Willis Johnson

All posts tagged Willis Johnson

Friday ~ August 12, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on August 12, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

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Happy Friday!

I have three images for you today of a 1966 yellow Corvette.  One of my all time favorite cars.  When I was 19 years old my Uncle owned 50% of the Chevrolet dealership in Bethany, Missouri.  I could have bought a 1966 Corvette convertible for $3,600.00.  Instead I opted for a solid black 1966, SS 396/375 Chevelle that would burn through back tires faster than the increase in the National Debt.  🙂

I paid $3,100.00 for the SS 396 so only $500 more for the Corvette.  😦

I’ve often regretted not going for the Corvette (which by the way my Uncle thought I was crazy for not doing) but I wanted pure speed.  The Corvette only had a 327 engine and that didn’t have the horse power I wanted.  Hey, I was 19 and stupid.

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This particular Corvette is part of the Willis Johnson collection and kept in heated / air-conditioned garage.  He has about 40 Corvettes of all different years and looks.  He has the first year model Corvette up to the latest production model.  Even though the garage is air-conditioned they had the doors open for us and so the heat and humidity took over very quickly.

I was already dripping wet from heat in the big garage so I didn’t do much shooting at the Corvette garage.  When I found this ’66 I had to take some shots. 🙂

It is extremely difficult to take quality images of vehicles or any highly reflective subject with so many overhead fluorescent lights.

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I am about at the end of my Nashville images.  Perhaps a few more but I’ve pretty much gone through them.  I appreciate all the comments about the trip and the images I’ve shown.  It was truly a great experience.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Thursday ~ August 04, 2016

Posted by Dave Updegraff on August 4, 2016
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , , .

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Happy Thursday!

I have some images from the Willis Johnson private car collection to share with you today.  Images cannot accurately convey the awe of this place.  Row after row of shinning, spotless, vintage cars lined up side by side and only a very few people will ever get to see them.  Amazing!  Remember you can click on the images to reveal a larger more detailed image.

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This building is not air-conditioned and even though it rained a good deal of the time that we were there it was extremely hot and humid inside the building.  There are large fans attached to the roof and they do help move the air around a bit but it was sweat city the entire time we were there.  So you would set up your shot, wipe your brow, compose, wipe, shoot, wipe, etc.  🙂

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I have said earlier that I’m not really into old cars.  They are fun to photograph and I’ve done a fair amount of them over the years.  I’ve even taken lessons from Tim Wallace (well-known automobile photographer) on the best techniques for photographing automobiles.  These were difficult shooting conditions irrespective of the heat and humidity.  The multitude of fluorescent lights above the cars made getting a really good shot almost impossible.

I wasn’t happy with my results I was getting so I decided to shoot these images in HDR (High Dynamic Range) and feel like it gave me better results.

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Halfway through the shoot Joe McNally gave some tips on how to shoot an individual next to the cars.  The gentleman at the far left of the image (manager of the garage) was Joe’s subject and he took several images of him standing in an Austin Martin.  It was a great lesson.

That’s it for today.  Supposed to be hot and humid today in our part of the world.  Fortunately I’ll be inside where it will be cooler.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day.  Be careful and stay cool.