"The Woodward Dream Cruise is the world’s largest one-day celebration of car culture, attracting more than 1 million visitors and over 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, custom, collector and special interest vehicles to Metro Detroit. |
In August 1995, Nelson House and a group of volunteers looked to relive and recreate the nostalgic heydays of the 50s and 60s, when youth, music and Motor City steel roamed Woodward Avenue, America’s first highway. That year, 250,000 people participated—nearly ten times the number expected. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, the Woodward Dream Cruise is the world’s largest one-day automotive event, drawing 1.5 million people and 40,000 classic cars each year from around the globe—from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the former Soviet Union. North American cruisers from California, Georgia, Canada and all points in between caravan to Metro Detroit to participate in what has become, for many, an annual rite of summer." |
That's pretty much it in a nutshell. The official Cruise is this Saturday but the cruising starts a couple weeks before (actually all summer long) and pretty much any night of the week you will see people sitting in lawn chairs along the side of the road watching the classic cars roll by. Locals have a love hate relationship with the cruise and to be honest, being one of those locals, I'm on the fence about it. It brings in a lot of people and it's great for businesses but trying to get around town the week before is down right impossible. I was asked recently to participate in an event/show that centers around women and transportation called 101% Fashion RIDE and I mentioned I could show some of my car photos. When asked why I shoot cars when I am not really a car fanatic it got me thinking. Why do I shoot cars sometimes? For one thing I like to shoot things that take me out of my comfort zone by not knowing much about them because it causes me to only think about line, shape, color, texture, and form. It's photography where the subject is stripped raw and is at it's purest I think. Plus I like shooting subjects that people are surprised to find out it's a female photographer. That's just my personality--going against stereotypes.
Here are some of my favorite car photos I've taken over the past couple of years. Don't ask me what kind of cars they are, details of the engines, etc etc because I don't really care.
