I can remember a few years back when there was basically a competition between all the magazines to see who could get a story out the quickest. About six years when I was working exclusively for Buckaroo Communications I remember photographing a ’33 Chevy coupe that one of our competitors had already shot a month earlier, but we were convinced we could beat them to the punch. So I shot the car 3 days before the editorial deadline and it was in print on the newsstand only 23 days later! For our industry that was smokin’ fast. Oh, by the way, we did beat our competitors to the newsstand by almost a month.
So why am I discussing deadlines? Well, back at the Detroit Autorama I lined up a stunning ’57 Oldsmobile convertible to shoot for Street Rodder Magazine. Street Rodder was very excited about the car and naturally they wanted it ASAP. I had planned to shoot it this weekend, but lets just say things don’t always go as planned.
The 1st of April I got a frantic phone call from Bruce Ricks, the owner of the ’57 Olds, and his tone suggested that something was wrong. He was out in Del Mar along with Cimtex Rods, the builders, preparing to attend the Goodguys event when they discovered a serious issue with the motor that was going to keep it from running and required a total motor teardown. Needless to say, if they tore down the motor it would be more than a month before the car was back together again.
Bruce knew how important it was to get the car photographed by the middle of April so he proposed that I shoot the car before it was torn a part. So I got Street Rodder on the phone and found out that they really wanted to have the car in the issue they were currently working on. After all, that issue was going to have a section on J2 Oldsmobile motors, which is exactly what Bruce’s convertible has in it. Needless to say, waiting a month was out of the question. Bruce and the guys from CimTex Rods were headed back to their shop in Texas and Bruce offered to fly me in to get the car shot for the upcoming issue. So, three days later I was on a plane headed for Austin, Texas.
To say the least I had plenty of nervous thoughts, seeing that the deadline was short. Afterall, I didn’t know what the weather was going to do, where we were going to shoot it at, and most of all the car had to be pushed since it did not run. Even though we did have to push the car for the photo shoot, things could not have went better. The weather was great, the background was perfect, and pushing the car was not a problem at all. Best of all, the photos have been turned in to Street Rodder and it will make the deadline. Hallelujah! However, the success of this trip couldn’t have been possible without the help of owner Bruce Ricks and the guys at CimTex Rods. Thanks for all of your help guys and I can’t wait to see it in the August issue of Street Rodder Magazine. For now here is a taste of how the photos turned out....
posted by Admin, 04.17.09 12:04:23 AM