With the January halfway gone, I set up my first photo shoot with a good friend from the Cadillac Kings car club. He has a nice collection of top-notch Cadillacs, but this 1966 El Dorado is his current favorite. And once you see this car up close, you’ll see why. I only hope that these pictures capture the true beauty of this fine automobile.

Now I photograph cars all of the time, but generally they are all in a group setting. (at shows, BBQ’s and car club meetings).Shooting in these types of settings limits the angles that you can actually get since there are other vehicles parked in such close proximity of each other.

Shooting with a single vehicle gives me free reign of which angles that I can shoot from. It’s also quite a bit more difficult if you are only used to the standard car show angles. (front, 3/4 shot, rear, or any of these 3 in an elevated or lowered stance) These are the easiest ways to get the typical “Good” car pictures. Don’t get me wrong. I still use these angles with all of my shoots. I just try to make a conscious effort to get a photograph of something that people have seen before, but capture from an angle that they’ve never seen it.

On the cross-country road trip that I was on a week ago, I had the opportunity to see some of the landmarks along route 66. And as a classic Cadillac owner, Cadillac Ranch was at the top of the list when asked by my brother what I’d like to stop and see along the way. Whenever there is any subject that I know I’d really like to photograph I do a little recon. I search Flickr to see what pictures that others have posted. I study the shots, I look through all of the angles and perspectives to see what I find the most pleasing to the eye or even what I’d like to mimic. Now as a “Photographer” I understand that it is my job to capture these moments in the way I see them to give a unique and artistic perspective. But let’s be honest, I’m still learning a lot. And just like children learn to write cursive by copying the alphabet and writing their names over and over, I will attempt to mimic a photograph that I see on Flickr.

Following my research, I felt ready to arrive with tripod in hand and camera set to RAW with a blank 16gb memory card. Well, when I arrived, I arrived after dark. I had soon realized that the potential weather conditions were not a factor in my preparation. I walked into complete darkness and 15mph winds at 20 degrees F. In case you didn’t know, I am from Los Angeles and am not a fan of the cold. I wanted to just leave. But this was Cadillac Ranch! I’ve wanted to shoot here ever since I picked up my dslr 3 years ago. Sure these weren’t the optimal conditions for me to photograph in, but when was I going to be in Texas again?

I set up the tripod and set the exposure to between 10-15sec. I stayed out there as long as my body would allow (which totalled to about :30). In jeans, Chuck Taylors, and a thermal I was freezing from head to toe. Just take a look at all of the ice on the ground in the pictures……