Behind the Shot / Story / Scenes

Every photograph, story and scene has a story and adventure behind it. This is where I will share some of those stories. Enjoy!

Hot Rod Magazine – The McGee Roadster – 75th Anniversary Cover Story – October 2023

Tim Scott – Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024

It was a beautiful Southern California day in May of 2023. I had to make a point of reminding myself that I was standing in the same historic place with the same historic hot rod where a photograph was taken 75 years earlier by one Pete Petersen that would become the cover of the October issue of HOT ROD magazine – and just how special that was. I had pitched the idea of recreating the original cover from that legendary issue to HOT ROD magazine, The Petersen Automotive Museum, and their PR firm, Kahn Media, months earlier – and now I had to deliver.

Scouting the original location at USC for the cover shoot. Both location and time of day were needed to match the original shot as closely as possible

I knew that I could make this shot. I had scouted the location twice to plan the time of day, exact location and to make sure I was 110% prepared. It had taken months of planning and hoop-jumping to get everything ready and legal so that I could make this photograph. As this was originally shot on the campus of The University of Southern California (USC) in the city of Los Angeles there were permits, permissions and insurance requirements galore that had to happen before any of this was even possible. Additionally, the McGee Roadster had to come from The Petersen Automotive Museum, and I had asked Bruce Meyer to fill the role of Bob McGee and drive the car for this new shot.

The location and angle of the original shot could not be matched exactly as the landscape and distance of the foreground had changed over the past 75 years.

Now that all those ducks were in a row it was time to figure out how to make this shot. It was originally shot on black and white film in 1948 which is what I usually shoot. But for this shot it made more sense for the story for the new shot to be in color as we’re telling the story of the roadster in 2023, so color it is. I also did not want to use any digital manipulation to recreate the shot. The original shot has a bit of motion blur in the background as Bob McGee drove past – meaning that the shutter speed of the camera was slow enough to allow this to happen as Pete Petersen “panned” the camera lens as the car drove by.

I shot both film and digital so that I could make sure to get what I wanted and need to capture

There is no exact science to getting blur right but here is how I went about it for this shot. First, I had to find the right perspective for the specific camera and lens that I was shooting with that day. Then I had to figure out exactly where I car would be in the frame to match, as closely as possible, the original position in the 1948 shot. For you photo nerds out there I shot this fully manual so that I had full control of focus, aperture, and shutter speed. We marked with removable tape on the ground where the car should be in the final shot so that we had a reference point and we set the car here and I manually focused on the car in this spot. We then shot some test shots and had David from The Petersen Automotive Museum drive the car by the focus spot time and time again until I could determine exactly what speed the car should be travelling to achieve the blur that was seen in the original shot. As I mentioned earlier, this is controlled by the shutter speed (how long the film or sensor is exposed to light) and how fast the camera is panning (moving from one side to the other to keep the subject in the same position of the frame). It is a bit difficult to explain but I have to move the camera at the precise speed of the subject sharp to allow the background to blur. There is a lot of practice and no small amount of luck to get this exactly right, but it feels really great when you do!

When Bruce Meyer arrived, who was rightfully sitting in for Bob McGee, we were ready to go. The time and the light was right and everything was just as planned. We gave him the directions of how fast to drive, the exact line to drive (only about 250 feet total) and how Bob McGee was sitting in the original photograph. Go time. Bruce drove by again and again as I shot a photograph as close as possible to where he needed to be in the frame to match the original. I’m guessing that this happened maybe 7-10 times before I really felt that I had the shot.

I am beyond proud and honored and so very thankful to have been able to be a part of this. This photograph is now part of history. It is on the October 2023 cover of HOT ROD magazine exactly 75 years after the original cover – and I am proud as hell.

When you get mentions by not one, but two of the editors of the historic Hot Rod Magazine it’s a good day indeed.

Thank you’s!!!

To John McGann and HOT ROD magazine for allowing me this opportunity (and being an absolute pleasure to work with).
To Bruce Meyer and The Petersen Automotive Museum (Lincoln and David) for the time and effort to make this happen.
To Tony Thacker for the amazing knowledge, insights and details and writing help.
To Kahn Media (Diana, Nikki and Dan) for the ideas and to help navigate the hurdles of making this happen.
To the USC Campus Filming Office (Reise and Torie) for their help in coordinating everything and being great to work with.
To Daniel for assisting at the shoot. I couldn’t have done this without you.