It’s strange, really, to have nothing on the calendar for the unforeseeable future. It seems no sooner had the wheels touched down from my return flight from Amelia that the dominos began to fall. One by one, precautions turned to cancellations, stretching as far into the year as the eye could see. For all intents and purposes, it was the greater good at stake.
The last large gathering on my calendar was Amelia Island, before the thought of being in a crowd was taboo.
The last six weeks for me have been something. My wife and I welcomed our second child right at the cusp of the pandemic being turned up to 11. In fact, just a few days prior to our admittance, the hospital we would be delivering at ran with the notion of no visitors being allowed at all, even in maternity. That idea lasted all of a few hours before it was tackled and sent off to the locker room with a concussion. Currently, besides the mother-to-be, one individual can be the designated support person in maternity, with additional screening.
I’m sensitive to the fact that many people have not only have lost their livelihoods, but also their lives. High school and college seniors that worked their asses off to graduate and enter the workforce have had the rug pulled out from under them. Small businesses whose margins are tight during a good year have had their income streams dry up altogether. Beautiful Saturdays whose dates were saved for weddings have been spent on back patio Zoom calls instead. Everyone’s lives have been impacted, some in bigger ways than others. There are plenty of pieces that discuss the minutia of the matter so I’m not going to expound what I don’t feel comfortable discussing. I can only speak from my own experience. I’m cognizant to the fact the affect on my relation to car culture is but a small slice of a larger pie.
The NYIAS was a staple of my April for the easily the last 25 years.
And while many of my close friends and acquaintances know it’s not photography that keeps the roof over my family’s head, it still makes up a large portion of my time. Over these last few years I’ve built up my passion project into a nice little side business providing photographic services while doing something I love. I’m still trying to unpack emotions on having all that grind to a halt essentially overnight.
The future Best of Show at the 2019 Festival Italiano at The Hermitage.
But we’re all adjusting to this “new normal” in our own ways. For me, because of the aforementioned addition to our family, I haven’t necessarily found myself with an inordinate amount of spare time. I’m not catching up on the stack of magazines flanking my desk, nor am I deep diving into my back catalogs and applying some contemporary edits. I have, however, found the lack of commitments has removed a lot of stress and anxiety from my schedule. It’s sometimes a struggle for me to strike the balance between fun and family (not implying they’re mutually exclusive, of course), especially when it comes to covering car shows. I’m looking forward to the time when the kids are old enough to tag along as assistants. But until then, and until this pandemic settles into the past, we’re going to take it one day at a time.
Time spent at home with the family is always appreciated, especially in large doses.
I’ve been mulling about with this idea for a few weeks now, and since then, the most recent removal from the automotive calendar was Pebble Beach and Monterey Car Week*. That announcement, posted on April 22, was a real eye opener for the global situation, given it was called with nearly four months to show time. It’s understandable though, considering the amount of preparation that goes into something of that magnitude. The New York International Auto Show, which would have already passed, has been rescheduled for September. Caffeine & Carburetors, the 4-part extravaganza in New Canaan, CT, cancelled their two spring dates. Festival Italiano, Tony Boniello’s incredible Italian-only event at The Hermitage, also postponed, the new date TBD. And my biggest weekend of the year, Greenwich Concours, has also been axed. The last holdout for me before spring turns to summer is Cult Classic, the VW heavy show in Coopersburg, PA. They’ll make their decision on whether or not to hold the outdoor event at the end of May. And once summer’s over, will Lime Rock’s Historic Festival still remain on the calendar? That’s up in the air as of now. Even the organizers of the Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance, which takes place at the middle of September, are set to decide if 2020’s event will happen by the end of the month.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve pretty much written 2020 off already. It’s even sadder when I think beyond the cars and focus on all the people I won’t be interacting with. I look forward to seeing groups of pals at different events, cramming a year’s worth of life’s moments into brief but enjoyable conversations. Those interactions are now also limited to the online variety, where beyond those pleasantries, we learn more about our friends than we sometimes care to know.
Cult Classic, an open field showing of mostly Volkswagens, was the most recent event to postpone due to the pandemic.
*Correction. Since I started writing this post, Cult Classic, the only VW show I attend each year (and write about for Performance VW Magazine), has been indefinitely postponed. I’ve already poured one out and I suggest my fellow V-dubbers do the same.
Ken Gross and Wayne Carini talk shop before being joined by Andrea Zagato at the 2019 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance.
I can’t stress enough how much I agree and empathize with the tough decisions to cancel, even those that appear to be in the distant future. Not only do a lot of these events require enormous amounts of resources, but the many moving parts work better together when they’re only hoping for nice weather to succeed, not whether or not a global pandemic has subsided enough that it’s safe for people’s health to attend. And if you think the decision to cancel was an easy one, or that because Show A cancelled, Show B must follow suit or risk being ostracized, I’m sure the organizers agonized over their options, carefully considering each before ultimately coming to the cautious conclusion. A lot of people depend on the show going on, but the risks are just not worth the rewards. And in some cases, governmental orders on large gatherings make the decision for them.
A row of Zagatos at the 2019 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance.
There are a lot of opinions out there arguing both sides of the coin. But those are just opinions, people who possess more time than knowledge, experience, or credentials to validate their talking fingers.
An Arnolt-Bristol leaving one of the stops on Friday’s Grand Tour during the 2019 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance.
So what does getting on look like? A handful of shows/events have transitioned to the online world, trailblazing new ideas to keep that sense of normalcy and relevance. New England Dustoff, a Volkswagen show that has traditionally kicked off the season, went from cancelling the in-person event to creating the Virtual Dustoff in less than a week (or at least that’s what it felt like). Those clever cats created a website that mirrored the track layout. Another event, the Isolation Island Concours d’Elegance pivoted on their creative foot and tackled the task in a smaller scale, focusing on diecast models instead of full-size features. Other events are following suit and taking a similar approach to skirting stay-home orders. One thing’s for sure with these alternative events, rain dates never have to be exercised. But while this resiliency and conversion to virtual venues are great for the psyche, it doesn’t help this part-time photographer, ha.
As of press time, Driven to America 4 is still an unknown.
But I’m not just sitting here with idle cameras, waiting for subjects to just materialize in front of my lenses. I’m keeping busy in other ways.
A trio of miniature Alfa Romeos is just a small selection from a much larger collection.
In the free time I most certainly do not have, I’ve begun to dig into my diecast menagerie, offering up some interesting subject material for another blog I recently started contributing to. You can find that over at LamleyGroup. While it takes me much longer to unbox a car or three, photograph them with an actual camera (as opposed to simply pointing my phone at it), and write a few [thousand] words to go along with the pretty pictures, it’s that tiny bit of salvation I need in these challenging times. Plus, not having to worry about deadlines is also a relief.
I’ve also begun to assemble a much better landing page for my gallery. I called upon the pros at Pixieset to substitute their platform in place of Squarespace’s. Eventually, my goal is for it to allow me to strum up a little commerce with downloadable files and click-to-order prints. I am also trying to write more, or at least copy and paste old pieces to make it seem like the blog isn’t just a sad, stagnant body of posts hocking past calendars.
Caffeine & Carburetors have cancelled their spring events. The two autumn dates remain as of now.
As we tiptoe through 2020, worrying about whether or not we’re giving the human next to us enough space, there are plenty of things to distract us from the goings on. So in addition to keeping my fingers tapping and my shutters snapping, I’ll be doing my best to post often across my social channels, Facebook and Instagram. As mentioned, my reserves of JPGs would outlast a nuclear war.
Lime Rock Historics (l.) and Radnor Hunt Concours (r.) are still TBD.
And so long as we properly vet those shocking news stories and stop sharing sensational clickbait pieces, we’ll emerge into 2021 with our sanity intact. Grab your keys and shine your rides, there are shows to attend. Maybe it’s best to trade in the WUTmobile for an RV?