The Batman

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 years ago, while I was cruising down the highway, a very interesting car caught my eye. It was the Batmobile. Well.. A Batmobile. It wasn't MY Batmobile, and I barely recognized it without the logo on the side but, rest assured, it was most definitely one version of the Caped Crusader's car.

Now, let me clarify my earlier comment; I'm an 80's child so Michael Keaton is my Batman. There's nothing that has ever hit me like the Burton Batman films. Are they campy? Absolutely. But that set and costume design.. It was unreal. It was fantastical. It was more than just a dark and scary city.. It was like a living comic book. I still enjoy rewatching Batman and Batman Returns for those reasons.

Interestingly enough, the owner of this particular Batmobile considered building the Keaton car before choosing the West car. Why didn't he do that instead? Turns out he didn't just want to build an icon that he'd take to shows. He had every intention of driving whatever he built regularly so he could enjoy it and, if you remember Keaton's car, visibility wasn't ideal for regular driving. So after hearing this from the man himself, I completely understand the choice.

Anyway - a friend of mine, who seems to know every single person in town, heard I was interested in finding the owner of this car. After a brief chat online, we were at this stranger's front door, asking if he was the owner of the Batmobile seen regularly around town. Enter Everett, longtime Batman fan, builder and owner of the car in question. Not only did he confirm he owned it but he even let us into his garage to get a real close look at it and talked details about the build. When I asked if it would be possible to take some pictures, he said he'd rather wait until it was done as he was about to refinish some things. This was March of 2016.

Flash forward to November of 2021 and I intentionally reject an incoming call on my cell because it's typically telemarketers. A few minutes later, a man leaves a voice message asking if this is the photographer he met a while back and that he is the owner of the Batmobile. It was now shoot ready, if I was still interested. I couldn't believe it. It's been over 5 years since we spoke and he actually held onto my number. I was floored. I was also concerned about the idea of trying to bring something like this out to shoot during the winter months.. open top and all. This is why we only just met to finally take some pictures.

I decided to put together two sets of images from this shoot. The set featured here on my portfolio is more indicative of the type of work I’m hired to do. I wanted to put together some images for the owner that showed off various details of the car he’s been building for several years. The next set, which I’m still crafting, will be featured on the River City Congress site (which I’ll link back to here when it’s finished). It includes some cool driving images of the car in action, along with some really great fog and haze night shots created with a DIY portable smoke machine I recently put together.

Gear: Sony A7RIII, Sony a6600, Sony 24-105 f4 G OSS, Samyang 35 AF f1.4, Samyang AF 85 f1.4, Sigma 18-50 f2.8, B&W CPL, YN360, Manfrotto Tripod, Cutter Propane Insect Fogger

Post Processing: Adobe Photoshop

Spooky season is here..

It's that time of year again. Seems like it always sneaks up on me and suddenly I'm scrambling to figure out something fun or creative to do. This year was no exception but, to be honest, I'm pretty happy with how this one worked out. While my monster cars have previously represented actual monsters of old horror stories, exception to the Ghostbusters Ecto 1 replica I photographed last year, this year was another vehicle that I took creative liberties with. As soon as I ran across a video of this monster truck that a local friend picked up, I knew it'd be a neat fit to do something with.. but I couldn't quite wrap my head around what that was. A generic monster transformation? A real life version of the Monster Truck from the animated movie? An attempt at Bigfoot in the woods? There were several options.. of which I chose none.

After taking a look at the truck in person and realizing we had limitations on where we could take it (it's not street legal and we couldn't get it started that night to actually drive it anywhere) I made a different creative choice. Since the vehicle fits the era of one of my favorite Halloween watches, Stranger Things, and since I'd not jumped on that bandwagon when everyone else was, because I didn't have an era appropriate vehicle or anything tying my subject to the show, this seemed like as good an opportunity as any.

While my previous incarnations have been static photos only, I decided to put a little extra work into this and make it animated to really hammer home the Upside Down effect. A couple of points to mention - I legit love sound design and this was a really great opportunity to play around with some. Also, I cannibalized some stock tornado images to add a little depth/texture to the Mind Flayer. Fingers crossed you noticed and it was worth the effort to more people than just myself.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Ecto 1K

Born in 1984, it almost feels like it's my obligation to love the movie Ghostbusters. It is, after all, touted as being one of the best comedies ever made. And, for those of us who enjoy ghost stories and comedy, it's a pretty solid blend of the two. For me though, this was more than a love of the movie itself. It was my first journey into fantastic technology. Over the top toys that every kid wished they had in the 80's, even if they'd never seen a real ghost.

While I did get a shot to photograph an Ecto replica back in 2016, it was a modern day take on the classic car. The Denver Ghostbusters Ecto Magnum was really a brilliant car and getting picked up at my hotel in it was a moment I'll never forget. Cruising around a city I don't know, with guys I don't know, in a car I would've died to have.. That was one for the books! For what it's worth, I still think the Dodge Magnum is the best modern platform for today's team, but the Cadillac CTS-V is definitely a close second. All that to say, seeing a more accurate, nearly identical year replica felt like an entirely different ballgame.

This 1964 Cadillac Miller Meteor Ambulance, done up to look like the original '59 Ecto 1 was fantastic. Watching it roll down the highway, lights flashing, seeing the the back loaded up with the packs.. It was like I was living in a scene from the movie (well - the new one where things are happening in the Midwest, not New York City). In fact, that was the goal of this little get together. Not only did I want to see the car in person and get a chance to photograph it but I also wanted to try and create some imagery that felt like it could've come from the newest Ghostbusters film, Afterlife. Since I live in Kansas, the scenery from the new film felt a bit more doable than anything larger scale.

My goal was to try and tell a story with these. While I definitely could've used the owners, as they were suited up, I knew my time was limited and I really wanted to focus on the car. Hopefully I've done the car justice and definitely hope to meet back up again when the new film is out to possibly recreate some movie scenes!

Gear: Sony A7RIII, Sony 24-105 f4 G OSS, B&W CPL, YN360, Sunpak Tripod

Post Processing: Adobe Photoshop