POTM [11/07] Rusting

[supermonkey]

I finally made it out to take a photo for my submission this month. I first saw this car about 2 years ago, and I've been meaning to go back and find in since then. This month's theme gave me the perfect excuse. After hiking through some pretty thick forest growth for about 30 minutes, I finally found the car again. It was right where it was when I last saw it so long ago. That's the reason I chose the present tense for the title. Although it's decayed to the point of useless, to me it's still very much a living thing. It hasn't quite disintegrated yet, and I imagine it'll continue to live out its life for years to come. I like to think that it's finally at peace; I can almost see it smiling.



To this day I still can't figure out how somebody got an old Chevy into the forest. The growth was thick enough to make it difficult to hike. I can't imagine getting an automobile in there.

But here's the kicker: This was one of two. Also laying nearby were two water heaters and a very old appliance of some kind (I'm guessing a washing machine, but it was too far gone to be sure). People discard strange things in even stranger places.

Basic processing for this shot:

• Cropped (to a standard ratio ) and sized for the web.
• Created an Adjustment Layer using the Channel Mixer. Converted the photo to black and white.
• Turned the layer opacity down to 40% to effectively desaturate the image.
• New Adjustment Layer using the Levels to tweak the exposure.
• Flattened the image and sharpened using the Unsharp Mask.

Enjoy.

EDIT:
Thanks to OleJ's tip about Firefox (hey, you learn something new every day!), I've applied an sRGB color space to my photo, and now it should display properly. I thought the first version looked a little washed out compared to what I had created in Photoshop, but I chalked it up to being tired. The result is very subtle, but now it's right in my eyes. Now that it has a color space that Firefox likes, I've swapped out my original version on the PotM site with this version.



-monkey

[sKaD]

I like it

[OleJ]

That is great! There's an old Volvo Amazon rusting away in a garden that I walk by each time I walk the dog. Was thinking of shooting it but as I don't want to intrude and it's covered/obstructed by growth I haven't really given it much more thought.
Yours is really nice May I suggest perhaps a tiny bit post processing, like saturation and contrast? (Edit: Just noticed you purposefully desaturated it. Nevermind then )

[Hwulex]

Nice shot, like it.

Reminds me there's a few rusted old cars in the woods near my parents I've never remembered to re-trace and photograph. Some are off a track which is understandable, but there is one similar to this in the middle of the woods and I've no idea how it got there.

[OleJ]

Originally Posted by Hwulex

Reminds me there's a few rusted old cars in the woods near my parents I've never remembered to re-trace and photograph. Some are off a track which is understandable, but there is one similar to this in the middle of the woods and I've no idea how it got there.

That somehow made me remember the train grave yard in the city I grew up in. That would be a brilliant place for rusted stuff pictures No can go unfortunately, but the memory was nice to recall

Edit: Here's what some of it looks like. This is a looooong track packed tightly with locomotives and wagons.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

That car looks very sad.

[eldiablo]

Nice picture, i love it. Weird place to find a car though

[Hazardous]

Originally Posted by supermonkey

To this day I still can't figure out how somebody got an old Chevy into the forest. The growth was thick enough to make it difficult to hike. I can't imagine getting an automobile in there.

It was undoubtedly dumped there long before the growth was as thick as it is now - i.e. when the wood/forest was in its infancy.
If you could be bothered doing all the homework/investigation it would require... it would be interesting if you could find out what specific model the car is... when it was [most] in use (i.e. '59 - '69) ... then find out when the forest was planted?
Albeit there are still old bangers on the road even now... it should give you some indication of how long the car has been there


It's a great/interesting shot anyways though

[FragileSocks]

Very well photographed and an odd subject too. Interesting pic.