I went up to Old Car City a few weeks ago to film a segment for the Tiny Details Macro Workshop, and while I was there I decided to shoot with the Helios 44-2 lens to make it a bit more exciting for myself.
Old Car City is in White, Ga, just north of Atlanta. “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.”
I have been photographing at Old Car City since 2009 – before it was even open to the public like they are today. We had a member in my local photo club that would make a deal with the owner to let us come in and shoot for the day. He would only do it once a year at the most because he was afraid of the liability of allowing people to wander around the grounds. He seems to have gotten past the liability fears and figured out he can make some money letting people in – since he has now opened the grounds five days a week for photographers to take photos.
There is so much to see and photograph there that you can easily come back over and over and never see it all. This trip I was doing some filming and shooting, so I never got out of the front part of the grounds and still got all these amazing photos. This is the first time I was shooting with the Helios up there. I loved the rich tones this lens created and the slight swirl in some of the backgrounds. I was adding the extension tubes for a few of the close shots.
The best time of the year to visit is late fall, winter, and early spring. Summer is full of weeds, mosquitoes, and I’m sure lots of critters you don’t want to step on. I was there late August this year and it was almost unbearable with the heat and a bit overgrown with the vegetation. If you wait till later in the year to go (or early in the year if you are in the new year) – all of the weeds die back and you can get up close to most of the cars that are inaccessible in the summer.
Hope you enjoy this look at the photos I got on this trip and you can check out some more information on the Helios lens HERE when I took it out to the botanical gardens.
Beautiful old cars! Love that you posted something different❤️
Thank you! Old Car City is a huge favorite for me!! 🙂
love the “Mack” my dad was a mechanic his entire life and he loved Mack trucks!
Cool! I love that one too – it is a very interesting one to photograph all around with the colors, rust and interesting elements that one has! 🙂
Old Car City looks amazing! What a wonderful place to visit for photography. Really love this share…. Amazing photography as always.
Old Car City is the most fun! I love going over there at least once a year and I always get something different every time I go – there is just so much to see and you can’t possibly do enough in just one visit! 🙂
I am soooo envious of your talent! I love these old rusty pictures!!
Thank you! I think the talent runs in the family!! You paint so beautifully <3
I recently attended a art festival in Baltimore MD called Artscape, an artist their exhibited his photography of old cars like this on metal plates, it made what was old beautiful again. the pictures seemed to come alive with vibrant color. As you may know prints on metal are the new form to display photographs on.
I bet he had some beautiful pieces for sure. I love metal prints – I bet these would be great on them!
I just love your photos of the old cars! I hope I get to go to Old Car City one day.
Thank you! It is definitely worth the visit! It is one of my very favorite places to shoot. 🙂
Love the pictures! What a great place to find! I just talked to someone yesterday that has a rusty Lincoln – its big and rusty – will be getting pictures Friday – your photos inspired me to go out there and take them! Thanks!
Thank you! Oooohhh!! You are so lucky to have a friend with a great rusty car! Hope you get some great shots! 🙂
yes and I forgot – he has a junk yard out back tho I may wait til the snakes go to sleep to go out there- might be fun to take pics in the winter!!!!
I find it extremely interesting to see how others interpret Old Car City USA. I’ve been there twice and want to go back.
I love it there. I go every year and always get different photos!
Hi Denise, Your work at the Botanical Gardens inspired me to purchase the Helios. Some of my shots I am so pleased with but having a great deal of trouble with light situations. There are times the viewfinder shows a lovely shot only to have the same totally blown out on the computer. What am I missing here? What tips would you have for me and/or where can I find good info on shooting with this lens. I know it will be one of my favorite lens but I am not there with my experience in using quite yet. Showed photos at my camera club last night and introduced 2 Lil’ Owls to them as my source in discovering the Helios. Your work is simply beautiful and one of these days I will learn to apply textures. I am familiar with Lightroom but Photoshop I am not skilled with at all.
Definitely just takes practice. If your shots are washed out – you may be overexposing. Try changing your exposure compensation a stop or two down and expose for the highlights – so you aren’t exposing too bright.
Awesome photos! I love old cars and items with rust. 🙂
Thank you! It is such a fun place to photograph!
These photos are awesome! Would love to visit there one day. I am drawn to old vehicles and items with rust too. 🙂
It really is the best place! I love it there!
Love your photos! Quick question, do you plan, down the road, to work your magic with textures?
Thank you!! I’ve added textures to some of them. I may go back and play in them again 🙂
Thank you so much for showing all these shots. A scrapyard is like heaven to me as I grew up in one. My dad was a dealer so the yard was my playground
Thank you! This is one of my favorite places to go shoot. Full of treasures!
Love them all Denise! I love that lens too – looking forward to fall and perhaps some backlight with leaves for that lens. Your textures accompany those images so well!
Thank you!!
Oooohh!! Fall leaves and backlight would be fantastic <3
These photos are great. You mentioned this cool place a few times so it’s on my list to get there someday.
Thank you! Definitely worth adding to your bucket list! 🙂
I am the owner of this lens. Some time ago, I became interested in monocle photography. I decided to make monocle from helios. I looked at your photos and changed my mind about disassembling the lens. This can still serve 🙂
So glad it helped. I love that lens – it is still one of my very favorites. 🙂
Amazing artwork Denise.
I purchased your Tiny Details Macro Workshop just before I moved house, and I really need to catch up on it now. I watched a few videos and had to lay the workshop aside or nothing would have got packed pre-house move!!! 🙂
Going to treat myself and go through the videos these next few weeks. These images here are amazing and put me in the mood to get learning.
Thank you! I’m so glad you are feeling creative and ready to get back into the workshop! Perfect time for macro 🙂
What a treasure trove of color, textures, and vintage all in the same photo! Love every one of them. Wish I lived closer. I’ll have to remember that when we are traveling to stop in.
Really is such a fantastic place! 🙂
Thank you for inspiring me to start shooting again with my Helios lens. Although I’m in my mid seventies. May I ask you, what aperture did you use with the old car photos? Your flower photography are a work of art! Love it!
I like to shoot around an f4 mostly when I shoot. Definitely experiment with your apertures to see what you like!