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Tag: car
Throwback Thursday: A toy?
Ok, some very rich people might consider this car as being a toy. An expensive toy! An expensive hobby. Buying old but beautiful cars, reconstruct them (or let others do that hard job while they spend their money on them), and put them into exhibitions, showrooms, or museums.
I can understand museums or even manufacturers doing this and making the restored cars accessible to the public. But, I can’t understand rich people doing it only for being proud of having them.
I can’t remember what kind of car this is. I photographed it in a showroom waiting for the next owner. Fortunately, that showroom is (was) accessible for everyone, and even taking photographs was allowed. I took this image with a fish-eye lens handholding the camera on my stretched arm to get this image. I only cleaned the edges and removed my legs in post-processing. I love, how the fish-eye lens was not only able to capture the whole car, but also distort the proportions (a bit 😲😂).
I took this image in January 2011 and didn’t find time to edit it until recently.
In case, any one of you is able to give me a hint on the brand and the model, I’d be glad to hear from you. Simply type it in the comment section below.
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Lens-Artists Challenge #97 – “past times”
this week the Lens-Artists photo challenge is organized by a guest-host: Sue from The Nature of Things.
She told us that she’s currently locked at home as many (if not most) of us. So, there’s plenty of time to think about things and the past. That’s why she asked “pasttimes”.
When I thought about the topic, an idea came up to my mind: let’s dig in your digital archive and pick the oldest images you have.
I switched from film to digital in the fall of 2008. The first time I was only playing around with the camera to get used to it. I started photography in the late 1970s and bought my first own SLR in 1984. Up to now, none of the films of those days is digitized. In January 2009 I stumbled upon a group of photo enthusiasts organizing photography trips over the internet and I joined them for the February trip. These images are the oldest digital images I still have on my disk.
The funny thing is, the photo trip in February 2009 was to a garage for classic automobiles. Here you can buy and sell such cars. You can also find craftsmen being able to repair these old cars. The main floor of the garage is used to be a showroom. I really love such old automobiles. Unfortunately, they use the available space very efficiently. So, it’s no fun to take photos. There nearly no room to get good images. 😢
The second important thing is, I met a group of people I’m still friends with. We still meet once a month for photography trips. I’m so glad to have been brave enough to ask if I’d be allowed to join.
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Wordless Wednesday: vintage car
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Monochrome Madness 34
Today I have another photo from Cuba for  Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness.
I really like the old cars still running on Cuba. I also like them in bw. I guess, it perfectly fits together
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Monochrome Madness 32
This time I picked another photo from Havana for Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness.
This black and creme-colored car was polished for shiny luster. Thus it got my attentions. It was parked in a row, right next to the Capitol, waiting for passengers.
I liked the shape and the reflections in the flood light showing the theater and the reflection of a passing by car in the wing.
Because of the color of the car, I converted the photo to monochrome and the warmth of the sepia tone, in combination with the reduced look reached by the bleaching of the lighter tones by remaining the shape of a car makes this photo to be something special for me.
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More on taxis
In case, you get lost in Havana, you might take a ride at a taxi. They have government operated cabs / taxis with a fixed tariff and a taximeter, private taxis without taximeter and tariff but a wonderful old car, tuktuks (cuba taxi), motorbikes and bike taxis.
The government taxis are cars build in the 1970s or (a bit) younger. Most of them were built in (former) Eastern bloc countries, i.e. Czech Republic or Soviet Union. The really young cars are of chinese production.
The private cabs are private owned vintage cars, build in the USA in the 1950s or earlier, as I mentioned in my last posts on cuban cars. Yellow eggs on 3 wheels and even regular motorbikes are used as a taxi.
Parts of the old town of Havana (and other cities, too) are closed for cars and only pedestrians and bikes are allowed here. So, bike taxis are cruising in these areas and offering their service for the people. Here, you also have to negotiate the price with the driver. In case, you got lost or running out of time, they will be happy to bring you to any place you want: back to your hotel or to a restaurant or any other place.
Even the locals use such vehicles. I saw i.e. private taxis with up to 10 people inside (I noticed them entering the car). It was really enormously, how many people were sitting in such a car without thinking about safety, although they also have busses as a kind of public transportation.
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And, while waiting for my next post, you might have a look on my previous posts on Cuba!
Rolling, rolling, rolling
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I saw many vintages cars over there, for which Cuba is famous for. You know, when the Cuban Revolution took place in the late 1950s, they created a new government model following communistic ideas. As a result, Cuba was isolated and had serious problems getting modern technical equipment. So, the people took serious care i.e. for their cars. As a matter of fact, today still hundred-thousands of cars build back in the 1950s and earlier are still in use. So, they are more the 60 years old and are still rolling. OK, here we also have such old cars on the streets, but they aren’t in daily business anymore. Instead, they are pampered and well-tended, but used only for rare showcase events, because they are so precious (because they are so rare).
In Cuba, I saw many of them in the street, operating as private cars or as private taxis. Yes, although Cuba is a communistic country, they allow private businesses. Most of the cars, I’ve seen, were in perfect optical shape. Well-kept. But, according to our guide, the engines aren’t. They were replaced by Diesel engines by i.e. Toyota back in the 1970s.
If you want to take a ride, you can hire a car for a certain destination or for a certain time. You only have to negotiate the price with the driver, who usually is the owner of the car. There are also government operated taxis in the streets working on a fixed tariff and having a taxi-meter.
There are also other kinds of taxis in the streets, but I’ll show them in my next post.
So, enjoy some of the wonderful, old cars, I attached here.
While waiting for my next post, you might have a look on some past post.
A few days ago a photo calendar was publish, containing some of my photos. Currently you can order a german, an US and an UK version of the calendar. An austrian and a swiss version are on their way and need a few more days. I’d also put up a french and a spanish version, but I’m unable to write the marketing texts in that languages 😦
In case, you’re interested, here are the ISBN numbers for the calendars and a link to a special partner shop at Amazon:
Cuba Cars 2014 (DE)
- A5 = 978-3-660-220005-6
- A4 = 978-3-660-220007-0
- A3 = 978-3-660-220006-3
- A2 = 978-3-660-220004-9
Cuba Cars 2014 (US)
- A5 = 978-3-660-220010-0
- A4 = 978-3-660-220011-7
- A3 = 978-3-660-220008-7
- A2 = 978-3-660-220009-4
Cuba Cars 2014 (UK)
- A5 = 978-3-660-23196-0
- A4 = 978-3-660-23194-6
- A3 = 978-3-660-23193-9
- A2 = 978-3-660-23195-3
Update:
Cuba cars (CH Version)
- A5 = 978-3-660-23280-6
- A4 = 978-3-660-23278-3
- A3 = 978-3-660-23277-6
- A2 = 978-3-660-23279-0
Cuba cars (A Version)
- A5 = 978-3-660-23276-9
- A4 = 978-3-660-23274-5
- A3 = 978-3-660-23273-8
- A2 = 978-3-660-23275-2
According to the publishing house, the ISBN numbers are internationally valid, and you should be able to get your copy where you’re living.
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Visiting Cementerio Cristóbal Colón
Why to visit a cemetery during a vacation, I already wrote about last year. So, I don’t want to repeat it here.
On Cuba we also visited a cemetery: the cemetery of Habana. It’s really huge: 56 hectare with more than 20 kilometres of streets and more than a million funerals the biggest cemetery in whole America. According to Wikipedia you can find more than 53,000 family graves, mausoleums and chapels in the necropolis.
Even the cemetery is that big, that you usually need a map to find a certain grave, I was able to find a celebrity: the grave of Ibrahim Ferrer Planas (20.02.1927 – 06.08.2005), the voice of Buena Vista Social Club.
Here you can find a huge variety of graves and mausoleums. I was kind of surprised of the elaborated construction of the graves and the lack of poverty graves (at least, I didn’t find one). Most of them were in very good shape and rich decorated. My expectation was much different, regarding the cultural state of Cuba.
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