The Garrage Garage
Last weekend I had the divine opportunity to photograph some of the Syracuse's finest. Pete Garrage has been customer of Nathan's since Psychobilly opened. He is a fellow lover of all things fast and rebellious and owns a few show cars (that he works on himself) and some cool bikes. He also has two raging awesome daughters. Shawna, the eldest, is such an righteous lady. She even gave me a pair of vintage cat eye glasses that are quite close to my prescription (blind)! I was hoping she could bring her Pit bulls Stella and Frankie, alas it was snowing, and the little dears will have to wait for their modeling debut. Shawna works with Pit Bull rescues, and her male rescue, Frankie, is one of the worst cases ever recorded. Listening to all of this dog loving and rescue while applying MAC make-up in their mother's beauty parlor made me realize that, not only is this chick awesome, but we had to be new best friends. Then she showed me her wardrobe for the shoot, including vintage clothing and rock-a-billy garb. I almost fainted. I had known Jessica for years now, and never knew how wicked awesome her family really was. Jess is one of those gals who is friends with everyone, and a real free spirited fun loving type. She has always been supportive of car culture and has grown up in the scene. Her Labradoodle Black Betty will also be waiting for her modeling debut this summer. Jess is such a timeless beauty and is great to work with, we had a lot of fun and never once was there a fake smile ;).
As we wrapped it up, I was forced to drink beer with these awesome people. Pete had old car documentaries playing in the garage as we sat and chit-chatted for hours. Cindy, the girls' mom, Pete's wife, was brewing up home made spaghetti and pineapple upside down cake. Thank god they invited me to stay for lunch.
Listening to all of their stories of car shows past, growing up Garrage sounded pretty freaking cool. Stories of Pete's battle with cancer years back and his amazing recovery were very touching. Watching the way these girls looked at their father and listened to his stories knowing that every day with him is a blessing was quite the humbling experience. Coming from a close family myself, to see that and be part of their world for a day was a blessing for me as well. The stories are good, you want to listen. Pete is one of those guys, like my dad, the last of their kind. The stand up, hand shake the first time you meet kind of guy. The stop at someones house in the middle of the countryside to see what that old Chevy behind the barn is all about kind of guy. The tear it down and see how it works and rebuild it 10 times better kind of guy. The kind of DAD that is there for your family 100% and a part of your children's lives. These things make my heart swell.
Here are a few more pics from the collection. It was really the first time I was able to experiment with my new camera, flash and fisheye lens. I am in love.
