About 🚗 12cylinders

About 12cylinders

Purpose:

The automobile is the principle artefact of the 20th century; it is both a triumph of artistry and individual freedom, and a travesty of consumption and senseless indulgence. What we at 12cylinders are creating is a catalogue of 20th century history seen through the lens of the motor industry. By tracing the history of the automobile, we draw parallels with artistic movements, track the impetus of globalisation, and follow the course of political power and international conflict.

So let us walk forward with this perspective: We live today in the hangover of the 20th century, and the contraption that once changed the world has been slow to evolve into a cleaner, less obtrusive tool for daily life. Future generations may look back on pictures of today's landscape and gawk at the uninspiring dirge of overfilled car parks with the same sense of confusion we exhibit over pictures from the soot-laden industrial revolution. But the color and majesty that once existed, where automobiles became the spiritual focus of the people—that is something worth capturing. In the same way enthusiasts preserve steam heritage, place architectural landmarks into historic trusts, and track the history of roots music that gave birth to each contemporary genre yet to follow, we take this opportunity to wonder at the rapid trajectory of the motorcar.

Writing & History
Structure & Roadmap
Images & Technique
Quality Index (QI)
Biographies

A trove of highly detailed, first-hand automotive journalism dates to the 20th century. In large part, this analogue library sits apart from digital media, yet contains the best writing and sharpest perspective. Automobile Quarterly is the primary source in the Occident, created in 1962 by L. Scott Bailey and wife Peggy Bailey, and paced by marque specialists who produced obsessive texts best known to club members and available today through second-hand booksellers. I believe it is important to base 12cylinders in these print materials. Our Pierce-Arrow portfolio is a good example. I want to revive sources that the average person has not read by making them oft-referenced. Moreover, I have confidence in the accuracy of first-hand information; if I leave a section blank, the reason is because I only print what I can validate.

As to history, I am conscious of the typical classic automobile narrative—the greatest this and that. I am not particularly swayed by popular sentiment, and I've no intention of regurgitating superlatives. But I can perform due diligence, which often involves tracking down tangents that others accept at face value. There is more to be gained by understanding the context into which these automobiles were born than by glancing at the sheet metal and concluding that it is in fact old. To me, uncovering those stories is sweet reward for bothering to survey a few honored marques. One might even say that this extra-automotive work fulfills the minimum requirement of building an online museum, though I'd rather compare the project to a book. I disregard rules for internet production because I believe standards should be higher. So as I wish for 12cylinders to be the digital AQ equivalent, I know that doing so cuts against the grain of typical web content, and I do not care.

We often say automobiles are rolling sculpture, but our images of them tend to either view the automobile as a single subject, or focus on a conventional automotive part. Most static images are therefore depictions of a car, of a radiator, of a wheel, et cetera. While I do make survey images of this type, I've realized my strength lies in creating compositions that use the automobile as artwork. The point is knowing the difference between 'of' and 'as' when photographing the subject. When I have the opportunity, I look for portraits and landscapes that compose elements and lines artistically, cutting and shaping the subject for its design merit by exercising a comparable skill (perhaps). So there is a difference between survey photos that depict a subject (which are still valuable images), as opposed to carefully worked compositions.

I began in film photography, mainly in landscapes with particular success in nocturnal urban vignettes. Transitioning to digital took time, quite long enough to find the right style.

As to technique, I often use a tripod, but not always. I often use a strobe, but not always. I plan every shot for post-process illustration. Early on, I found that my method looked a bit like Michel Zumbrunn's style. Some early images even looked eerily similar. Zumbrunn developed an ad hoc process dependent on setting up an onsite studio. I do the same, but anachronistically. I shoot live in the field, then illustrate the studio later as if it were onsite. (So much for aiming at Michael Furman's impossible standards.) But at some point I also determined that color is better than the sterility of a feathered blue backdrop or the repetition of a big grey lightbox. I have the freedom to create blends and contrasts that pop, combine design elements, and even illustrate lost variations of the automobile in question. Over the years I've seen Octane magazine exploit a similar graphical approach; they want a product that looks well designed. So do I.

Let me also distinguish between these photo-illustrations and the concept of superimposed images. Many folks have tried a similar process, but I do not believe anyone has refined the technique or worked at it to the same extent. No wonder, every image is essentially an illustration with the photograph as a base, rather than the other way around. Good old fashioned drawing and drafting technique gets me where I want to go. I draw a tremendous amount into the canvas, working by hand through dozens of layers while exploiting digital tricks across a few different programs. Every image is a little bit different, even if I want to create a common theme across a gallery. The workflow is too complex to discuss here. Gear, yes, my kit has improved over the years, but I find that any quality source can make a fine image, only the enthusiasm must be found to do it.

Dominic: I'm a writer and visual artist originally from Baltimore, Maryland. I studied philosophy and studio art at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, and have always fostered some considerable fondness for Pennsylvania's rich automotive history, which is no small part of 12cylinders production. Professionally, I've been lucky to build a career in business, legal, and technical domains using writing as my trade. For many years I worked as a business analyst, at times a developer, and for a moment a writer in multimedia marketing. My experience led to executive roles in the DC tech corridor, which allows 12cylinders to remain free for everyone, with no ads and no cookies, (the way the internet was intended).

More to the point, I remember back in high school when my friends and I found the very first incarnation of supercars.net, the possibilities that site stoked in my imagination and the optimism we shared for the internet age. Well, the internet today is something else. So I want 12cylinders to meet different standards, those of the optimistic teenager and not the jaded adult.

While at motoring events, I often keep to myself. I orchestrate what I need to capture, consider how it fits within the broader project, and calculate the illustration work required to build each profile. But I do have other more pleasant personalities, and frankly enjoy engaging with people who like to look under the surface for deeper layers of substance.

Esra: She's a techy from considerably far away from here. E built the 12cylinders CMS. She tends to start projects with off-the-shelf tools until she reaches a point of frustration and just decides to start over from scratch. We've accumulated a few different websites this way over the years, though 12cylinders was always a handmade PHP site from the beginning. She knows product and marketing and all of the bleeding-edge stuff that I ignore where 12cylinders is concerned. She has added her own style such that the 12cylinders design has become collaborative over the years, and lends an occasional photo to the galleries. As her approach is different than mine, I've found opportunity to use these photos to create some unexpected illustrations.