Greetings, Fellow Enthusiasts —
I've always enjoyed looking at cars.
And photographing them.
Especially those ever-so-shiny, polished ones — with wonderful curves.
Over the years, I've shot a great many favorites.
And I tried to find them, outdoors or in, as if lit in a studio.
I was after the kind of light that was even overall, and forgiving, exposure-wise.
A day with a high, bright overcast would be perfect for what I was after — back then.
But as time went on, l came to appreciate a car reflecting its setting.
That is, its perfectly smooth surfaces would show its surroundings — perhaps palm trees, or a canopy of branches overhead, billowing clouds or dramatic windows.
Or architectural elements, mirrored in gorgeous sheet metal, creating a Dali-esque effect.
And I saw that even the atmosphere of a place could be reflected, too, as seen in the surface of a racing car's hood, its color muted by low-lying fog in the early hours.
Or on bright panels, sparkling with morning mist.
Photographically, for me, these images that capture both the car and the place, with something of the setting seen in the car's surfaces, I call automontage.
Sometimes the effect is a subtle one, but I love seeing it in the world's wonderful cars.
I hope you will, too.
David Val Schlink
Accomplished commercial photographer and automotive enthusiast David
Val
Schlink, of Morris County, NJ, has had his career's work featured in
Fortune 500
corporate publications, as well as in NJ CEO, Design NJ, New Jersey
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