The Lost America Blog

Not Dead Yet

Thanks to workshop students Tom Bennett for the idea and Susan Nolan as the hand model.  Not many people would let themselves be sealed up in a musty old junkyard ambulance in the middle of the night, but Susan aced it.  I wonder if she’s come down with Hanta virus yet? She lit each hand [...]

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All Horns and Teeth

One of my lighting demos during last week’s workshop at Paul’s Junkyard.  I lit this destroyed movie prop 1950 Buick with lime, blue and red-gelled LED flashlight in less than 30 seconds.

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Rolled and Crapped On

Just got back from teaching a 3-day workshop at Paul’s Junkyard.  Hoping to catch up on some sleep this week! Movie prop ’48 Cadillac Coupe.  Rolled and shot up for an upcoming gangster movie.  The car is a total loss.  AA Maglite from above, LED flashlight pressed against the back side of the tail light [...]

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Rose Petals and Rocketships

Not actually rose petals, more like dead dry leaves.  Looking down onto the cracked and peeling V-shaped tail fin of a ’59 Pontiac at Big M Auto Dismantlers. DOF composite, one shot focused on the fin in natural full moon-light, the other focused on the leaves, lit with red LED flashlight.

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The Unblinking Eye

1957 Oldsmobile Super 88, in total darkness at Big M Auto Dismantlers.  This was mostly lit with a AA Maglite–from 3 directions, it’s warm yellow-toned light enhancing the tones of the rust and dead leaves.  I used a tiny bit of purple-gelled LED from the rear on the bumper and between the cars.  86-second exposure. [...]

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At the Watering Hole

In the rows of a late-model junkyard off of Highway 99 in California’s Central Valley.  Cold and muddy, dodging the rain. This is about a 3 minute exposure.  It was a full moon, but the image is mainly lit by sodium vapor lights, reflecting off the low clouds.  Seems like most of the valley is [...]

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University of Kentucky Show

I have 12 large prints in a new show with Joe Reifer opening this week called “The Highway: A Lost Culture”at the The Rasdale Gallery, University of Kentucky.  Coooool. The opening is this thursday, March 29th at 6 PM.  The show runs from March 29th through April 19th.  If you’re in the Lexington area, the prints [...]

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Mother, Jugs and Speed

1970 Cadilac ambulance at Paul’s.  Unbelievably tight space, I had to word real hard to keep the edges of the frame clean.  Lit with red-gelled strobe, outside from four different spots, and just a little LED flashlight. Mother Jugs and Speed are Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch and Harvey Keitel, nicely dated and still pretty funny.

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Sedimental Journey

Early ’50s Chevy fuel truck.  Couple of squirts of red LED flashlight.  Stack of 403, 389 and 360 second exposures for . . . uhhh. . . 1,152 second star trails.  What is that, about 19 minutes?  Just goes to show, not much difference between 360 and 400 second exposures.  What matters is not having a [...]

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The Failed Mascot

All that’s left of this 1960s Ford C-Series truck is a battered cab, sitting in the dirt, with a legless doll hanging where the mirror used to be. The roof had been pulled several feet vertically–peaked like a tent, making the center of where the windshield would be, twice it’s normal height. I set the [...]

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