BEHIND THE LENS SCOTT MEAD With a little help from his grandfather, Mecum’s senior photographer, Scott, started driving at the age of 3 and was racing go-karts by the time he turned 8. He received his first camera (a Kodak Instamatic) around the same time and started photographing car events, races, rallies and concours. Before coming to Mecum, he was a writer and photographer for Edmunds.com, Motor Trend and spent 15 years in Hawaii photographing the island’s splendor. Scott’s wife swears he gargles with 100-octane race gas and bleeds 20/50 motor oil, and when he’s not on the road, you can find him in his garage, wrenching on their DeTomaso Pantera or Porsche 914. BETTER THAN A GOLDEN TICKET Welcome to a new Mecum Magazine column: Behind the Lens. As one of Mecum’s staff photographers, I have the privilege of traveling throughout the United States and Canada—heck, anywhere I need to go—photographing vehicles for our auction catalogs and website. Aside from shooting a bevy of amazing vehicles, I also get to meet you: the owners, caretakers and car lovers, who live and breathe these amazing, rolling works of art. Behind the Lens is a column that will aim to provide glimpses behind the scenes of my experiences on the road, including the people I meet and the cars I photograph. But first, before we go any further, I have to admit something: I’m a full-fledged fanatic. I am truly a sucker for anything powered by an internal combustion engine. I live, eat, sleep and breathe cars, trucks, bikes and even boats. Like my personal bio attests: my own wife swears I gargle and bleed both motor oil and high-octane race fuel. So, yeah—I’m just a little passionate when it comes to photographing vehicles for our auction catalogs, website and for Mecum Magazine. When any of us in the photo department receive a photo assignment, it’s a little like getting an invitation to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Heading into each endeavor, we know what car or cars we’re to photograph, where the vehicle(s) will be and what time we need to be at the location, but our assignment nomenclature—say, “Lot R123, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro”—doesn’t give any specific details beyond that basic year/ make/model description. As such, it isn’t until we arrive that we find out if we’ll be shooting an unrestored original, a concours restoration or a Resto Mod. The car at hand might be a base Camaro with a straight-6 and air conditioning or a fully decked-out Z28. Even when we call the owner to confirm the photo shoot, the amount of additional info we receive on the cars varies, and it’s often those calls where the owner says, “It’s just a little ol’ Camaro” that our ears tend to prick up and our Spidey senses start to tingle. As a good example of the way these tantalizing adventures sometimes unfold, I’ll share the story of the shoot I was assigned in Indiana last year encompassing a collection of 10 cars including Fords, Plymouths and Chevrolets. On my drive to the location, I got a call from the office. “The owner would like to add a consignment. Can you add a ‘69 orange Camaro to today’s shoot list?” 80 • MECUM.COM
