Time for a hotdog narrative people--I know, you have all been waiting patiently for me to bust out of my depression, take a firm grip of my life, and start snapping some real photographs (and stop my whining for Goodness Sakes!) and write about something you have absolutely no interest in. And today, Sweet Baby Jesus (sorry if I offend you--just channeling Ricky Bobby--and sorry if I offend because of the films I watch), I had an opportunity to do a photo walk in White, GA (that just sounds sooooo wrong) with my photo club at a place called "Old Car City," which has been there since 1931 and is family owned.
From their website: “Old Car City in White, Georgia contains the world’s largest known classic car junkyard. Visitors enjoy the beautiful vegetation of the deep south that is intertwined with the hundreds of cars that reside in Old Car City. Old Car City started as a Car Dealership in 1931 and is still family owned and operated. Come enjoy the Old South environment, folk art, ghosts of beautiful classic cars, and much more.”
Picture this: 34 acres, 6 miles of walking trails, over 3,000 “cars” (buses, trucks, vans, bikes, toys—I can’t say how much stuff was on this property). I’m a bit of a sucker for anything that is odd and part of an Americana theme. Well, this is definitely one of those places. I was there from 10 am to 3:45 pm. And I loaded up with everything: tripod, monopod (didn’t use), 2 kit lenses, my two fixed lenses, my macro clip, hand warmers (was freezing early in a.m.), water, and some other things—I decided to make a backpack into my camera bag, and I did use my tripod (LORD IS IT HEAVY) for the first three hours. After that, I decided I was only really going to use my regular kit lens with the macro clip to do some “hood ornaments.”
I have really lost some of my skills—I can say that honestly because I haven’t had time to really work with photography. I made myself do all manual, so lots of shots had to go. I came home with 265 shots and I’ve processed 30 so far, which means…yes, I’ll be cheating a good bit of the way to the end of this project using quite a few from this shoot. I don’t see myself having time—so second year, meh, I totally am fine with that!
I met some interesting characters (and it’s just occurring to me that I didn’t take one shot of a person) and the first one was “Rocky,” a guy in the parking lot who was looking at license plates to see where folks were coming from—I told him I lived in Roswell and he told me had done gutter work with (insert name) and wanted to know if I knew him—I lied and said “yes!” I could tell he was really friendly and that it was best to just go with everything. He pointed out the guy getting out of his truck at the restaurant across the street (I missed that too….ugh, will just have to go back) and he said, “that’s my buddy!” and then he yelled across the street and the big fella waved back—like it must happen every day. Rocky told me that if I needed anything on the trails that day to just holler for him or the owner—he said he would be there all day.
Entering the establishment means meeting the owner and his dad, the original owner. I never really saw folks from my club—I was a lone camera wolf most of the time—but I loved walking around solo. I would run into other photographers along the way, and some were really very forthcoming with some helpful info (I think the old, heavy Vivitar tripod gave away that I was in pretty unfamiliar territory)—and some folks were a little annoying with their unsolicited things like “Did you bring your camera manual with you?” My answer: “No, I sort of wing things.” His response: “I carry mine still to this day. I refuse to lead photography walks with people because they do not carry their manuals.” Hmmm, well, um, bye then…He was actually nice—I just found him finally very condescending after he made fun of the fact that I was loaded down with gear and taking a shot, at the end, with my phone. He clearly did not know the power of my phone camera (it has instant upload---duhhhhh!).
Anywho, I took my time. I used every lens. I realized in the end my favorite shots were actually handheld and macros or abstracts. My wide-angle (Bower) is reallllly hard to find the focus—long story, and my fixed lens is awesome when I can figure out the settings. My zoom was ok—chased a few birds unsuccessfully, and my kit + macro was great!
OHHHH, and I met a guy on site that was installing an engine in a black Barracuda (66) that had a GOLD interior. He told me lots of things about the muscle cars he buys for $100 and then does all the engine work himself (I thought about all my neighbors who have bought these beauties, but not for $100). I told him that he was very talented—he and I talked for about 20 minutes about all kinds of things I knew nothing about, but like with Rocky, I just said I did know! I’m a Southern gal in the end. Heck, I can talk about anything that I know nothing about.
And finally, right before I left, I went to the front office where I saw the eldest owner, and I knocked on his door. I told him I just wanted to thank him for such a wonderful place to enjoy the day. He asked me, “Have you been upstair?” I told him no, and he insisted I go up there. It was his art gallery! Folk art—my favorite kind. His specialty? Art on Styrofoam cups—beautiful designs—I mean just stunning. A whole upstairs of Styrofoam cup art! And other folk pieces, but it was like meeting Howard Finster or something. That would explain why he was talking to me with a paint brush in his hand. Nice guy. So glad I didn’t miss that tour. I’ll try to upload some shots I took with my phone when I went up there. Actually, just realize almost every shot going forward will be from this shoot! Ha!
By the end of the day, I was tired—bone tired, but I had a very scenic drive home (the leaves are golden, orange, red, purple, yellow). I had a great, great day on my own. I got in touch with my inner shutter button again. Hot Damn Dog! And it’s ok if you did not read this.
Great story and a lovely B&W shot too.