Canadian Auto Museum

I recently had the opportunity to photograph a great collection of automobilia from the early years of automobile manufacturing in Ontario and Canada. The Canadian Automotive Museum is located in Oshawa, Ontario, and occupies an original 1920 car dealership. Much of the building remains unchanged, which helps add to the atmosphere and places the vehicles in context. The museum contains a car or motorcycle manufactured from almost every year between 1898 and 1940, and a variety on up to the 1970s, that you are unlikely to have seen – or even heard of. A significant portion of the museum comes from the McLaughlin family: a Canadian auto manufacturer from 1905 to the early 1930s when Sam McLaughlin went on to become the president of Buick, then the president of GM.

The biggest challenges to photographing the cars in a museum setting range from low and difficult lighting, to very tightly packed cars. I hadn’t brought large backdrops or sheets to help isolate the cars, so I used a combination of image stitching and lighting to highlight the car or aspect that I wanted. Jorg Braun, a friend from the BMW Club, helped with the set-up, prep, tidy-up and provided suggestions on composition: I’m totally spoiled now and have to make sure I take along some keen and eager help next time I go shooting. Thanks Jorg.

After working out some of the techniques at the Canadian Automotive Museum, I plan on heading to RM Auctions, Legendary Motorcars, and a few other places where you can tour and see exotics, classics and legendary motor cars.

Many thanks to Jack Innes and Kim for access, and the time to photograph the cars.