Photo Gallery: Robert McCarter’s Favorite Bonneville, Road Trips and Odd Shots
North Carolina’s Robert McCarter is a cool dude with a wicked eye for hot rod photography. Maybe that’s because of his graphic design skills, his love for driving hot rods and photographing them or his mechanical and machining skills along with an affinity for designing award winning upholstery jobs. He is a renaissance man in many aspects.
When his career as a machinist for the Wall Street Journal was eliminated due to the 2007 acquisition by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation (many satellite factories were closed), McCarter found himself with a lot of free time to chase his true passions launching him on his current trajectory. We are stoked (and lucky) to have him as a Fuel Curve team member.
We recently asked Robert to share his favorite 30 images with you. Below are Robert’s thoughts on this photo gallery in his own words – Editor
“Photography and hot rods would be hard to separate for me. One seems to fuel the other in my case. Though my range of taste is quite broad, you wouldn’t know it by my collection of photos. Hot Rods are where my passion is, it’s what I learned to wrench on and where I learned what all those little camera buttons do. OK, so I’m still learning more than I know on both of those. The photography didn’t come into play until much later, at least not in a serious manner.
Bonneville Speed Week is where my photography really shifted to the next gear. It’s such an incredible place full of extraordinary people; a person would be hard pressed to walk away from the salt bed uninspired on some front. The majority of my favorite photos are from various trips to Speed Week over the years. I know you have heard this before, but Bonneville is a must for anyone’s to-do list.
Road trips! I’m a firm believer that cars were meant to be driven and sights were meant to be seen behind the wheel of a hot rod. Pick some cross county destination, add some cool mode of transportation and you’re bound to come up with a few stories along the way. Photo opportunities are mostly by chance with this, but for me these happy accidents usually end up as some of my favorite shots. My green roadster has been coast to coast several times over the years, leading to a large number of photos from behind the wheel.
With all this running around it’s good to stop and check out the details. I love close up shots and odd angles, views most people don’t think of or take the time to notice. I often get strange looks from people while I’m focusing on a tire or some louvers and such. Sometimes a seemingly boring subject can be interesting at a different angle or close up.
So I like get out and about, hit the road and see what’s out there. But don’t forget to stop and notice the little things, inspiration is everywhere!”
