Buick Beauty

I went to Old Town in Kissimmee, Florida for a few hours on Saturday night to photograph some of the Saturday Night Cruise. This is one of the few images I came away with.

Hood ornaments like this always catch my eye and usually make for a great photograph. Once I saw it, I then looked for a nice background to place behind it, which is when I decided to shoot the side that had this blue Pontiac in the background.

A Blue Ford Reverie

I just like the color, chrome and smooth lines in this image.

Whitewalls

Whitewalls within whitewalls and me. Photographed at Old Town in Kissimmee, Florida, in 2005.

'54 Belair

I believe this is either a '54 or '53 Chevy Belair. I just like the plane screamin' across the hood. Another archived treasure that I never posted before. Taken over five years ago.

Pinwheel Blur

Camera on tripod with 1.6 seconds on the shutter. Empty fair style ride doing it's thing at Old Town, over two years ago. Choppy, short sentences in this post.

Charger & "Mini Me"

I photographed this beast and it's "mini me" at Old Town in Kissimmee, Florida, two years ago.

Mercury Trunk Ornament

From deep in the archives, a vintage trunk ornament on a Mercury. The cool, Mercury dude is what drew me to take this image.

Jet Stream

I captured this image of a Chevy Belair’s hood ornament, two and a half years ago at Old Town’s “Saturday Night Cruise” in Kissimmee, Florida.

I gave this image (and the one in my previous post) as a gift to my friend, Bryan, as a house warming present a couple years ago when he was still a Bachelor. The framed prints are now featured in Bryan’s “Man Cave”, an area of his house that his wife, Autumn, has agreed to let him display these more “masculine” images.

This is actually the second time I’ve posted this image, but the first time that it’s gotten it’s own post. It was featured with a few more of my “Auto Art” images the first time.

Fly Me To The Moon

Another image from my Old Town archives. I had posted a different view of this car a while ago, in a post entitled, “Come Fly With Me”. That particular image is one of my most favorite ones that I’ve captured of a classic automobile and this one is not far behind it.

This is a classic Ford Victoria. I love the shade of teal that graces the body of this car and the way that the hood ornament jet plane, in all it’s chrome glory, looks as though it’s getting ready to fly strait out of the earth's atmosphere.

One of the times that I was photographing the front of this car, an older woman walked up to me and said proudly, that she had a car like this when she was younger.

So many memories seem to be tied in with the automobiles that share our lives.

Green Machine

Here’s an image from my archives, taken three years ago this month. One of the many images I’ve captured at the classic car show at “Old Town” in Kissimmee, Florida.

I had thought about posting this image about a year ago, but never did. I decided to tonight.

The Traveler

I wonder how many places she’s seen? How many times she’s been rained on? How many sunsets on the open road she’s taken in?

How many car shows has she been on display at? How long does she now have to sit in the garage each week?

I wonder.

Bel Air

Another image from my “Old Town” archives. A 1957 Chevy Bel Air this time, taken at the beginning of my “Auto Art” craze in 2004.

Growing up, I remember my Grandfather mentioning “’57 Chevys” on numerous occasions, I think he owned one “back in the day”, before this car was a “legend”. I think it’s safe to say that it’s one of his favorite cars of all time. I’ll have to ask him if that’s a true statement.

I remember a time a couple years back, probably seven years or more, before I began photographing these cars. Me and my Grandfather were checking out all these classics one Saturday night at Old Town. Pap knew a lot about these automobiles and was sharing all sorts of tidbits about them with me. It’s amazing how he could tell what year many of them were built in.

I love the tail fins. Just thought I’d “pop” the red tail light on this one.

Orange Camaro

The color and lines on this Chevy Camaro attracted me to it.

An Interview

One of my PhotoBlog friends, “Anna”, an American in London, has offered an “interview challenge”. She recently accepted it from someone and then offered it to anyone else who wanted to be interviewed by her. I immediately obliged. She said I could answer five or as many of the ones she asked that I wanted. I liked all the questions, so, I chose to answer all eight!

What are you most passionate about in your life?
Being creative. I can be “passionately creative” and “creatively passionate”. As I’ve said before, I just find that I’m most happy when I’m being creative. Creativity can show up in every area of life. Equal to this passion would be my faith in Christ.

Pick a song that best describes you.
This is difficult because I love music very much and have “many” songs that are like “theme songs” for me. I’ll just have to pick one. I would say, “I Owe It All” by Paul Colman. It’s really a song that describes my relationship with God and how I “owe it all”, everything in my life, to Him because He has given me every good thing in my life. As the bridge of the song says, “You always lift me when I fall, You always hear me when I call, and you forgive me, Lord, and in your grace I am found”.

In a quiet moment you get to yourself, what do you do?
In this season of my life, I have a lot of opportunities for “quiet moments”. Really, I always have. Once I step out of the work environment, I have the opportunity to go create a “quiet moment” if I like. I guess it’s a matter of when I choose to have a quiet moment. I would say a true moment like this would be when I read or pray.

What surprises you most about other people?
The amount of hate that some people can have.

Who has made the most impact on your life? Why?
That’s a very difficult question. So many people that I have known have shaped who I am in some way or another. I’m going to have to say my Grandparents and Parents. No matter what, they’ve always been there for me to fall back on.

Share one sure fire way to get to your heart?
Love, Hope, Beauty, and Adventure speak to my heart.

What is one thing you own that would be hard for you to give away?
My laptop computer.

Share something that you hope to do one day.
Share the beauty of the Grand Canyon or a walk on a sunset lit beach with someone I love. I would be taking in a little bit more of the greatness of God and experiencing “Love, Hope, Beauty, and Adventure” all in that moment.

If you are also interested in being interviewed, leave me a comment saying, "INTERVIEW ME." Then, I will respond by asking you at least five new questions. You will then post on your blog your answers to my questions. The fun continues when you include this explanation and an offer to interview one of your readers in your post. When they comment requesting to be interviewed, you will ask them at least five new questions of your own.

The image above, was captured at “Old Town” last Saturday night.

Lollypop Of Light

Here’s another image from Saturday night. It’s a ride that consists of a giant, spinning beam with a riding apparatus on each end. The beam is covered with lights which created this humongous, multicolored lollypop when it was photographed with an exposure of eight seconds. My aperture was set at F8 and virtual film speed was set to “50” to limit as much “noise” as possible.

I would have liked to have gotten the whole radius in frame, but I was up against a building just to get this perspective. The two multicolored beams behind the circle are a part of a “reverse bungee” riding attraction. I’ll probably be trying more shots with this subject the next time I go to Old Town.

Old Town, Kissimmee, Florida

Yesterday evening, I took the 30 minute drive to Kissimmee Florida. You’ve heard me talk about this place plenty of times in the past, but just incase you've missed those posts; “Old Town” is a tourist attraction with lots of “unique shops, restaurants and rides”. Every Saturday night, it hosts a classic car show called "The Saturday Night Cruise". The "Cruise" averages around 300 vehicles each week and is the largest "weekly show" in America. You’ve seen some of the best images I’ve captured there of those cars from previous visits. Last evening though, I came prepared with my tripod in tow, to do some long exposure shots of the Farris Wheel and swing ride located at the entrance of this attraction.

Above is one of my favorites of the night. I’ll be posting more images from this outing, so stay tuned.

Corvette Cockpit

At Old Town’s Saturday Night Cruise, you can look, but you can’t touch the beautiful automobiles that are on display there. I remember leaning over the side of a late 50’s model corvette, trying to capture the very cool gauge panel of this racing machine. As I was contorting, as to not “touch” the car, I felt the door to the convertible begin to open below me. I immediately thought that the owner wanted into his prize possession, and said to him, “Oh, I’m sorry”. He replied to me, “Why don’t you just get in, you look like your going to break your back trying to get that shot!”

So, feeling very privileged, I gladly stepped into the cockpit of this vintage racing machine and captured the image you see above.

The Chieftain

The hood ornament of a 1953 Pontiac Chieftain gleams as the rays from a Saturday afternoon sun shines through it. I had arrived at Old Town a little earlier than normal that Saturday and was able to utilize the bright sun on this classic automobile.

Come Fly with Me

Here’s one of my favorite images I’ve captured at Old Town‘s Saturday Night Cruise. I like getting shots that not many people think to get as they pass by these classic cars. Many just see the car as a whole, but for me, certain design characteristics jump out. Maybe it’s a fender, a head light, a hood ornament or an emblem. I love taking these design aspects and turning them into works of art. In this particular image, I wanted to give the feeling that this airplane was going to take to the skies and fly right off the hood of this classic Ford.

The “Cruise” is the largest “weekly” car show in America with an average turn out of 325 classic automobiles per Saturday night! The parking and admission is free and the inspiration is bountiful.

Hot Rod Dreams

Like a Pied Piper, a Hot Rod seems to lure people unto it. Isn’t it really the child inside of us that loves a cool looking ride? As I observed this young boy walking up to this beautiful machine, I wanted to capture the relationship between a cool car and a child. For it’s as a child that the love and appreciation for a great looking automobile begins. This rod seems to have it’s own unique personality as it sits there under the close observation and admiration of all who pass by it. “Come look at me” it beckons, and the boy responds.

I took this image almost two years ago during one of my Saturday night ventures into “Old Town” in Kissimmee Florida. I usually shoot a lot of up close “personality” shots of the classic cars, images that exclude the many people who view these vehicles every Saturday night. I had to capture this moment in more of an “environment” shot.

You can view more of my photos from Old Town in my June Archives under the “Auto Art” post. www.chadoneil.blogspot.com/2006/06/auto-art.html