Normally when someone says automotive photography I think our minds go to images of cars out on track racing with engines blowing out everyone’s eardrums in the background, photographers snapping photos at key points on oversized digital cameras that look more akin to canons (pun fully intended). Another image that gets invoked is an abandoned warehouse/factory or building that is reserved fully for a single car or sets of cars and a single photographer working creative magic, pushing the creative bounds for a set theme. But for the novices out there, there is an alternative. I think many of us who do automotive photography often over look the idea of attending a local cars and coffee, however they often tend to be great spots in practicing and honing your craft, or in my case that I’m presenting today, a great place to test a new film stock.
At the local season closer of my primary Cars & Coffee (11-9-2024), knowing that we were in for a slightly warmer day in South East Michigan and it would be a bright and sunny morning I set out with my trusty Olympus OM-4 (which was my only film camera at the time) and rolls of newly acquired LomoChrome Color ’92, Color ’92 Sunkissed, and Cinestill 400D. What I’m sharing today are some of my more basic but what I find as more aesthetically pleasing shots I nabbed up that day. But it goes to show that with a little imagination or creativity you can get great shots anywhere, not necessarily needing to do a specific shoot or be on a race track as some folks might have you believe.
And before you ask, Yes I was definitely in tears after shooting the Porsche GT3, don’t forget that the sun is a powerful enemy or ally for those of us with camera’s with mirrors inside.
Overall my thoughts on the film stock. Look I’m a ’95 baby, I grew up surrounded by images that had a very similar look to this and its sister film Color ’92. When I went out shooting I was mostly shooting roughly one stop over exposed (assuming you are shooting at 400iso). I’m pleased with most of the images after doing some light corrections in darktable (my primary photo-editing app). Even now I’m not quite sure I can see why they call it Sunkissed given the images I got back from normal Color ’92 appear pretty similar, part of this may just be because the time I shot wasn’t ideal for this film stock (Early to Mid-morning), but the grain/texture of the photo is quite pleasing overall (even if you don’t expose for the shadows properly it still turns a good image, see the Porsche GT3 photo). I’ll probably continue leveraging this film as one of my go to 35mm films before I move on to something else. I’ve also acquired its 120mm variant to compare against once the next Cars and Coffee season kicks off in Late March/Early April (assuming the snow doesn’t stick around longer, because Midwest US Life).
To see a wider variety of images of not just this film but the sister film, Color ’92 and Cinestill 400D at this same Cars and Coffee, feel free to enjoy my shameless Instagram plug, @tikbalangmedia where I shoot primarily automotive but also dabble in some street photography from time to time.
Stephen Ernst – instagram.com/tikbalangmedia
Share this post:
Comments
No comments found