The O'Quinn Collection - Photos of a billionaire's estate.

This shoot started out in the most unassuming of ways. I was contacted by an auctioning company based out of California who had been hired to move some cars for an unnamed person's estate. We traded emails back and forth while setting up the shoot later on in the week. I didn't think too much of it until I received the shot list from the contact: "A 1927 Rolls, 1985 Aston Martin, '57 Continental...what?!" It soon dawned upon me that this would be no average automotive shoot. The official shot list:

• 1963 Fiat 750 Abarth Berlina
  
• 1955 Ford Thunderbird
  
• 1965 Mercury Parklane
  
• 1985 Aston Martin Lagonda
  
• 1961 Nash Metropolitan
  
• 1909 Cartercar Model H Touring
  
• 1957 Lincoln Continental Mark II
  
• 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Towncar
  
• 1931 Ford Model A Victoria
  
• 1916 Oldsmobile Model 44 Roadster
  
• 1957 Ford Fairlane 500
  

Come the day of the shoot, I waited outside of a large, bland warehouse in a decidedly seedy area of town. I assumed that a small portion of this warehouse was where I would be shooting the few cars, and I was worried that the inside of the warehouse would be in disrepair and would make finding a suitable shooting location difficult. Once my contact arrived, I walked inside and quickly realized that I couldn't have been more wrong. To my complete disbelief, the massive warehouse stretched on for what seemed like forever in each direction, with HUNDREDS upon HUNDREDS of classic cars before me, all gleaming under the lights and sitting upon a spotless sealed white floor. Most likely deducing from the dumbfounded look on my face, my contact grabbed a golf cart and offered to take me on a tour.

I learned that this was the extensive collection of none other than John O'Quinn, a famous Houstonian, trial lawyer and billionaire who passed away two years ago in a car accident on Allen Parkway that is still shrouded in mystery. At it's peak, his collection amassed over 650 cars worth a staggering $100 million. As we buzzed around as he casually pointed out cars that would easily be the centerpiece in any other collection. Twin orange GTO's to my right, Marlene Dietrich's custom Rolls Royce and Al Capone's Armored Cadillac to my left, Steve McQueen's Indian complete with side car straight ahead. It's unfortunate that I didn't have time to write all the names and cars down as we sped along, as the list was a star-studded one. As a small footnote, he had every model year Corvette, Camaro and Mustang ever made! "It's a shame you couldn't have seen it 9 months ago", he said. "You're only looking at about a third of what used to be here. All the Enzo's, McLaren's, F50's, F40's and Bugatti's are all long gone.". However, the centerpiece of the collection still remained. Painted a dull blueish-gray, wedged among two giant 1920's coaches, stood a 1975 Ford Escort GL. This was the pride of Mr. O'Quinn's collection, for which he paid $690,000. Why so much for such a lowly car? Only for the simple reason that it had belonged to none other than Pope John Paul II. It is pictured below in a terrible shot from my Blackberry.

After the tour, my own personal golf cart was bestowed upon me so that I could get from place to place without getting winded. We had a small area to shoot because the rest was crammed with cars, so we cleared out the area as best as possible and set up to shoot. My gear for the shoot was:

• D700
  
• 50mm 1.8
  
• 105mm. 2.8
  
• SB 600
  
• SB 900
  
• Cheap wireless triggers
  
• Light stands
  
• 20" softbox
  
• Tripod

I setup the SB900 in the softbox and used that to light the dominant side of the car. It was placed camera right at an angle about 20 feet away at 1/2 power. The SB600 was used to light the nose or rear of the car, placed camera left about 20 feel away, bare, at 1/2 power. I found that the exposure that worked best for me was 1/20 sec, f5, ISO 640 - it achieved nice even lighting that hid the streaks from the overhead lighting pretty well and also made the treated concrete wall behind the cars look nice.

Slowly but surely we moved through the inventory. Surprisingly, most of the cars ran, albeit while slowly hemorrhaging transmission fluid and oil onto the pristine white floor. I wrote it off to their age - when I'm 80-something, I'll probably have a few leaks too.

It was amazing to be able to interact with these cars, to see automotive history rolling right in front of your eyes. From the simple days when "cars" were nothing more than horse coaches with engines strapped onto them to the 1950's, where cars were rolling sculptures, heavy with steel and bright reflective chrome. Sitting in them was great too, and gives you a huge appreciation for the modern studies in ergonomics! The easiest way to exit the 1909 Cartercar? Through the passenger side of course, unless you feel like contorting yourself like a pretzel around the spider's web of metal framing for the roof and the steering wheel that presses against your thighs as you steer. All these old cars had personalities that were completely their own, which is something I love and feel that most modern cars today lack - a real soul.

While shooting, we discussed the collection, and what is going to become of it now that it is in the hands of the estate. I learned that Mr. O'Quinn had intended for these cars to be placed on permanent display for the city of Houston to enjoy upon his passing, and that up until his death, the plans for this museum were already in the works. Upon his passing however, there were disagreements between those in the estate, and it was decided that this collection would be sold to settle debts and other discrepancies left behind be Mr. O'Quinn. It was truly sad to hear that this collection, surely one of the finest and largest in the world, was being dismantled and sold off. A collection like this will probably never exist again, and it is a great disappointment that Houstonians will not be able to enjoy this collection for years to come.

This shoot was something that I will remember for a long, long time. I am very honored to have been able to see it, even at only 1/3 its original size, before it has been divided up between bidders all over the world. If I had never seen this collection in person, I would've never imagined that it even existed. The sheer size of this collection was something that I had trouble wrapping my head around. I lingered a bit before leaving, trying to take every last bit in.

Thanks to everyone who helped with this project! Below are photos and videos of the shoot. Thanks for checking back, and please go have a look at my new website, Theo-Graphics.com!

A few videos I took while tooling around in the golf cart.

*Videos Removed By Request*

1909 Cartercar Model H Touring - I'd never heard of this brand until now. It goes down as the oldest car I've ever driven! Well, driven as in steered while it was being pulled by a golf cart.

1985 Aston Martin Lagonda - What an ugly car! This think reminded me of a stealth fighter, as it reflected ALL the light I put on it which made it very hard to photograph. The interior was straight 80's, with a dash layout like an old Macintosh computer and CRT (that's right, CRT) displays. How, um, futuristic.

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 - Immaculate inside and out. Love the color scheme.

1957 Lincoln Continental Mark II - This car won awards at SEMA among many others. This thing was ridiculous in person. Bagged suspension, paint that was so glossy it looked like it was a foot deep. Such a beautiful car.

1961 Nash Metropolitan - Called it the "Creampuff", haha. The doors felt like two sheets of steel welded together with nothing in between because, well, that's pretty much what it was. Gotta love safety standards of the '60's.

1916 Oldsmobile Model 44 Roadster - Bill Harrah's old car.

1931 Ford Model A Victoria - The paint scheme on this car was gorgeous. The photos do not do it justice.

1965 Mercury Park Lane - I loved this car. Something about that green interior!

1927 Rolls Royce Phantom I Towncar - Beautiful car. Very regal.

1955 Ford Thunderbird - Perfect example of a classic. Spotless inside and out.

Another bad cell phone shot of FDR's 1941 Presidential Packard Limousine:

Light Painting Part II

I went out to shoot last night with the intention of getting a better grip on light painting. I hadn't really done any since my last post and was itching to try it again. I wanted to get the Houston skyline (cheesy?) in the background, so I did some hunting on Google Maps first for locations that I thought might work.

After driving to the location, I found that the view was perfect; a nice, unobstructed view of the skyline - rare to come by in Houston, it seems. There was only one issue that turned out to be a real problem though. The parking lot had large overhead lighting that bathed the car in an intense white light, which I was worried would make light painting very difficult.

It did.

I spend about 15 minutes painting the nose of the car with limited success, and completely struck out on painting the sides of the car. No matter what settings I used (I mainly stuck with 10sec @ F8), the overhead light simply overpowered my little torch. I decided to take a few ambient exposures to get as much detail as I could, then packed everything up and headed home a bit defeated.

Looking at the photos in post however, I saw that they might actually have a chance. The skyline looked great, as I caught it right at the last hint of dusk and the exposures of the nose when combined added up pretty well.

I started with the original shot of the skyline and built upon it:



I added all the individual exposures that lit individual parts of the nose:



After that, it was a TON of editing to remove annoying and distracting elements like light poles and fixtures. Heavy use of the clone stamp and healing brush here!

As far as editing, I did some minor individual RGB curves adjustments, some sharpening, minor gradients and fiddled with the selective color settings a bit. I also raised the levels just a touch so that the image wasn't TOO dark, although I kind of liked the dark look for this one.

With all that said, I now know that I need a more powerful light source or need to shoot somewhere that is close to pitch black. I did find a good spot though, and I plan on using it again soon in future attempts.

Thanks for looking!

Theo

Light Painting Part II

So a day or two after I finished the initial light painting of the RSX, I kept having an itch to try it again to get better results. I wasn't happy with how the car appreared to "glow" and looked too close to poorly done HDR. I figured that the glow was a result of the light source being too strong, so I took the Cobra LED torch and wrapped a piece of ordinary printer paper around it to diffuse the light a bit...a poor man's softbox, if you will.

I concentrated much more on getting each individual panel lit evenly this time so that there wouldn't be as many hot spots. I stayed about 5-8 feet away from the car and moved the LED torch in smooth, arcing motions. I also concentrated on getting dynamic shadows and highlights too, since that is what always catches my eye when I'm looking at studio shot images.

In post, I took a lot more time blending the panels together, keeping a close eye on all the shadows and highlights and taking time to remove any hot spots. Again, it was a very laborious process, but worth it in the end. I think that the end result turned out much better this time, and I will definitely use this method from now on.

The final result:



A short video showing all the layers slowly being added to the final image. It's best to watch this in full screen so that you can really see everything coming together:



Hoping to do some rig shots of the RSX this afternoon if time permits. I'll be sure to post them up here if I'm able to shoot today!

Theo

Trying Out Light Painting

So after gathering some inspiration from other light painters that I've seen on the internet, I decided to try my hand at it myself. I liked the idea of being able to create complex light from a very simple source. It seemed simple enough at the start, but I soon learned that there is MUCH more to it than I'd first thought. It takes a lot of concentration, attention to detail and trial an error. I'm happy with my first attempt, but I definitely need much more practice with it. Read on for my take on light painting!

I bought a Cobra Handheld LED bar light off Amazon since it had a cigarette lighter charger included for outside shoots and seemed to have a nice flat beam. Once it arrived, I went out to the garage to give it a try.

Here's a shot of the Cobra



At first, I was trying to do 30 sec exposures that encompassed the whole car in light, but it just wasn't achieving that "slippery" look that I wanted. I adjusted to 10 sec exposures and would quickly "paint" one particular panel quickly, then shut off the light for the remainder of the exposure. I would do one panel at a time, checking after each shot. Definitely time consuming! After I got all the panels covered, I tried to get all the accents properly lit too - the door crease lines, hood lines etc. It was hard to keep track of all the pieces that I'd covered, and I ended up missing some (center of the hood, which I had to paint in, rear decklid among a few others).

Here's a combined shot of all the exposures I used to create the final image.



Once in post, I combined all the collected images into one single layered image and began the meticulous process of masking off each individual layer. Labeling the layers (ie - "door" "hood" "door crease line" etc) helped the process out a lot.

After that, I did some minor sharpening and lens correction and reduced the saturation just a bit to get the look I wanted. For my first time light painting, I'm pretty happy with it. I need to work on getting the light more even on the panels, and my masking could use some work, but it will all get better with practice. Mainly, I was excited that I could get results like this in my boring, ugly garage!

The final image:




More to come on light painting. Please leave a comment if you have any questions!

Theo


**EDIT - 2/8/11 **

I tried the process again, but this time with a regular piece of printer paper taped around the light bar to diffuse it a bit. I also tried to light the car more naturally, with highlights and shadows to give it a less "CG-like" look. So far I like it a lot! The below picture is still a work in progress. The image is a composite of many that are straight out of the camera with no editing. It is a bit dark at the moment, but I will fix all that once I'm done piecing together the layers.

Thanks for checking it out!

Theo

Fake Studio Shots

**New images added 2/14/11**

Happy New Year, everyone! Sorry I've been MIA for a while. I am working with an automotive dealer right now who is building a new website to replace their ancient current one. They are wanting to attain a more streamlined look and also want to make it clear that they cater to high end customers and cars alike. They purchased stock photography for various exotics, and wanted me to place them into a virtual "studio" so that they all had a nice, clean and uniform look.

I have a few examples of what I came up with below. The photos are (unfortunately) not my work, just the studio background and lighting effects.

Thanks for looking, and I will hopefully be back soon with some new rig shots of a 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo Sypder! Stay tuned!