A Well Lit Path

Lexus doesn't have a thing on ford. If you've seen the commercials for the Lexus RX with active headlights that turn when you're going around a corner and think this is a wonderful new idea, think again. Recently I found this great aftermarket spot light manufactured by the General Automotive Products company of Chicago around 1950. The "Turn-a-beam" automatic spotlight which replaces the center grille bullet on the fords magically "turns with the wheels". I scored me a NOS kit that has never even been opened. Still brand spanking 1950 new in the box. I don't even know if I can bring myself to open the box to install it. I may put this one away for safe keeping and try and locate another to actually use. I also scored a vintage amber spot light which was manufactured by "Safe T Scope" but doesn't have the wonderful turning functionality. We'll see which actually gets used but either way some pretty neat stuff.

Future Elements

So I was browsing the artwork on one of the HAMB Friday Art Show posts and came across a piece by Dwayne of Future Elements design. It should be obvious why I was drawn to it. We'll I proceeded to contact Dwayne to see about how I might procure my own piece of this artwork. A deal was made and a few days later I was the proud owner of signed print #15/60. I'd post the actual picture if I had it but I already dropped it off for custom framing, I was too excited to wait. I also purchased 2 other prints by Dwayne which should be delivered early next week.

Sand Buggy - DP Custom Fab

I took these pics of Randy's Sand Buggy which my friend Dustin at DP Custom Fab is currently doing all the custom aluminum body panels. This guy is a real artist, his metal fab skills are incredible. These pics don't do this work justice. I'm hoping to get more pics once the metal work is complete and hope to be able to represent how remarkable this thing is.

Shoebox Update - '56 Ford

So earlier I mentioned that I wanted to add '56 Ford headlight rings to my '50. Ok I totally stole the idea from the model car but hey it looked great so why not. Well thanks to eBay I'm the proud owner of a decent set of 1956 Ford headlight rings. I love getting gifts in the mail. Hopefully Todd can help me actually make these work on the car.

Tony Ray-Jones

I was watching a series on the Ovation Network called "The Genius of Photography" as part of the episod "Paper Movies" they disucssed British photographer Tony Ray-Jones. Tony spent time in among many other famous street photographers in New York during the early and mid 1960's. As part of the story they showed some hand written notes Jones had made during his time in New York. I found the notes to be simple and probably obvious to most but I still found them to be the very things I need to work on and be thinking about. For some reason they just struck accord with me. I've shared the notes below but will be less dramatic than seeing the actual hand written notes from Jones himself. Hopefully they will inspire and motivate some aspect of your own life even if it has nothing to do with photography.

Tony Ray Jones - Photographer Notes NYC 1965?

-Be more aggressive
-Get more involved (talk to people)
-Stay with the subject matter (Be patient)
-Take simpler pictures
-See if everything in background relates to subject matter
-Vary composition
-Be more aware of composition
-Don't take boring pictures
-Get in closer
-Watch camera shake
-Don't shoot too much