Vital Imagery Blog

One of the special features we did at the community newspaper where I worked for over 20 years, was to highlight tourist attractions in the area throughout all four seasons.  One of the stories for the summer issue included a national motorsport event held at a local drag racing track.

Now, in the best scenario when it comes to photographing any event,  the  person for the job is  obviously someone who knows and understands what they're covering.  They know where the  action is going to be and what to look for.

As not a sole on staff had ever even attended a drag race, the publisher decided if my car-loving husband was game we'd send him along. The hope was that in the media pit he'd be able to get some great shots despite his lack of photography experience.

And he actually did. They were in fact quite surprisingly good.  But what made that fact even more fun  was his telling of walking in with the little Canon Powershot to stand beside the guys from the dailies with their…

In a little over a week we will be honouring the first hero in our life. Father's Day is Sunday, June 21 and it will be the second one without my dad.

Losing a parent is difficult no matter how long they were with us. I was one of the lucky ones as  my father spent 90 rich years in this world.  And while special days like his birthday and Father's Day can be sad, they also represent a celebration of  that well-lived life and the effect he had on who my siblings and I have become.

Dad came from humble beginnings — born to German farmers just a few years before The Great Depression. He knew about making do, and was raised to recognize the value of hard work. Somewhere in his generic makeup, however, was a party guy with a love of music and the grace of a gazelle when it came to moving to its rhythms.

As an adult he spent long hours building a business, but found  magic moments in each day for his kids.  Saturday night dances were sacrosanct for he and his sweetheart to dazzle t…

As I've mentioned in these posts before, summertime for me is all about cars. Classic ones, of course, particularly Mopars.  I love the way they look, love the memories they stir, love riding in them. 

And the other thing about cars is that they are all about action and movement.  Who doesn't love that.

Besides the obvious utilitarian purpose of transportation to and from one place or another, when we think of cars we also think of power and speed.  Mention the chase scene from the movie Bullitt and car fans' eyes glaze with excitement as they think of Detective Frank Bullitt's '68 Charger speeding wildly through urban streets and the dusty countryside in hot pursuit of the bad guys.

So when cars are your thing, when you're in need of something to highlight a special event or personal project, when you want a graphic to catch the eye, it seems more fitting when possible to use an animation rather than a static image.  Like a cruise in a beautiful classic automo…

Summer for most people means the hazy days of sand and surf — relaxing, lazy idylls beside cool waters, long walks on sandy beaches,  glorious sunsets and socializing by blazing campfires.

That was the pattern for my husband and me while our four children were young. But once they hit their teens and summer employment kept them from enjoying these sojourns together with us, we sold our getaway. 

These days, now, with kids all grown, we spend our summers praying for sunny days to take our 1967 Mopar out for a cruise.  There is something about riding around in one of these old beauties that just seems right. Life, as I like to say, looks better from the windows of a classic car.

With spring in full bloom and summer down the road,  I've got cars on the brain.  I daydream of long drives on sunny days, visiting with people of like mind at shows and cruise-ins. The music that blares in my car or in the air around me at events is pure 1960s classics, fitting the mood to the setting.

S…

Weekends are always nice, but there are those ones, particularly in the summertime,  when all the stars seem to align.

This past one was like that for me. My husband and I imposed no deadlines on ourselves and the activities were relaxing.  Other than a nasty sunburn — brought on by my stupid notion that I could spend a day outside without sunscreen at a car show — everything was perfect.

Not even the beach says summer to me as much as muscle cars and 60s tunes.  It takes me back to a pretty amazing time in my life where riding around in cars with boys was more about the cars then it was about the boys.

Though both my boyfriend of the day and my brother had  Chev Malibus,  it was the Mopars, chosen by quite a few of the young guys in our circle, that caught my eye. The Road Runner, the Super Bee, the Swinger, the Charger — these were the vehicles to turn this girl's head. (So much so I guess that I married a Mopar man.)

And when I wasn't spending my time looking at cars I was …