Still Life with Volkswagen Photo

Photographer’s Note

Most of my still life shots from Merida have been exclusively of the city's beautiful walls (here, here, and here), but in this case it was the wonderful confluence of identical shades of green on this Volkswagen Beetle and the nearby wall that caught my attention. I also rather like the glare off the car, which gives an accurate feel for what the sun was like that day: hard and brilliant.

Merida, and Mexico generally, is absolutely infested with VW Beetles. Why? German production of the Beetle was severely scaled back in the 1970s so that this car, which had been almost ubiquitous in Gringo America in the late 1960s became much more scarce (until the recent introduction of the new Beetle). During the same time, however, Beetle production was shifted to Brazil and Mexico, where it continued unabated until July 2003, when the "old" Beatle finally went out of production for good. I don't think I saw a single "New Beetle" while I was there, but the old-style Beatle was e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.

For a full (and very interesting) history of this unique car, check its Wikipedia entry. I'm not even a car enthusiast and I enjoyed reading it.

don_narayan, Albrecht, leo61, jmdaoudal, JRushen, Bien, mili, s10001in, luluwi has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

don_narayan (2014) 2006-01-14 13:22

Hi Lee. What is really good here is the continuation of color, the green running from the beetle to the building and the whitish glare from the car to the whitish paint of the building. a good angle too. nice job.

Narayan

merckcrl (209) 2006-01-14 13:38

I love the detail, including both the iconic beetle and the colonial architecture. And a great composition too. Well done.

Albrecht (10912) 2006-01-14 13:40

Hi Lee
I like your compo and the green colour of the VW and of the house. well seen compo.
greetings Albrecht

laurak83 (326) 2006-01-14 13:46

Very beautiful. Nice lines, and the color is great. Thanks for sharing!

starbug (6924) 2006-01-14 13:49

excellent- wonderful tight crop and great match for the colours of the building and the car, i really love your composition.
best regards

devimeuxbe (55665) 2006-01-14 13:50

Hi Lee
I like this simple picture with a nice graphism. The colors of the car and the wall together are nice.
Well done
Bertrand

leo61 (42774) 2006-01-14 14:45

Hi!
Your foto which I like verry much brings me back good memories.A Beetle like this was my first car and my fathers too,He bought his first one 1955.Here in Germany I`m allways happy when I see one,but they get rare.
I like the green of the car which is also at the house in the back.
LEO

Ebbe (9571) 2006-01-14 14:55

Nice tight crop out of your world. The colorcombo is what makes this picture. Well seen and well executed.

flashlight (579) 2006-01-14 15:26

Very good compo. And the tight frame is well choose.

ALSOM (6616) 2006-01-14 16:17

Hi,
I like this compo with the green color as a theme. Good catch and framing, you just missed out someone passing by with the same color ;o)
TFS, Alain

markoci (3917) 2006-01-14 17:04

brilliantly simple, simply brilliant! what an eye lee, what an awesome framing! an instant favorite!

JRushen (394) 2006-01-14 17:56

Well spotted. Nice combination of colours. Beetles are lovely.

Furachan (0) 2006-01-14 19:53

Congratulations on this lovely. I shuld say "perfect" composition, Lee. It POPPED right out of the thumbnail at me. The "bug" being a ubiquitus car in Latin america, you chose well, but it's the framing, the amunt of space taken up by that cropped green beastie, the way te green of the car is taken up by the wall's stripe, that lift this shot even higher.
Sensational,
Francis

jmdaoudal (82) 2006-01-15 3:25

Hé hé, I have been the owner of one of those with the same green apple color in the begining of the seventeenth and that is what attracted me to your composition.
I am also happy to find a good "portrait" of it with excellent color (the true one of it) and a nice choice of framing.
I like it very much
Jean Michel
(the color of it tomorrow (I am out of Gaz)

colinbrenchley (6130) 2006-01-15 5:22

Did you paint the walls to match the car! What coincidence to come across this happening and well spotted.
Regards Colin

Isabelle (9014) 2006-01-15 7:31

this shot could have been taken in São Paulo, Lee!
Here we call it "Fusca" (don´t ask me why!) and it is still for many the first dream car.
excellent pov you chose and colors are super, although i think it would work beautifully in b&w too. you got an excellent angle to portray this well known design.

rosiegirl (2042) 2006-01-15 19:44

I've never really liked beetles, but I like this photo so much! I think its the fact that the colors match..maybe the way the frame tucks it all in.. I don't know exactly but I like it. It definitely says Mexico. Good work.

Rosie

Bien (4727) 2006-01-16 2:46

Hello Lee, The continuation of colour is beautiful here as are the graphic lines and the nostalgia caught in this image. The fact that the sunlight is reflected on the car makes it look even more precious. Quit a brilliant shot! Sabine

mili (187) 2006-01-16 9:40

Hi hi

i like the artistic angle when you take this shot. A small part of the car that the side mirror shows. It was indeed a hard and brilliant sun. It actually shows its stubborness piercing onto the car to bring out the shine of the unpolished.

Beeing a sucker for Volkswagen Beetle and other vintage cars, your note is great information.Thanks for sharing.

mili

jinju (14265) 2006-01-17 5:43

Hey Lee,

I think whats been said is right. The continuation of the green color from the car to the building is fantastic. Did you add a bit of green in color balance? It appears to have a greenish tint. The tight crop is great. A bit of glare that isnt distracting but which I wish wasnt there. But thats a minor thing.

RandomCameraGuy (3063) 2006-01-20 12:44

Very cool. Love the colours here. The only thing that would make it better is a passerby also dressed in the same colour green :)

herowono (438) 2006-01-26 11:41 [Comment]

Show Comment +

dolin (15647) 2006-02-15 3:36

Hi lee.
Excellent composition.
The choice of POV with this framing is marvellous.
I like this dualtones with this repetition of green and this part of white.
Very good eye.
Fred

(I come back for the smile)

rbcy1974 (20742) 2006-02-23 4:25

Hello Lee,
Really good coordination beteen the wall and the car,
excellent choice of cropping, areally outstanding work
Regards
Dnaiel

clarita (654) 2006-03-27 23:47

artistic and nice! i like the green colors you've captured in this pic!

s10001in (1485) 2006-05-26 19:18

Lee Sato ,

great composed image.
With striking note & title.
very well done.
Congratulaions!!
POV is wonderful.
Color of house is also stolen from Color of Volkswagen.
I would prefer to use mirror of car more effectively. Just a my thought!!!

Great image.
very well done.

yanseiler (20) 2006-06-08 3:46

Hi Lee, very nice composition, great crop of the car and good idea to combine the colors on the wall and the color of the car...
Cheers
Yan

luluwi (224) 2006-06-10 7:37

Ciao. At a fist sight I didn't notice that you had captured a green car in front of a white-green house... I can see the car is well in the front with the background just a bit blurred, well done. What I like best is the sun reflection over the smooth surface of the front of the car, which leads to the white oh the house completing the green-white bicromy of your photo. Works good!

ondrej (209) 2007-01-14 9:54

simply beautiful!

luna_amor (121) 2007-04-12 10:41