In Claymont Delaware there is a great deal of architectural diversity, a relic of it's development over many years. Peppered through the neighborhood there are a few really charming buildings, one of my favorites has to be Joe and Tony's. The building looks a lot like it must have back in 1942 when it first opened it's doors for business. The building is a charming mix of architectural form and function. I have been bringing my car there for years, so I was thrilled to work with Joe and Tony's to create an iconic image to promote their business.
We discussed a twilight image of the building and agreed that a classic car would be a great away to really show off character of the building and business. They provided the classic 1971 Oldsmobile 442 that was in about the most beautiful condition you have ever seen, and the rest was a piece of cake.
The image was shot over a period of a couple of hours and pieced together from a number of exposures. We used a combination of flash and flashlights to light everything up and get the picture you see here. When using a sturdy tripod, it is a relatively simple task to combine several exposures. In this way I can use only one or two lights to light an entire building for photography. Then once the shooting is complete the separate exposures are combined digitally into a single composite architectural photograph.
If you are in Claymont and you need your car worked on you should check out Joe and Tony's, they are great people, they do really good work and have impeccable taste in photographers. And if you need photography for your architectural portfolio I would love to help you out. Current examples of work can be found here.
A closer look at the 1971 Oldsmobile 442.