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'Black Cars Look Better in the Shade'

Back in the 1980s I competed in track and field and tried to interest my kids in the same. Guess I tried too hard because none of them got involved then. All was not in vain, though, because two became marathon runners in adulthood and our eldest daughter outdid us all to become a world-class triathlete. What this has to do with music is that the disc jockey who controlled the Tannoy system at our local track invariably blasted out Montreal singer Gino Vannelli's songs during longer races. This music accompanied our kids and their Mum screaming at their Dad to speed up to meet some or other qualifying time for the Canadian race walking team.

The other night, while walking the dog for her late night pee, the full moon over the tree tops was impressive enough that I took a quick photo. Inspecting it the morning after, the moon was indistinct and the picture evoked no less hazy thoughts and memories that didn't coalesce until a couple of days later. It was the car that was the trigger.

night_img_2725_lu_small_by_rufusthered-daf4rem.jpg


Gino Vannilli's best song included the great line "Black Cars Look Better in the Shade." It's about an older woman with lyrics as follows:

Under the cover of night
She crawls into sight
Her skin is cold china white
She's a dark angel wearing dark glasses
Dark shadows under long false lashes
The night exposes the cracks
She wears her makeup like wax
To hide every scratch
'Cause she a dark angel riding dark horses
Sitting pretty in her dim lit covers... I say
Black cars look better in the shade
She smears her lipstick on right before she sleeps
For all those phantom lovers in her dreams
She smokes them french cigarettes
In cocktail gloves and a strapless dress
She cuts a perfect silhouette
But she's a dark angel wearing dark glasses
A fading beauty as the night time passes... I say
Black cars look better in the shade
Black cars look better in the shade.

You can see Gino sing it HERE

In 1984, when Gino recorded the song, it broke new ground. Sexuality particularly in older women was a taboo topic indeed - sexually involved older men were thought fools but comparable women pure evil. My wife Lee and I published a book on the topic a decade later (Sex May Be Wasted on the Young) but it wasn't until Viagra came on the market that later life sexuality came fully out of the closet. So good for Gino: he was bravely ahead of his time but made a young man's error of equating beauty with few age lines rather than a wealth of sensual experience. The actress Charlotte Rampling have could put him right about that (READ HERE).

So Gino's song inspired a couple of photos of my own dark angel.

in_vicar_s_park_by_rufusthered-daf4snw.jpg


candle_light_by_rufusthered-daf56k6.jpg

Thanks Gino. Without your music, these images would never have got together.

Mike
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks Mike for the black car. The shiny finish really helps to make it work and reflect back specular highlights.

I did not know of the song and I listened to it twice. Very thoughtful sentiments for such a young singer.

Asher
 
I like your photos, which camera are you using? Do you have special settings for night shooting?

Hi Ruth

Many thanks for the comment. Glad you like the photos. The camera is a first-generation Canon mirrorless with a 22mm pancake lens. For these photos the camera decided the ISO with (if I remember correctly) the lens wide open. Cheers, Mike
 
Last edited:
Hi Ruth

Many thanks for the comment. Glad you like the photos. The camera is a first-generation Canon mirrorless with a 22mm pancake lens. For these photos the camera decided the ISO with (if I remember correctly) the lens wide open. Cheers, Mike

I'm glad you answered me! I also like to take night photos, but I have much less experience, so I'm interested in this information! And maybe you will also like these tips http://weedit.photos/2017/how-to-edit-night-photos-in-photoshop/
I'm curious what you think!
 
Last edited:

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Mike,

Back in the 1980s I competed in track and field and tried to interest my kids in the same. Guess I tried too hard because none of them got involved then. All was not in vain, though, because two became marathon runners in adulthood and our eldest daughter outdid us all to become a world-class triathlete. What this has to do with music is that the disc jockey who controlled the Tannoy system at our local track invariably blasted out Montreal singer Gino Vannelli's songs during longer races. This music accompanied our kids and their Mum screaming at their Dad to speed up to meet some or other qualifying time for the Canadian race walking team.

The other night, while walking the dog for her late night pee, the full moon over the tree tops was impressive enough that I took a quick photo. Inspecting it the morning after, the moon was indistinct and the picture evoked no less hazy thoughts and memories that didn't coalesce until a couple of days later. It was the car that was the trigger.

night_img_2725_lu_small_by_rufusthered-daf4rem.jpg


Gino Vannilli's best song included the great line "Black Cars Look Better in the Shade." It's about an older woman with lyrics as follows:

Under the cover of night
She crawls into sight
Her skin is cold china white
She's a dark angel wearing dark glasses
Dark shadows under long false lashes
The night exposes the cracks
She wears her makeup like wax
To hide every scratch
'Cause she a dark angel riding dark horses
Sitting pretty in her dim lit covers... I say
Black cars look better in the shade
She smears her lipstick on right before she sleeps
For all those phantom lovers in her dreams
She smokes them french cigarettes
In cocktail gloves and a strapless dress
She cuts a perfect silhouette
But she's a dark angel wearing dark glasses
A fading beauty as the night time passes... I say
Black cars look better in the shade
Black cars look better in the shade.

You can see Gino sing it HERE

In 1984, when Gino recorded the song, it broke new ground. Sexuality particularly in older women was a taboo topic indeed - sexually involved older men were thought fools but comparable women pure evil. My wife Lee and I published a book on the topic a decade later (Sex May Be Wasted on the Young) but it wasn't until Viagra came on the market that later life sexuality came fully out of the closet. So good for Gino: he was bravely ahead of his time but made a young man's error of equating beauty with few age lines rather than a wealth of sensual experience. The actress Charlotte Rampling have could put him right about that (READ HERE).

So Gino's song inspired a couple of photos of my own dark angel.

in_vicar_s_park_by_rufusthered-daf4snw.jpg


candle_light_by_rufusthered-daf56k6.jpg

Thanks Gino. Without your music, these images would never have got together.

Thank you for all that. And your own dark angel is precious.

Best regards,

Doug
 
Thanks, Éric, Doug. Ruth, sorry for the delayed reply. The Photoshop article provides a lot of good advice. My approach to nighttime photos is to crank up the ISO. I don’t like flash and am too impatient to use a tripod, but over time developed an intuitive sense of how high to crank. After that, Affinity, which is my Photoshop substitute, takes over for fine tuning.
Cheers
Mike
 
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