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
