November 8th, 2006
I warned you. Carhenge with no naked women. It’s too bad I couldn’t find a model to take there today. The temperature was in the mid-70s and I had the place all to myself for a good part of the time I was there.
I first visited Carhenge when it was brand new with my best friend, Ken, on a motorcycle trip. We pitched our tent right there at the site and spent the night doing photos. We did some multiple flash time exposures wandering around with Vivitar 283s and lighting each car individually. We shot the sunset and Ken shot the sunrise. I was sleeping, as I always try to be when the sun comes up. That was back when the local authorities were still upset about it being built. They were calling it “a junk yard too close to the road” and other less flattering things. They tried to force the creator to remove it but he resisted long enough for the locals to wake up and realize that for the first time ever, there was a reason for people to come to Alliance, Nebraska. The next time I was through Alliance there was a Carhenge banner hanging from every lamp post in the town. It looks like the initial blush of fame has passed now, but there are a lot more hotels and other businesses in Alliance than there were back in the 80s.
Ken wrote a magazine article about that ride, including the Carhenge stop. As a result I was quoted in a national magazine saying that Carhenge was the best work of art done in the U.S. in the 1980s. I am still willing to stand by that statement. What could be more American than to reproduce an ancient British artifact using junk cars.
This shot isn’t all that great, but it did give me a chance to try out the panorama help feature on my Canon G6. Looks to me like it works pretty well. This is stitched together using the program that came with the camera. It is a combination of 6 images, shot hand held using the stitch assist feature in the camera. You may want to click on the image to see it larger. The full resolution version would print nicely at 40 inches x 10 inches. May have to crank one out when I get back home just to see what it looks like.
I’ll be watching for other chances to use this feature, maybe with a nude included next time.
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