Welcome to my classic car and hot rod galleries, a “blast from the past” where you can see rolling Rembrandts on display and relive the "happy days." Since I’m a car guy, and I like antiques, among other things, vintage cars are right up my alley. My friends and acquaintances often ask me why do I take so many photos, and what do I do with them? My answer is, “I don’t do much of anything with them. I take pics for my own edification.” Besides, it’s not that big of deal carrying around a camera, so why walk around empty-handed. Not to mention that it is fun to be able to go back in time and visit again a day when I attended a fun cruisin’ or show ’n shine with “cherry” classics and bitchin’ hot rods, especially in the hot Sonoran Desert where it can easily top 115° F on a summer day. Moreover, since creating this classic gallery, I’ve realized that may people from around the world enjoy seeing automobiles that they otherwise may never see. And that includes me, too.

Most of these photos were taken at weekly cruise-ins, show ’n shines and annual shows in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun, primarily Scottsdale and other East Valley venues.

I typically shoot handheld, ambient-light pics because I prefer to stay nimble and not lug around a tripod. Since I shoot handheld and car shows are often during the twilight hours in the hot Arizona desert, I mostly use a Canon 24-105mm f/4L Image Stabilized zoom lens instead of a faster prime because this IS lens gives me about three stops of light over a non-stabilized alternative, not to mention it offers the flexibility of a zoom. Although I lose some creativity, shots with shallow depth of field and creamy background blur, in the end I get more captures using an IS lens --- and without the nicks and cuts of schlepping a tripod. Occasionally, I’ll shoot with one of my point-and-shoots, a Canon A620 or S500, instead of a Canon 20D or 5D dSLR. Additionally, a few pics from Canon A1 and AE-1 35mm film cameras may be sprinkled among these galleries, too.

With the ever-changing setting sun and accompanying deep shadows, white balance (WB) settings can be tricky during twilight shooting. I usually shoot Sunny WB on a sunny day and Cloudy WB at twilight. Shooting under mercury vapor and high-pressure sodium vapor lamps typically found in parking lots wreck havoc on white balance and often require a custom white balance setting. Under these circumstances, I’ll either use an ExpoDisc for setting a custom white balance or shoot RAW with Auto WB. Most of my “Rods” galleries were shot in jpg. I normally shoot vehicles in RAW only when someone asks me to shoot their ride or sometimes at night under difficult parking lot vapor-type lighting.

Shooting cars or motorcycles during the day under the harsh Arizona sun normally requires using -1/3 or -2/3 stop of exposure compensation (EC) and sometimes even -1 stop with the Canon 20D to avoid blowing out highlights --- usually the sky or crowns of fenders. Nevertheless, with the constantly changing activities at a car show, it is still easy to forget resetting EC and blowout a shot or two. A gradient or circular polarizer filter would definitely help, and I have both, but I don’t care to fuss with filters at casual car shoots. After all, I’m a car guy and like to enjoy the rods, too.

Sometimes I will only shoot one image of a vehicle, while other times I will take a sequence of pics representing a pithy photo essay, which provides some ambiance and context to what I was actually experiencing. I seldom stay more than an hour or so when shooting a cruise-in, typically shooting the cars and bikes before going out for an evening of fun.

Anyway, I’ve picked some of my fave photos so you can checkout your cherished Deuce Coupe, Street Rod, Muscle Car, Custom or Tri-Five, firsthand. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the following galleries of nostalgic hot rods and classic cars from a time past --- a time of innocence in America.

See the USA in a ......


P.S. These classic car galleries are under development. I have scads of photos and am making frequent updates, so please stop back.