World of Wheels Chicago...

Well, I gotta say, they sure hype it up pretty good, but I honestly wasn't too impressed. Sure, there's a ton of really, really, really sweet cars, but they way they stage them and the lighting, forget about it. Would be a much better show outdoors in a big field on a sunny day, that's for sure.


Anyhow, a few shots. enjoy...


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Nicely done!

that 57 chevy is awesome!

#2 reminds me of the scale model called 'Lil Coffin' made by Monogram fron a Darryl Starbird design. Nice shots, wish I was there.

Damn those cars are sick!

Thanks everyone.

goldenturtle wrote in post #11964638
#2 reminds me of the scale model called 'Lil Coffin' made by Monogram fron a Darryl Starbird design. Nice shots, wish I was there.

Honestly, no you don't. If you go leave your cameras at home, it's pretty boring and mundane from a photography standpoint. The lighting is all "spot" lighting, so it accentuates the cars visually, photographically it's a nightmare. Exif on rat in number 2 was 1/80 @ ISO1600 and on the '57 it was 1/50 @ ISO1600. Certainly not "nightmare" conditions but without a stabilized lens I would have been sunk. Flash was really useless so it was high ISO and slower exposures. Most of the time everything came out okay, but I ended up just saying screw it and underexposed on purpose just so I could get somewhat decent shots with no blur.


Plus most of the cars and motorcycles were too close together, and there was way too much stuff in the way: pillars, chains, ropes, etc.. Not the ideal conditions for photographing. The way the motorcycles were displayed I didn't even bother taking a single shot, and to be honest it was all paint-jobs, no really great bikes there.

They do. They're called "Car Meets".
Good shots from the show.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #11966139
They do. They're called "Car Meets".
Good shots from the show.

No, they're still called "Car Shows", car meets are just a bunch of guys gathering at a local joint for some gossip and jocularity. "Cruise Nights" however, those are different. That's where you get a bunch of cars together and let the local yocals slap their greasy handprints on the cars, let kids bump into the cars and rub BBQ ribs on them, etc..


In any regard, I'll take a sunlit show over "event lighting" any day of the week and 6 times on Sunday.

Nice pics! Spot on with the car meet/cruise/show descriptions, at least in our area.

I went to the motorcycle show a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised with the lighting on the "custom" bikes that were displayed, everything else there was pretty dark just like the WoW show.

Thanks for the comments everyone.


It wasn't as bad as I make it sound, there were some pretty fantastic vehicles there. But, I could walk through once as a spectator and get my fill, going through with the intent of shooting the cars and drumming up business is a whole different kettle of jambalaya (sorry, eating jambalaya right now, got it stuck in my head).


The big downfall other than the lighting, which wasn't bad enough that you couldn't work with it, was the pillars and stand-offs and such. In past years they've staged the cars to be on the outside of the pillars, this year they were staged in between them. There were a lot of cars you just couldn't get a clean shot of. Not to mention the typical nick-nacks and crap that everyone plasters all around their cars. Gotta have those annoying 4-foot signs and banners and s**t to describe the car, instead of showing the car and letting it speak for itself.

And stuffed animals on and in the cars, don't get me started on that.

One thing I don't understand is a rat rod show car. I thought the point of a rat rod is to build something retro but on the cheap, mostly from leftover scraps and unwanted junk.

Something that shows off the builder’s greasy ingenuity.

Number two has the rat rod look but even the tires are spotless.

Oh and I also don’t like seeing stuffed animals posed with show cars either.

Just my worthless rant

Thanks for posting these shots

I think the same; a rat rod should be a "rat", it shouldn't be all nice and shiny waxed and polished. But, I have to admit that even the ones I see that are "all dressed up" look pretty cool. Plus I think the whole "Rat Rod" ideal is transforming into a "lifestyle" as it were; people enjoy it regardless of if it's true-nature rat-rodding or not. Anything with that crushed low-profile look to it counts I guess.

I've had shows where guys will toss all kinds of toys and stuffed animals on the cars or in the engine bay, drives me absolutely bonkers. I see that and I walk away. I've had people chase me down and ask why I don't shoot their cars, when I tell them why they get rid of the animals pretty fast.


They had quite a few there but I didn't shoot them all...

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