Cars and street photo

in the world of historic preservation and historical archaeology cars and street furniture ( telephone poles, trash cans, benches mail boxes &C ) tend to be stuffed in the box of thing called "material culture" ... the way archaeologists decipher what civilizations were ( or are ) like is through their "stuff" ... plenty of archaeologists dig through trash pits, cellars, and junque left behind to "learn" about who left them behind.

whether we like it or not, cars are unfortunately part of modern culture ... and by including them as well as all the other things that clutter where we live ( garbage cans, dumpsters, street furniture, power lines, hideous architecture and other stuff i am too tired to suggest ) it gives us a clue as to who we may be. i don't mean to say that all this stuff "defines" us, but it can offer-up a piece to the puzzle

See the second row in the middle.
Dead Link Removed

Daniel OB
www.Leica-R.com

I just stumbled on this thread...

How do I get rid of modern cars when doing street photography? Simple.

First, I use an 8x10 camera.

Second, I photograph early Sunday mornings.

Third, I photograph in the fifth largest city in the US... Phoenix.

Coming from the NJ/NY area I have to tell you I love it here... it's a virtual ghost town early Sunday mornings! I have to wait for people to enter the shot (if I want them). I don't usually have to worry about cars, though. I actually did a modern day "Meudon" (by Kertezs) a few weeks ago. I actually had my tripod on (in a traffic lane) Central Ave. in Phoenix. Caught an airliner in between two skyscrapers (at least what they call a skyscraper here) and two elderly people crossing in the middle of the street at the same time. Then I turned the camera 180 degrees and got a shot looking north, including the historic San Carlos and Westward Ho hotels. The only person in the photo was a homeless guy looking into a jewelry store window. There were more people inside the Starbucks behind me than there were on the streets of the 5th largest...

http://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Nobody-Masataka-Nakano/dp/4898150314

"Tokyo Nobody"

It depends where I am if I find cars and what sort of photo I am taking, am I trying to take a picture of street life or arcitecture, I think there are tricks that allow you to dodge cars, such as clever use of telephotos or UWA lenses.

rcoda said:

I just stumbled on this thread...

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Me too
It is amazing to me how many good threads are hidden here, always something new on this apug ...

I just look for spots without cars, I hate them in my photos (there is some exceptions, of course).

i try to shoot below 30th of a second all the time.
they just become a textural element.

If you had a manual focus camera and focus on a car would that become a auto focus camera?

Jeff

I've always thought that modern cars, while boring and shapeless now, will look interesting later. No doubt cars of the past look more interesting, but as time goes on things get older and more interesting/different.

Anybody watches this show:

comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com ?

I think that cars are shapeless and ugly since 1990's ... and it will not become interesting later. Old Porsche spyder 550 and 718 from 1950's were beautiful in 1950's, 1960's, 1970's ... 2000's ... today ...

Many years ago now I took a photo of my SCOUT Troop marching for the Queen's Birthday parade and now I see a 'Collector's Car' in the background !! Never thought anything about it at the time as it was 'Just a car' and I was not interested in cars -- well you had to have a Rich Uncle to get a ride in car -- look - that was the ONLY CAR in the street parked up !! It must have been in the 1950's when I took the photo -- they will all be 60-80 years old and a lot dead by now ---

Scouts by pentaxpete, on Flickr

darkosaric said:

Anybody watches this show:

comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com ?

I think that cars are shapeless and ugly since 1990's ... and it will not become interesting later. Old Porsche spyder 550 and 718 from 1950's were beautiful in 1950's, 1960's, 1970's ... 2000's ... today ...

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Though I understand and somewhat share your feelings, I wonder how viewers of our contemporary photos will feel about autos in our pics 40-60 years from now? Just saying.

bobwysiwyg said:

Though I understand and somewhat share your feelings, I wonder how viewers of our contemporary photos will feel about autos in our pics 40-60 years from now? Just saying.

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I try my best to avoid cars in my photos. But in 40-60 years they will think of our cars as we think now about haircuts from the 80's .

bobwysiwyg said:

Though I understand and somewhat share your feelings, I wonder how viewers of our contemporary photos will feel about autos in our pics 40-60 years from now? Just saying.

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Maybe they will ask:

"Didn't they all have personal helicopters back then?"