Lufting Back

I really did not like this picture when I took it in May, 2019, mainly because it was too busy, too chaotic, with no central focus. I took it at Luftgekühlt 6, the premier air-cooled Porsche show in the world, which was held on the backlot of Universal Studios.

I like looking at it much more now because it speaks volumes about what we have given up. It is an uplifting view of the past, of a carefree time that I hope we see again soon.

My friend, Mark, and I took my Guards Red 89 Carrera to the event, It looked great, as it was freshly coiffed for a very public appearance.

We arrived early in the morning, along with all the other air-cooled Porsches that were going to park on the backlot.

Mark is connected with a Capital C so we were able to go to the Petersen pre-event festivities, hang out with Patrick Long, the creator of the event and world-class Porsche race car driver and unbelievably nice guy, and eat backstage with the Luft crew.

All in all it was a fantastic day. Mark and I had a great time. The backlot will never look that good again, as there were air-cooled Porsches in every nook and cranny and entire backlot streets were jammed with parked Porsches.

As we were getting ready to leave, I took one last picture of my Carrera. I thought it was a unique opportunity to capture the essence of the day, without other parked Porsches or people milling around to muck up my shot, and I doubted I would ever get a similar chance. When I looked at it when I got home, I was disappointed with it. It just did not work, and I felt it was sort of meh.

The picture just did not convey how I felt about that day. The lighting is off. My car looks dull, as its gleam is gone because it had rained a bit. After seeing so many cars and so many people crowding in a small space, my car looks lonely, sitting by itself in front of a drab New York-esque building on the backlot.

Now that we are seven months into Covid-19, my perception of the picture has changed. Now I like it for what it conveys about life for the past seven months. The loneliness of it. The isolation of it. The drabness of it.

Meh sort of works for me now.