Inspired by Askar Khamdamov (@jpgjournal on instagram), I knew that during my time in San Francisco that I wanted to shoot some classic American Automobiles.

I had taken an interest in photographing cars early on in my analog photography adventure. I don’t know what it is that draws me to shooting cars, but I think part of the charm is trying to capture a scene that is hard to date. This nostalgic feel has had me hunting high and low across my home county to find subjects. There have been a few gems, including a Citroen 2CV6, and a Volvo Amazon I shot on my Olympus Trip 35 but other than that, I haven’t found a lot. When I was lucky enough to find a subject, the typical British weather was usually there to rain on my parade, both figuratively and literally. Comparing my shots to other photographers on instagram, it was easy to find disappointment.

It doesn’t help that the usual suspects seem to show up when hunting for classic cars in Britian. Morris Minors, Minis, Triumphs. And it’s not that these cars aren’t great looking cars. They just lack something that I find appealing in their American counterparts. The snarling front grills, the wide rear ends. American cars are just damn good looking! So when I finally got the chance to wander around the streets on San Francisco, in hand with my trusted Mamiya MSX500 loaded with Kodak Portra 400, I couldn’t wait to see what I could find.

A Misunderstanding…

From looking through various photographers I follow, I was under the impression that I would be able to find a muscle car on every street corner.

This wasn’t the case…

Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, but as we only had 3 days in the city we did spend most of our time around the main tourist attractions rather than on the streets. But this didn’t mean there wasn’t some shots to be made.

American Autos… German Autos?

I found this Volkswagen on The Embarcadero as we walked between the piers. It was actually the first subject I have ever shot on Portra, and I was happy with how the it came out. I knew after spotting the personalised ‘CREMPUF‘ plate that I had get a shot which included the plate in shot. I love how the green in the path behind the car pops, a staple of Portra.

Later that evening whilst walking back to our hotel, I stumbled upon this little Green Bug tucked down an alleyway near Washington Square. I liked the way there was just the tiniest amount of light sweeping across the car, adding a nice amount of contrast to the scene. I wish I had taken more time with this, as I feel that taking a step or two back and taking in more of the setting would’ve led to a better image.

Inspired by Askar

This shot in directly inspired by Askar’s work. One of the recurring themes of his work is including the steep inclining streets of San Francisco, and when this scene appeared in front of me I knew what I had to do. The White Van was coated in glorious light, standing out from the foreground shadow. Once again, I feel that maybe taking a step back and including the whole of the tree in the scene on the left may have led to the ‘perfect’ image but I was ecstatic when this shot came back from the lab.

What Could Have Been

This is the scene that got away from me. I tried several different approaches but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t make it work. I’m happy with the exposure, thanks to the tried and trusted light meter in the Mamiya MSX500, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find ‘the shot’.

Is there a composition here that I couldn’t see?

Let me know in the comments below!

What Next?

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