I had been asked by my friend the late Ken Schmidt (I miss you my friend) to photograph their latest build for Dennis Varni which was revealed in January 2019 at the Grand National Roadster Show. Ken loved El Mirage and asked me to shoot the car on the dry lake–which was the plan up until it rained a few days before the shoot. Thank you, Mother Nature. My buddy Mike and I made a quick trip out to the areas around El Mirage to see if we could find an alternative to the dry lake that would look appropriate for this shoot. We found a couple of dirt roads just off the main roads that were facing the right way for the light direction that I was looking for. The main road into El Mirage also looked promising so that was added as a possibility. The day of the shoot came around and we travelled out to the locations that we had scouted previously.
As a photographer I am always trying to look and see things as I can make my camera lens see things. This is not a snapshot, but I am trying to carefully compose a photograph that takes your eyes to exactly what I want you to see and hopefully stirs some kind of emotional response. What do I include in the photograph? What do I crop out of the photograph? How can I position the subjects in the photograph so that the light shows off the best aspects of the subject? How do I do this as quickly as possible with people waiting? How can I do this shooting as few frames as possible (film is expensive!)? How do I measure the light accurately so that the parts that should be dark are dark–but not too dark? How do I measure the light so that the highlights are not blown out and featureless on the film? Everything is a negotiated compromise. I also must plan for what I can do in “the darkroom” or in post-production. Full disclosure: I do about 90% of my postproduction (dodging, burning, dust removal, etc.) digitally as I don’t have room at home for a full wet production studio. But my personal rule is that if it couldn’t be done as a traditional process in a wet darkroom then I won’t do it electronically. This is just a personal choice and makes me feel like I am crafting something I am more proud of that using other production methods.
My bottom line is that I shoot first and foremost for me and if I don’t feel some kind of emotion when I look at a photograph that I’ve made then I am not happy. Honestly, probably 90%+ of my work never makes it out to be seen. I annoy the sh!t out of myself with my perfectionist habits and likely fairly unrealistic self-standards but when I get something that I love it makes this all worthwhile. This shot made the cut.
Photographed on 4x5” film on a Graflex SLR
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On the outskirts of El Mirage, January 2019.