I am a big fan of going to car shows, but they are always a challenge to photograph due to how close cars are parked together, and of course people walking all around them. For that reason, I usually bring a 50mm lens and focus on getting detail shots. This time, I decided to bring my new Sony 24mm f/1.4 G Master lens so I could still get wide shots, but also shallow depth of field to make the busy car show background start to disappear. Like everything I have used this lens for, I really liked the results. The Park in the Park Car Show in Rio Rancho was celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 300 cars, all of which had to be 35 years or older, which is just fine with me as anything newer than that is not classic in mind.
This rat rod style hot rod at a small car show in Rio Rancho caught my eye for where it was parked, as well as how it looked. I cannot say I had ever seen a parking space marked "SENIOR ADULT" before. Does that mean there must be a junior adult or a senior child space somewhere in the world? This hot rod was about as ratty as they can come, and I mean no offense by that! It looked awesome and make me think I needed a tetanus shot just for standing next to it!
Those that know me, know that I love cars, well, special cars. Not all have to be as special as my beloved Aston Martin Vanquish (some day!), but even just the ability to go anywhere, do anything is enough. Getting serious speed in a car is not that affordable, especially for newer models. However, getting serious offroad ability is. When I traded in my faithful and much loved Mazda3 sedan in March for the Jeep Renegade Trailhawk you see here, I was giving up great, affordable on road driving dynamics for the ability to drive offroad anywhere a stock vehicle could.
Going to a car show for the first time, you never really know what to expect with regard to how many cars, how cool of cars, and even what kinds of cars. I was pleasantly surprised by a recent small car show I went to in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. A good number of classic cars many of which had very interesting interiors. With my new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro SP lens on my Nikon D750 exclusively while at this car show, I decided to make the theme of my shots the cool classic car interiors, with a few detail shots here and there. Check out the sense of humor of a 1966 Mustang owner with what passes for an "airbag" in his classic car!
