Not always where you expect to find then.
Mostly I have found that sensuous curves predominate in women, often beautifully clad in couture designs.
Sometimes, however, steel and chrome come close.
A splendid day!
The height of any gear head’s year has to be the paddock for the Historic car races at Laguna Seca in mid-August.
This year I went with my technique perfected and confidence high. I had my backdrop rolled up on a long PVC pipe and was thoroughly comfortable with the use of Helicon Focus to confer massive depth of field where there otherwise is none. Gear was my standard close-up outfit. Canon 5D, Canon 100mm EF Macro, a ring flash and a monopod. While a tripod is best when stitching of multiple images is called for, I already had enough to carry, so made do with just a monopod and a QR plate on the ball and socket head. It seems to have worked out well. Willing – if somewhat surprised – bystanders were put to work holding the backdrop, where needed, and all in all it was a ton of fun. Aperture was f/5.6 throughout, the Macro’s sweet spot, with ISO set at 250 – grainless with the 5D’s outstanding full frame sensor.
Clearing out last year’s snaps from the garage a few months back, a friend asked for the one of the MG bonnet as he knew the owner. Imagine then my surprise, as I was making my way through the paddock, to see my picture next to the car portrayed – Jim Weissenborn’s 1959 Byers-Special MGA – one of the prettiest cars there.
Here’s the original:
Remembrance of times past.
In the Mission district of San Francisco. G1, 14mm, 1/500, f/7.1, ISO 100
You can read more about the great documentary photographer Eugène Atget here, though in fairness I should add that describing Atget as a ‘documentary photographer’ is about as accurate as saying that Cartier-Bresson was a snapshotter.
Detail in the overcast sky was recovered using the technique described here. The obligatory corner vignetting, which takes the G1’s wonderful kit lens and makes it resemble the Coke bottle your great-grandfather and Atget shared, was conferred using Lightroom’s Post-Crop Vignette function. Finally, a touch of the graduated filer with underexposure was used to fade the top part of the picture. Atget probably had it easier!
You never know what you will find.
I can never resist alleyways in big cities, and am often surprised with something special like these, spotted in San Francisco’s Mission district the other day.
Viva Italia!
This site is completely non-commercial. I only mention what I like and, when it comes to hardware, mostly use. But it would be churlish to deny one of the classic motorbike shops in America its due. That store, Munroe Motors on Valencia Street in San Francisco, has been around for over fifty years which says all you need to know. Actually, there’s just one more thing, as Inspector Columbo might say.
Is it the cavernous interior, the near total lack of lighting or the whispered tones of the worshippers inside, or is it simply the overpowering and glorious smell of oil and grease as you enter?
You see, Munroe Motors sells and repairs Ducatis. A Ducati is to motorcycles what a Ferrrari is to cars and Sophia Loren is to women. No more need be said.
My ride is a tad more staid, but in keeping with my modest skills.
BUGR indeed!