Horizontal color graphic photograph of a yellow number 5, hand-painted with a black outline onto the trunk of a red 1950's hot rod automobile.

This image is from my photographic series, 'The Art of the Automobile'. I have been following many different car shows for the past 8 years. Traveling around different parts of the United States to see the very best and beautiful automobile designs. From the top tier, Concourse d'Elegance's to the regional shows to where local car clubs get together at an available parking lot often to support a local charity while schmoozing and talking shop. I am not the usual type of attendee at any of these shows as I am not in any way a car aficionado or gear head. I know very little of the mechanical evolution these cars have gone thru. Many times, these guys - yes, most of the people who are showing cars are men over 50 years old and have completely restored these cars from inside and out, top to bottom which can take anywhere from 5-10 years of effort. That's without mentioning the tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket, that goes into refurbishing them to factory conditions and very close to the OEM-original equipment manufacturer as to the day they rolled off the factory floor.

These cars are definitely their owner's pride and joy. Sometimes its simply that these guys came of age in these cars, dated their first girlfriends, and drove all around town showing off both the car and their dates. Many times, they are used as driver cars or currently used to race in. Some of these vehicles are collectors and investment automobiles attached with a very high price tag that can go from the mid 6 figures into well over a million dollars. These classic cars are brought in on transport vehicles and look as good as they did the day they rolled off the dealership showrooms. Most of these cars have also undergone extensive renovations and many of the collectors at this level have warehouses filled with high-end collections. Ralph Lauren, Jay Kay, Dmitry Lomakov, Gerard Lopez, Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, Ken Lingenfelter, Jay Leno, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Magnus Walker, Jerry Seinfeld, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are among others who are known to have amassed large collections of exquisite cars and very specific rare models that were manufactured in small production runs.

Personally, When I am out shooting automobiles, I look for uniqueness, styling, and design details that separate one car from another. Paint color, trim details, dashboards, headlights designs, brake pedals, tail light designs, steering wheels, custom gear shifters, tail fins, chome, chrome, and more chrome and of course the exquisite and unique hood ornaments which were populated across the classic vehicles built in the late 1920s through the 1950s. When I came across the mid-1950's hot rod racecar shouting out No. 5, I couldn't resist working with it and fortunately coming up with this abstract detail graphic image of the car.