Classic Car From Below Black And White | Wall Art

Four Round Lights Suspended Against Open White Space

Cars are almost always photographed from somewhere around eye level. I had the opposite opportunity here.

I found this old classic car mounted on the roof of a business in Toronto, being used as an oversized ornament. Standing underneath it gave me a view I rarely get with an automobile: the front end hanging above me with virtually nothing behind it. That was the photograph. Not the entire car, not the business, and not even particularly the location. It was this peculiar angle.

Looking upward, the familiar parts of the car begin to behave more like shapes. Two large round headlights sit above another pair of circular lights. Curved chrome cuts diagonally through the frame. The front tire drops toward the bottom edge, while dents, scratches, cracked glass, worn metal, and weathered surfaces interrupt all of that geometry. It is still unmistakably an old automobile, but seen this way it becomes something stranger. That unusual perspective separates it from the more conventional photographs in my classic car wall art collection.

I chose black and white because color was not carrying the photograph. Removing it concentrates everything on form, surface, contrast, and repetition. The circles become stronger. The aged chrome becomes more tactile. Tire tread, damaged metal, headlight glass, and years of wear become part of the structure rather than secondary details.

The large white area is equally important to me. Without a road, building, landscape, or recognizable environment surrounding the vehicle, there is very little to explain what I am looking at. The car seems suspended in space. I deliberately kept that emptiness rather than filling the frame, because it gives the heavy mechanical subject an unexpected sense of weightlessness.

For me, this photograph is less about automotive nostalgia than about discovering a visual arrangement that could only exist because the car was somewhere a car normally would not be.

I can see this black-and-white photograph appealing particularly to collectors of classic automobiles, mechanical subjects, industrial imagery, and unconventional automotive photography. Its restrained palette and large negative space also make it well suited to contemporary interiors where the subject can remain graphic without becoming visually busy.

This photograph is offered as a limited edition of only 10 prints. I personally sign each print, and each includes a certificate of authenticity. The photograph is printed with archival pigment inks on premium archival paper.

For collectors interested in automobiles photographed beyond the usual showroom, street, and garage viewpoints, the image also belongs naturally within my automotive wall art collection.

© Dan Kosmayer, 2011