Old Car City

 Submitted by Sheila Reeves

On October 29^th and 30^th, 2021, I participated in Mike Moat’s photo tour of Old Car City in White, Georgia, approximately 50 miles NNW of Atlanta, and about 75 miles SSE of Chattanooga. To get there from Kentucky, you don’t have to go through Atlanta!

According to the Old Car City, USA website:

“Old Car City in White, Georgia contains the worlds largest known classic car junkyard. Visitors enjoy the beautiful vegetation of the deep south that is intertwined with the hundreds of cars that reside in Old Car City. Old Car City started as a small general store in 1931 and is still family owned and operated. Come enjoy the Old South environment, folk art, ghosts of beautiful classic cars, and much more! With over 34 acres and over 4000 American-made cars from the early 20th Century, these cars, trucks, vans, and even a couple school buses are placed in such a way as to be ideally suited for photos, videos and custom camera shoots.  …  Mayor of Old Car City USA, Dean Lewis, … is also an artist in his own rite with some of the most unique canvas...the styrofoam cup. In his upstairs loft, Lewis has hundreds of styrofoam canvases featuring his artistic talents on display along with some paintings he will proudly show off.”

 
The cars at Old Car City range from the 1930s through the 1970s. We concentrated on the older ones, and never got to the area with the 60s and 70s. In addition to the outside shooting, there is a building full of all kinds of old stuff you can photograph.

The weather during my trip was overcast with a few periods of rain. We did not have to contend with much dappled light or glare since the sky acted like a big soft box. Perfect! I shot using two lenses – a 28-70 zoom lens and a 100mm macro lens. Almost every shot was on a tripod since the forest environment did not allow for fast shutter speeds.

I found myself attracted to three types of images: 1.      Wide shots encompassing entire vehicles or groups of vehicles 2.      Shots of hood ornaments and emblems 3.      Close up shots of rust and patina (textures)

 It was fun shooting these old cars, but it was also fun going a little crazy with the post-processing. I added textures and grunge borders, and even turned one hood ornament into an undersea fantasy!

 Mike runs a trip every spring and every fall and he knows where all the good shots are. The place is a bit of a maze, and I was glad I didn’t have to worry about getting turned around. I had a blast photographing something different than I can do around here. I hope some of you can make it over there sometime.