Volkswagen Beetle- Lost in Time

Quentin_Moyer · Jun 25, 2011

I wasn't getting any responses in another forum, so I figured I'd post here.
This beetle has been sitting in the same vacant lot for as long as I can remember. The owner refuses to sell it, so it sits and slowly becomes a hulk of iron oxide. Interesting enough, the lot in which it sits was once a swimming pool and indoor skating rink that was very much alive until it was sold in the 70s and left for dead. This Volkswagen probably used to frequent the "Lake" as it was once called, which was established in the late thirties and managed by previous generations of my family.

Quentin Moyer, on Flickr
I would like to take a photograph to do this piece of history justice before it is otherwise reclaimed, any criticism is appreciated.
As of this time, I am able to just trash this shot and do a reshoot if consensus has that it's garbage, so have at it,

NikonME · Jun 25, 2011

I really like this. I would have gotten a little lower for the angle, but I still like it as is. I would have also given the VW a little more 'bumper room' in the back. Did you use a polarizer?

As a note, and maybe it's why I like the photo so much, when I was a teen there was a VW Bug sitting in the grass near a farm that we would pass daily. Ten years later it was still sitting there with brush growing up around it. I can still picture the light blue bug just waiting.. So I stopped in one day on a whim and asked if they would sell it to me. They explained it was owned by a family member that passed away and that they couldn't part with it. I explained I would love to restore it and would take photos of it once it was restored for their wall. They just couldn't part with it.

Year after year, I would drive by and watch it rot. I was always bummed they wouldn't sell it. It eventually rotted into nothing but a skeleton of it's former self. Twenty years later there is still a bit of the car left sitting there. Now my mindset has changed. I no longer see it as a waste, as some rotted metal. I like to think that this car, which was obviously important to the original owner, has joined when him again where ever he is.

Quentin_Moyer · Jun 25, 2011

@NikonME, thanks for your reply and the story, this thing is almost EXACTLY how you described, there are still stacks of newspapers from the 70s sitting in the seats.
About the "bumper room", I know what you mean, this was actually very difficult to frame. I believe one of my tripod legs was on the street when I was finished composing (there's also no practical way of shooting the front of the car because of the vegetation, which I really shouldn't disturb (regardless of how much the property may benefit from it!)
I guess going wider would help, but this was shot with the widest glass I've got- the kit lens for my PEN camera.
As for filters, all I used was a UV protector, this is actually a composite of four images.
Thanks again for your post.

Village Idiot · Jun 27, 2011

This forum is for discussion of photography and not posting pics. The only place you're likely to get comments is in the noob dump, ie. Beginner's Forum.

Mike_E · Jun 27, 2011

The beginners forum ideally is about basic questions about the technical aspects of photography.

The better place would be here.. http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/general-gallery/

But, since you're here, this looks like one where you need to take the car and shadow and put it on another background. I wouldn't worry about the weeds in the front because they'll grow back fast- they are weeds. The way you've posed the car here is more of a glamour shot and facing this misery head on would be a much more powerful shot. (not directly per se but you get the idea)