Cole Bardin
The Historic Road to History, 2020
Digital inkjet prints
18 x 12 inches each
With this project, I decided to go back to my roots of photography and photograph a car. My automotive photography usually consists of the newest and fastest cars in the world, but with this project, I wanted to photograph classic cars. Veering away from my typical car photography of modern supercars, I wanted to tell a story with my images. With the two historic cars that I chose, I wanted to represent the fantasy and reality of owning a classic car. The fantasy aspect is portrayed by Jay Leno’s 1953 Cunningham Continental C3. Originally built in Florida to win the “24 Hours of Le Mans,” this car’s history reflects America’s participation in road racing. I represented the fantasy of owning a historic car like this by capturing the car carving canyons on the open road in Malibu. These cars were made to be driven. I wanted to tap into the car culture of southern California by capturing the breathtaking mountains and scenic canyon tunnels. This depiction encapsulates the fantasy shared by the majority of car enthusiasts.
Contrasting the Continental C3, I used a 1967 Mclaren M1C to represent the reality of owning a classic car. These photos portray the car sitting dormant in a garage, restricted from road use. This depicts the reality of the majority of classic cars: sitting in a garage collecting dust and never seeing the light of day. I represented the reality of owning classic cars by photographing the car trapped in its garage, not on the open road. The car is surrounded by garage clutter, showing how it’s not moved often. The car remains motionless, only existing as decoration. However, this is the price to pay to own a piece of history.
