Car Photo of the Day: Galería de los Pícaros

This La Carrera Panamerica car was photographed on the Going to the Sun Rally a few years ago. One of those sort of shots I love to make over and over again because they just look… awesome.

This one is badly lit we were northbound mid-morning, so the sun was in the wrong spot. It is also just a bit off to the left side of the frame, losing just enough of the car off the right side to annoy the hell out of me. Still, it is a wild looking car, and the image has a sort of je ne sais quoi quality to it… let’s call it “roguish.”

Making these sorts of photos involves setting up a camera for mid-fast shooting (fast enough to keep the car sharp, slow enough to blur the background just a bit), then holding the camera as low as I dare, with an outstretched arm, out the open passenger door of the E-type. I hold down the shutter and fire four frames per-second or so and pan the camera to (hopefully) keep the subject car in-frame as my driver blows by in a roar of hot metal and burning hydrocarbons. One of these days I’m going to lose a camera, or maybe finger.

It will be for me like van Gogh’s ear; a willing sacrifice for my art.

For all you car-spotters: recognize the rig?

6 thoughts on “Car Photo of the Day: Galería de los Pícaros”

  1. I’m going to make a rig for my Nikon so I can get it close to the pavement and I can trigger it with the remote. Thereby reducing the chance of losing a limb or worse. Still will be pretty dangerous for the camera.

  2. Yeah, it’s a heavy beast. I have been looking for a nice small camera with a wide lens for the times I don’t feel like lugging my Nikon around. However, I think I just blew the camera fund on new tires for the TR6

  3. I’m fairly certain that’s a Henry J.

    These pics with the low angle are beautiful, but you should invest in some gloves when getting your fingers so close to the road.

  4. Bill C, you are correct. This is no “ordinary” Henry J (though, in some ways there are no ordinary Henry J’s!) as it has a souped up flathead Hudson six powering it!

    As for my fingers, i’m unlikely to really lose any. I have a healthy sense of self-preservation, which extends to my digits. 😉

    Mark, one of the HUGE (pardon the pun) advantages of my commitment to the Micro Four Thirds format is that it is very easy to have a “pocket camera” that can use any of my DSLR lenses! Here, check this out.

    Eventually, I hope to find a nice, compact M4/3 camera that is also compatible with Boinx’s iStopMotion software so I can reuse my lenses for timelapse work as well. I’d be in hog heaven.

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