WHERE TO GO IN JULY/AUGUST?

If you happen to live in a climate that gets a bit too hot in the summer months, perhaps Europe is a destination for you. Weather is ideal for vacationing and photography, and if you like automobile racing the Formula 1 calendar is just getting started over there. The Great Britain Grand Prix is this weekend, followed by Germany, Hungary, Belgium, and Italy. Ciao! Continue reading “”

SUMMER’S HERE!

There are two things that car photographers love about summer in the PNW: track days and car shows. I was fortunate enough to be at each of these this past weekend. During a break in my assignment schedule, I taught at a PCA drivers education event and photographed a local classic hot rod display. Think I’ll try to make it to the Redmond meet to see more Ferraris and maybe find another Buick “Godess” hood ornament. Continue reading “”

TLG AUTO

It’s good to be home after a busy May. A California road trip in my 1972 911 with friends was a great adventure. The early 911 Porsche club, R Gruppe, held a fantastic gathering near the central coast where some of the best driving is. Marco and Tony Gerace of TLG Auto in North Hollywood were there to help me get to a track day at Willow Springs when my car developed a small transmission leak. Those guys are the best. Look for my feature on Tony and his car soon in Excellence Magazine! Continue reading “”

THE LATEST DEVALUATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The Chicago Sun-Times fired all 28 of its photographers on Thursday. Yup, 500 years of experience, including a Pulitzer Prize winner, were expunged from the newspaper in one day. The corporation is now reportedly offering lessons in basic iPhone photography to its reporters.

This is the latest blow to the arts in this country and another sign of the continued cheapening and dumbing down of photography. Like many, I’ve learned to accept cataclysmic change in my profession, to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, and to try and grow from it. Continue reading “”

LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD

Exhausted, George Harrison entered 1973 on the heels of The Concert for Bangladesh, the first multi-artist fundraiser in Rock. It turned out to be less of the charitable event than he had hoped for, even with multi-million dollar sales from the subsequent film and album. Continue reading “”

THE RUBBER BUMPER 911 BOUNCES BACK

Congrats to Nathan Cocozza and his 1974 U.S. Carrera for their feature in this months Panorama Porsche magazine. It was fun to write about and photograph this rubber bumpered “mid-year” 911. (Yes, it’s Olive colored in the original photos).

Despite long held beliefs to the contrary, the 1974 Carrera can almost be seen as a separate model. It’s a unique transition between the ‘73 and ‘75 types and is no longer underappreciated. Today it’s considered not only desirable to own but also a lot of fun to drive. Continue reading “”

EXILE ON MAIN STREET

Here’s an album released by The Rolling Stones 42 years ago that still has people talking…

In the spring of 1971 the Rolling Stones left Britain evading taxes. Mick Jagger settled in Paris, and guitarist Keith Richards rented a villa near Nice, France. The other members followed, along with the band’s mobile recording truck (and some unknown substances). They chose Richard’s chateau basement to record this double album that summer, widely regarded as the group’s best release. Continue reading “”

PHOTOGRAPHY – A LOOK BACK

I posted these tips on a forum recently. Hope they help:

I started shooting with a Kodak Brownie camera as a kid, won an award from Kodak when I was 12, hitchhiked around SF in the summer of ’68 for two weeks as a teenager with a Canonet, then put away the camera for eight years during pre-med and graduate school.

Eventually I bought a Canon AE-1 in 1976. After learning B&W, I graduated to Kodachrome 25 and a Canon F-1, which was used religiously for the next five years. Then moved to Leica and Leicaflex, Hasselblad, and Pentax 6×7 for another fifteen years. Now I primarily use a three Canon digital SLRs and various lenses from 14mm to 500mm for assignments and a Leica M9 rangefinder for personal work. Continue reading “”

OUT OF AFRICA

100 years ago Karen Blixen asked her lover’s brother to marry her and travel from Denmark to Kenya to start a farm. Seventy years later Sydney Pollack made a film about the story starring Robert Redford (who played Denys George Finch Hatton) and Merryl Streep (who played Baroness Karen Blixen).

Critic Roger Ebert described the resulting 1985 Acadamy award-winning film this way, “Out of Africa is a great movie to look at, breathtakingly filmed on location. It is a movie with the courage to be about complex, sweeping emotions, and to use the star power of its actors without apology.” I agree. Continue reading “”

HURLEY HAYWOOD REUNITES WITH HIS 1973 SEBRING WINNING PORSCHE 911 RSR

Hurley Haywood is reunited with his ’73 Porsche RSR on the 40th Anniversary of his first 12 Hours of Sebring win. Haywood, considered the world’s most successful endurance driver, discusses what makes this race so special, his back-to-back endurance wins at Daytona and Sebring, and what a difference forty years can make to the racing scene. Continue reading “”

FEAST OF FRIENDS

I’m lucky to have Bob Tilton as a friend, along with all my other early Porsche chums. Here’s a photo he posted recently from the 2011 Rennsport Reunion IV in Monterey. Bob was there making some amazing images, and happened to choose me as a subject. For more on his photgraphy and lfe experiences, please see his WerkCrew blog, plus a cool video with a couple of Tilton blog images: Continue reading “”

LUCKY TO BE ALIVE

Yesterday it was raining hard (yes, I live near Seattle). My wife and I were traveling to the city to see our accountant. While driving at 60+ mph on a rural highway in a VW Jetta, a deer came out of nowhere and was suddenly looking at me a few inches away from my driver’s side window. He was trying to avoid me with his head jerked back. I responded by swerving the car. Together we narrowly averted catastrophe. Continue reading “”