Junkyard Photo Journey

I'll show a few of the shots taken at the Margaret, AL, junkyard.

Let's start with this one:

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

This is a small view of an old, rusting auto, giving the impression of other cars behind and around it. It's difficult to get a compelling shot of entire vehicles...

But the idea is always to take a picture of what attracted you in the first place, and that is frequently not a shot of the whole, but of the parts. So here's a tighter shot -- of a portion of a junker:

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

A wise (in many regards) photographer whose initials are Jack Bains once said that, "when shooting pictures of cars, shoot the parts and ignore the whole." I agree. In fact, I'll take it a bit farther: always include only the parts that interest you and tell your story. Leave out everything else.

So, eventually, it comes down to taking photos of the smaller details. Like this shot of a broken window:

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)


And this is an almost-signatory view of what attracted me to the junkyard in the first place.

Voila: we have gone from taking shots of a junkyard to taking shots of portions of a single car, to finally taking shots of small detail elements on a car. Which is better? Which is best? Depends, doesn't it? Each shot is an integral part of telling the whole tale of the junkyard.

Technically, all the shots were taken with a Nikon D700 camera. I used several lenses while at the junkyard: the 70-200 f/2.8 for a few, though tight work is not the lens's strong suit, the 50 F/1.8 for a very few, the 24-70 f/2.8 for a large portion, the venerable 70-180 Micro-Nikkor for detail shots, and the 14-24 f/2.8 for some of the more sweeping shots. It is a blessing to have aquired so many fine lenses over the years.

All the shots were done on the "Vivid" setting. Saturation and Contrast were cranked up. Way up. There is some Photoshop work here, too, mostly touching up the "Curves" to add some intensity to the images..

Now before you make any attempt to locate and/or visit the junkyard in question, let me hasten to add that we were not warmly welcomed. The owner drove up and was very unpleasant. And before you say a word about us "trespassing," let me add that the junkyard is in an open area alongside a county highway. There was no fence, no signage advising of private property or to keep out, no number to call to request permission to enter...no indication that these were anything other than deserted junkers.