Tire shine

"Larry Schaffer of Phoenix, Md., who entered a 1968 Chevy Camaro (not pictured), looks at a 1966 Pontiac Lemans convertible during The Chesapeake Classic Car Club annual show at the Fire Museum of Maryland in Lutherville, Md., Saturday morning."

I used to be into cars in high school. I would spend countless hours between playing sports shining up my ride and making sure it never got a single dent or ding.

At Home Depot I'd park practically at the forest's edge of the parking lot to help avoid grandmothers with large Cadillac doors denting my door, and mothers in SUVs, so their kids wouldn't slam their doors into my fenders.

But I quickly grew sick and tired of always being perfect with it. I wanted to explore other options like trying to eat a greasy cheeseburger in the car as I drove 80 mph down the highway. I wanted to not wash it for a month. I wanted to get it muddy.

To an extent, that's how I see my photographic work. I love to try and find angles and such to make my images clean. That's how I see things. That's my style. But while that is not always feasible, I live and I am always trying to evolve my style and dirty up the frame when I can.

This picture is definitely not "dirty" but this assignment reminded me of my old days and how they, in a small way, relate to my work nowadays.

Unrelated, I felt the pain of the drivers every time I walked by one their cars. Each time they jumped up to protect their paint, even though I made sure I covered the ends of my lenses with my hands to avoid any sort of accidental dinging. Funny stuff.