Blackhawk Automotive Museum visit

[John Z Goriup]

For the first time in weeks we actually had a nice, sunny day that could reasonably be enjoyed in shirtsleeves.........almost forgot what a treat such a day can be. After lunch I found myself in the general area of Danville, in the East Bay and had the brilliant inspiration to pay a brief visit to the Blackhawk Automotive Museum.

25 years old this year, the Blackhawk Museum houses one of the grandest collections of classic and collector cars in North America........and since there are many more cars than there's room to display them all, with a few permanent exceptions, the cars "on show" are very fluid and in a constant state of flux, being replaced by others in the collection on an almost weekly basis, thus making frequent visits interesting and worthwhile.

The architecture is striking & majestic, the space for the cars luxurious and laid out for comfortable viewing of the cars from many view points, but - there's always a big BUT, isn't there - the kindest thing one can say about the lighting is that it is anything but conducive to good, thoughtful photography. Very dark, charcoal gray polished granite floors, which wreak havoc with random reflections, throughout the building, black cloth walls and flat black ceilings with small, highly directional spot lights to illuminate the cars. None of the halls in which the cars are exhibited have a single window. No matter what camera and flash combination you bring, getting anything even remotely approaching a "normal" exposure is damned near impossible. The pervasive blackness all around you soaks up the most powerful flash's output like a sponge, whether you point the flash up, straight at the subject, with or without diffuser, tripods and / or momopods are prohibited, so anything slower than about 1/60th of a second is sure to cause blurring. Very frustrating........but, it is one of the most famous and respected automotive museums in North America and I was determined to post the maximum of photos, image quality be damned, to allow those of you who have not yet made the pilgrimage to see what's on offer.

I'm sorry to say the majority of the attached photos are nowhere near the quality I am satisfied with, consequently I had to resort to some fairly drastic post processing to salvage some of the photos which I despise doing, but I think this a perfect opportunity to invoke my old personal philosophy about such a situation........... that a flawed image is better than no image at all.

With apologies for the photos, on with the show. If there are questions about specific models, details, etc. please ask and l'll be happy to provide additional information.

Thanks for looking,

JZG

[John Z Goriup]

.....and the next five

[John Z Goriup]

......and 5 more

[John Z Goriup]

and yet another five.

Incidentally, the solid silver hood ornament, an exact copy of a Roman bust, must be at least a foot high and is mounted on the radiator of one of the most elaborate Maharajah tiger-hunting Rolls-Royces I've ever seen.

[John Z Goriup]

.......and there's more.

I must admit the little Alfa in its light neutral grey with orange/red livery stopped me in my tracks. Not so much for its own considerable & individual beauty, but the instant thought of a perfectly done 911 in that very grey with maybe the front trunk lid and engine cover in the red / orange, with lots of bead-blasted and polished aluminum everywhere. Wonder what to do about the interior in that fantasy however, since to my eyes the Alfa interior is a little bland.

[John Z Goriup]

..........and the last set.

Interesting that after two hours of squinting and trying to get viewable shots of the various cars on display, the final two images should be of two of the rarest and most significant cars of the entire collection, which were parked in the lobby leading to the reception desk, bathed in the most magnificent afternoon magic-hour light by the only two windows in the place.

[CidTito]

Fab photography set John and for all that juxapositioning shooting in challenging conditions you've captured the feel of the museum cars well.

With so many fantastic automobiles my biggest challenge would be which cars I would select in shooting.