Lake Mirror Classic part 3

Last Friday was the opening night of this year's Classic. I didn’t get over there until around 7:00pm when most of my shooting light was almost gone for the day. I thought I would at least check out what cars were already on display, but I didn’t expect to capture much.

It wasn’t long until I came upon this yellow Ford GT. In between people surrounding it for photos and such, and as the light was bidding farewell, I grabbed this image. I set my camera on “shutter priority” mode and adjusted it to the lowest setting I knew that I could still handhold it on for a steady image. The built in “Vibration Reduction” of my Nikon allowed me to handhold the camera with a ¼ of a second shutter speed and still capture a relatively sharp image.

My viewing monitor flips out and pivots up or down which allows me to capture the creative angles many of you have been wondering about.

Lake Mirror Classic

This weekend was the Lake Mirror Classic here in Lakeland. Me and my friend Ebenezer attended on Saturday, to drool over all the amazing autos that would be on display in the closed off streets and around the lake.

We first met up for breakfast at Denny’s around 9:00am to seize the day with a good meal. We then ventured down town to the show of dream machines. Since a lot of streets were closed and so many people were in attendance for this, it was a challenge to find a place to park. No matter what, we knew we’d be doing a lot of walking. After driving around for a few minutes with Ebenezer following behind me, we finally found an empty parking lot a few blocks from the event.

It was now time to begin our quest to behold the beauties of transportation. Soon we we’re gazing upon a Saleen S7 and talking to a few owners of Dodge Vipers. They bragged of how the car would handle at 170. We later gawked at a yellow Ford GT racing car and admired a new Bentley Continental GT. It was very hot outside that day, so we were soon looking for some ice cold aqua! We found some and downed them in no time! Later, we looked at some Ferrari’s. Eb referred to the rear engine on one that you could view through glass as a “sleeping beast”.

By this time, the sun was directly over head. Not only did it feel like it was melting me, but even worse, it did not lend to good photographs. One of the redeeming qualities though, is that with this much sun, you can set the aperture to it’s smallest setting and obtain long depths of field (lots of things in focus). In cases like this, getting a sharp image, is not going to be one of your problems. Some of the challenges I did have though, was getting too much glare or catching people’s reflections in the paint finishes. That’s one of the reasons I like shooting “personality” shots of vehicles at shows, because of how difficult it is to get a complete view of the car without showing other people in the shot.

As we were getting ready to leave the lake area, I spotted this vintage Porsche racing car. It’s almost paint less body with the number 32 on the hood stuck out to me. For some reason, it’s one of my favorite images I captured that day. My younger cousin Bradley saw this image and said it looked like a type of shark.

The Magician

That’s what I’ve always called this shot. Ebenezer looks like a magician who’s reaching out to turn you into a rabbit. I could see the poster headline now. “Come be Dazzled and Amazed at Sites You Have Never Beheld!”

Eb has become one of my good friends over the past year and a half. He’s a fellow Bachelor, so often times we’ll grab a bite to eat together, sometimes taco bell, sometimes Pizza, sometimes who knows what else. Yes, we are definitely Bachelors as you can tell by our wonderful cuisine. We also usually take in a cool DVD. Of course this is all when he’s not spending time with his girl, Alexis.


...On a side note, check out a fun interview I did for "Luce" of the "HomeSchoolNerd" Blog.

Petrie

I took this photo of my friend Patricia about three years ago. A lot has changed for her since then. She is now a wife to my friend Jonathan and a Mom to a very cute little baby boy named Josiah.

Patricia’s nick name from college was “Petrie” (pronounced peetrie). Named after the little pterodactyl from “The Land Before Time” animated movie series. Patricia played basketball for Southeastern University and because of her petite size, she acquired the nick name.

For this photo, I was standing on a bench and had Patricia sit in the grass behind it.

Man of Mystery

From age 15 to 19, my best friend was Todd. We shared a lot of the growing pains of becoming men. We mainly shared laughter, which I often thought of as the foundation of our friendship, that and God. Me and Todd were always laughing at inside jokes or creating new ones.

I’m glad I had a friend like that to help get me through those, sometimes tough and awkward, teen years. Since then, life has taken us in different directions. I was blessed though to be the Best Man in his wedding in November of 2004. I got the call and flew up to Pennsylvania to be a part of his historical day. He now has two children, a boy and a girl.

One thing about it, Since our teens, Todd has become difficult to get in touch with. That’s why the title of this post is not only appropriate for the image, but also for him.

I captured this image in the middle of 1998. We were at my parents house. Back then, they had not built a deck yet, it was just one big drop off the back of their house. I seen Todd sitting down there with that hat on and saw “an image”. This is one of the early glimpses of my “eye” for photography.

A photo that I took a few years later reminds me of this image. It’s one of my friend Patricia that I took during a game of chess. Because of the positioning of her head, you can not see her face. I link the two images because they are both of people who have been good friends to me in my life. The image does not completely reveal their identity, but I know who they are.

I could tell you so many stories involving Todd. I’m glad he’s been a part of my history.

Three Nails

This image was captured during a hike I took with my close friends, David and Michele, in the Ocala National Forest here in Florida. This hike was a return visit to the Florida forest for me and Dave, but a first time experience for Michele.

The first time me and David took this six hour hike was during a very humid time of year. I remember Dave telling me to bring lots of water to drink and some snacks to eat. So, I brought a few fruit bars and a couple bottles of water. When we began our adventure early in the morning, the day was fresh and exciting as we trudged through the sandy terrain. Once in a while we would come upon a Banana Spider’s web draped across the walking path. Sometimes you wouldn’t know it was there until it was right in front of you. Weirdly, that was pretty much the only wildlife we saw in this particular forest.

By late morning, we found a hilly area off the beaten path that we decided to explore. I remember waiting quietly up on a hill with David as horse back riders passed by unaware of our presence. For a moment we imagined what it must have been like to be Native Americans getting ready to ambush passing by settlers. Of course there was no “ambushing” going on this day.

On the other side of this hill was a steep drop off and then another series of hilly terrain. Me and Dave took turns sliding down and jumping across to the adjacent embankment. Even though I’d been drinking lots of water and eating a few of the fruit bars that I had brought along, I had been sweating all morning and was beginning to lack proper amounts of sugar and salt in my body. Unbeknownst to me, dehydration was coming upon me. Pretty soon I began to feel noshes. The rest of the hike became a major challenge to me. David let me have some Gatorade, which I should have brought instead of water. He also gave me an energy bar, which I should have brought instead of those fruit bars. I finally made it out of there, and the challenge only added to the adventure and memories of that day.

The next time we went, it wasn’t any where near as hot. This hike was more pleasant and Michele came along with us.

The image above is of a cross that David wears all the time. I like this image because it shows an object that normally doesn’t get to be viewed in such detail. I also like how David just happened to be wearing red that day which can represent the blood that Christ shed on the cross for you and me.

Check out David’s illustration Blog, “Cartoon Ninja”!

The Deer Hunter

During a visit with my parents in Pennsylvania during 2005, me and my step Dad whom I call Dad, went for a walk one evening. He was taking a plastic chair to place in a tree stand that he uses for deer hunting. I had taken my camera hoping to capture something cool. As we walked through the woods up on a ridge, we stumbled upon a deer skull that was a remnant from one of the deer my Dad had harvested the year before. As the sun was beginning to set, I seized the opportunity to capture this unique image.

I never really had a person to call “Dad” growing up, because of my parents marriage dissipating before I was one year old. I never lacked anything though, because my Grandparents helped my Mom raise me. I had a very good childhood as a result. My Mom finally found my Dad when I was 15 years old and they have been married for 12 years now. As I’ve aged into adulthood, I’ve seen how my Dad has taken good care of my Mom and this makes me glad. They both have been through divorce and I’m very happy they have each other.

Recently I was listening to some people complain about marriage. As I listened to these jaded individuals, I had to think of how there are plusses and minuses to everything in life. There are many things in life that are wonderful, but also have their own challenges just the same. There are challenges to being single and as I’ve observed in others lives, there are challenges to being married.

Another thought that came to my mind as I listened to these individual’s discontentment, was that no matter what circumstances we live in, we need Christ to truly bring life to it. It is through Him that anything is truly good. We could have anything in this world, but if we don’t have Christ, we won’t have true life or joy. This is why I can be happy in my singleness and it’s also why I will have an amazing marriage some day! It’s through my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Check out my Dad’s Blog, he’s the one and only "Salty".

Ms. Nash

Classic car hood ornaments intrigue me. They were such works of art that celebrated the automobile and the driving experience. While at the 2005 Lake Mirror Classic, I stumbled upon this lovely lady on the hood of a 1955 Nash. I don’t think I had ever seen a Nash before or at least one of this year. I actually didn’t even get the name of the car that day. I wanted to find out what make it was for this post, so I googled classic car hood ornaments. One of the sites that came up had one of these ladies within their front page graphics, “Bingo”.

I thought it was cool how this young maiden of chrome is posed in a very relaxed way as though lounging in a pool or just effortlessly gliding through the air. I also like how her pony tail is blowing in the wind. I’m sure she could tell a lot of stories... that is if chrome hood ornaments could talk!

I know I’ve been posting a lot of car photography lately, but that’s where my inspiration seems to be right now. I have to go with where my inspiration is.