cars that look as good as the day they hit the showroom. The owners will proudly tell you all about them, and let you shoot pictures freely.

I like those found rusting in a field or old farm. These are often found on the back roads that I love to drive. There’s certainly not as many as there used to be. Many have been snatched up by collectors, while others have made their way to the recycler.

For me, the same rules apply for car photos as they do to old homes, churches, and the like. I like even lighting and cloudy days. I carry a couple of full-frame camera bodies, with zoom lenses ranging from 17mm to 300mm. This pretty well covers most automotive type photography that I expect I might be doing.

Old cars and trucks offer a lot of options: wide shots, close-ups, instrument clusters, engines and parts. Many car enthusiasts will know nuances of specific models and may want to focus on them. Some photographers choose to shoot automobiles almost exclusively, and become very good at it. I enjoy shooting them all. I think my favorites are those that are being driven on a regular basis.

I’ve owned a couple of old trucks and cars over the years that I wish I had taken pictures of, or better yet, still owned. Today, I make sure that I have a picture of the cars that I’m driving. They may never be classics, but at least I have pictures to show when someone in the future asks what my gas-guzzling SUV looked like.