There's something about a junkyard that I've always found fascinating. I've come to think of it more as an auto graveyard, where once great cars now sit in rust and ruin - in a final resting place. My passion has always been cars - when I began restoring old cars I would visit yards and often wonder - what would these cars say if they could talk? Cars that once brought such pride to their owners - some the first car a family ever owned. Cars that carried couples, brides, newborns, families - even carrying people for their last ride. Every one of these cars was once brand new, an integral part of someone's life, yet now it sits alone, rotting, a shell of its former self.
I wanted some way to remember these cars - cars you just don't see anymore. That's when I began photographing junkyard scenes that really caught my eye. From the old Cadillac Hearse - "Death's Door" (Parts & Pieces) to an empty 1953 Divco Milk Truck that was once such a part of a community, now I've named it "No Milk Today" (Parts & Pieces). Then there's the 1942 Chevrolet Troop Carrier used in WWII - once a proud soldier - now a prisoner of weeds - I called that "P.O.W." (Rods & Rigs). A '57 Lincoln with the unique Knight hood ornament, it once charged down the highway - now "Knight of the Road" (Ornaments & Emblems). Or the two Mustangs that have been sitting so long they've become one with nature - "Wooden Ponies" (Rods & Rigs).
It was important to me that I photograph these cars as I found them, in their natural and final state. I didn't touch anything around them - the photo you purchase shows how the car still sits today. I didn't photograph anything post 1970 and they are all classic American cars.
I hope you enjoy the images as much as I enjoyed photographing them.
M.W. Kreitz
Rodtography
Phone: (610) 678-5636
Email: photos@rodtography.com
