I have been deliberating this one for a few days.First reaction to it, is that it just doesn't really 'work' for me. But not really surethe reasons why.
First up, I think that the selective colour version is simply horrible. It's an over used cliche, to start with, and with luminouse yellow scooter, and fairly mono-chromatic back-groud, it shouldn't need that 'lift' to make it 'pop'. I like the straight shot better; but I think that the lighting isn't doing much for it. Fairly clear sky, and fairly direct overhead sun, you have un-flattering reflections and shaddows; the shot might have worked better on a more over-cast day with flatter lighting, and or at dawn/dust with more raking light, 'naturally' reducing the back-ground landscape to something more mono-chromatic & simplifying the pylons to silhuettes.
As it stands, the original seems just a little uninspired, the spot-colour, cliche'd - but if the inspiration was to replicate a snap-shot from year's past, then it might be exactly what was intended... be interesting to see the inspiring shot from 30 years ago side-by-side.
After lots of thought and parusing pictures of other Lambrettas though, I think what mostly 'jars' with me is simply the scooter itself! I just don't like the owner's execution of the custom-build.
As a biker, I will say that I have never had much affection for powered-two-wheelers for riders who don't like having anything between their legs; but with the bike scene tending towards 'factory' customs (!?!) and customisation by catalogue & cheque-book, with an ever increasing tendency towards cliché's, I have for eight or ten years been watching the revived scooter scene with a new respect, as a lot more grass-roots imagination & ingenuity has been being displayed than in the bike world....
This one, though? First up is that the square head-lamp implies its a later 70's on, Indian built PIL rather than an Italian Lambretta, whch means owner needn't have been too 'preciouse' about it;
Does mean you really should have turned the handle-bars to the left, though! - First to take the less elegant headlamp out of shot, but also to display the more interesting detail of the wheel & front suspension.. & looks like it might also have a disk-brake conversion that might have been a 'feature' worth showing off.
Also the brake and clutch levers.. with the bum-stop 'racer' seat, the non-original hydraulic front disk-brake lever has bee rotated down for a 'tucked' racer crouch riding position..... but the clutch lever? Sticking up in the air, like a dog's leg with a poorlie-paw! It's a bit incongrouse!
Bit of a dilemah whether to level that lever up for the shot or not, though... it does beg attension, and potentially the question 'why', which hints at another 'feature' of the machine, which is that it has gears, it's not a twist-and-go 'auto' like most modern scooters, and has a twistgrip gear-shift on the left hand side....
But the machine itself; I think that it's that bum-stop seat, set so far back, leaving so much space over the cowlings, while the cowlings have been retained, so it hints at the 'strip-down' look, without actually being strip-down, then that chrome expansion chamber exhaust, and the hydraulic disk-brake reservoir 'hint' there is more going on under the retained cowlings than can be seen, and features that would make the bike more interesting if 'on display'.
Departing a little into scooter history; the original Piagio Vespa was designed by a sadist! An aeronatical engineer, who hated motorcycles, I think he had a Latin tantrum asked to design one, and so started with as many 'bad ideas' as he could come up with, in the hope they'd scrap the idea and let him make a helicopter instead! But they made it. and even the Vespa (meaning 'Wasp') is a in-joke a reference the aeronatical engineer's joke that the Bumble-Bee, has a power-to-weight ratio and a wing-span, both scientifically too small for it to be able to fly.. but it does.. cos no-one has told it that! The scooter, with wheels far too small, crude and limited suspension, a less than ideal frame for rigidity, and perverse weight distribution, the engine behind the rider, REALLY shouldn't make for a very stable, practical powered two wheeler! But no-one has told it that.. so by some serendipitous reason it sort of 'works'!
Anyway; the Lambretta, when conceived was a bare-bones machine; it had none of the tin body-work, and two discreet sprung push-bike saddles for seats, it was the original 'strip-down-scooter' and with the engine mounted ahead of the rear wheel, instead of along side it, as the Vespa, it actually handled rather better.
Following the 'trend' set by Vespa for enclosed body-work, though, the Lambretta was some-what longer, and when they fitted bgger engines even more so; which actually did more to improve the things road stability, but also gave the 'space' for that long flowing almost stream-lined cowling over the engine and rear wheel, that is so much more graceful that the rather bulbouse enclosure on the Vespa that has to be that much shorter and wider to accomodate the engine next to the rear wheel rather than infront of it.
Personally I think that the Lamretta is by far the more stylish scooter, and the 'architecture' provided by that design legacy, gives plenty of scope to go either way in a custom build, either a very very skelatal 'bare-bones' strip-down look, harking back to the un-cowled original, or to go the other way 'fully-loaded' with the body-work. Personally, I think I prefer the 'fully-loaded' look:-
That was a rather cluttered grab-shot on film with my old AX2 compact, when I came out of ASDA one day and found it parked up next to my o/h's Moto-Guzzi! But do you see how the rear cowling of the enclosure is such a 'pretty' and defining feature of the machine? In your shot, 3/4 on from the front, that is foreshortened, and displays the less elegant front mudguard and valence more prominently; I would have been inclined to take a step or two to the left, to try and get a little more of the 'bum' of the bike in shot and make that the more prominent.
But, stepping away completely from the 'concept' to shoot that scoot in tribute of a 30 year old snap-shot, more sympathetically, to show it off for itself; I would start, I think talking to the owner about the machine itself, and trying to capture the 'features' like that front disc-brake, and what might be lurking under the cowlings, they are particularly proud of.
This one; jammed between a bespoke 'kit' chop and an old Brit-Bike Cafe-Racer, at a show a few years ago was not exactly easy to photo, so a couple more grabs, but to give the idea
It was displayed, with the cowling 'off' so that you could see the 'custom' features, and attention to detail that have gone into the build; like that 'special' rear suspension, the big carburettor, and chromed petrol tank.
If I was planning to shoot that scoot, on its own, I would start by talking through all those special features with the owner, and looking for ways to capture the bits they were most proud of, either individually, or in a 'situation' shot as yours, where the cowling could be laid on the ground besides the bike, maybe on a Parka, as if rider was making an impromptu 'adjustment' to the ignition or something, and still show the 'feature' of special paint on the body-work, as this one, with the cowling resting against the forks.
As shot? Well, as I said, I don't like the 'cliche' in the spot colour, I prefer the full colour rendition; but as shot I find it a little uninspired. It's competent, but more attention to situation lighting and some small adjustment to composition could have improved it. But as a pastiche of an earlier photo, to judge whether you have captured that 'essance' or tribute to the original? We eed to see the original 30 year old photo to tell.
Beyond that? shooting vehicles, like most subjects, you need to know your subject! And machines, particularly, have so much more beyond the simple aesthetic, think of them like a portrait, and trying to capture the 'character' and the 'interest' in the machine, not just its likeness. I that, motorbikes are a wonderful subject, particularly older and custom ones, as they so often have so much of that 'interest' exposed to the elements and on display for you to see, if you know what you are looking at. Newer motorbikes and unfortunately scooters, often hide so much of that under expanses of body-work, fairings and cowling, so you might have to know that much more, to have some ideas what interest might be under the 'skin', as well as get a bit creative to reveal and capture it in an image..... which might not be particularly easy, if all you have is the metal, as parked up in-front of you, in the street or at a show to work with; BUT if you have total access and co-operation of the owner, to do a dedicated shoot? And you can pick their brains and suck on their enthusiasm for the machine, to get to know them, as well as the bike, and plan your images from that to grab that 'character'? You are onto a winner.
But that, I think is the trick; and taking your inspiration, as you have, from the owner, and their enthusiasm, and the machine itself, rather than the style-shots that get published in 'Max-Power' or 'Top-Gear' mags!
D) but tomorrow I'll play with this. I do really like it.
