It’s been a busy week and I somehow didn’t make the time to finish up my story on my time in New Orleans last week! So Vistaphotography went on the road to New Orleans…
I’m sure most of you are well aware of how hard it is when you are traveling for business and trying to find time to explore for yourself. I was slapped in the face with this fact when I went down with my wife’s Company (FinCo Management) for the NADA convention in New Orleans. I had every intention of getting out of the convention center but I found myself wandering and taking pictures inside.

The 57 Chevy was as cherry as they come and struck a counter point to all the Dodge Challengers that were around the floor. I saw my first “Saleen”! And I struck up a conversation (as I like to do…) with the sales rep there. He must have thought I was someone important because I he gave me a promo CD with pictures of the car and press releases… I have to admit that I think most of my simple pics from right there on the floor were better than their photos from inside a garage. I would say these were done low budget and in a hurry since the lighting was minimal and I would say it was what was on hand so they could get the pics out onto CDs and into the hands of dealers. I was just using the glaring lights of the overhead spot lights that was there. This caused specular highlights for my shots (I didn’t have a flash on my camera), but I think mine really show off the car better.

Of course mine have people walking around and getting in the shot but with a car this good looking you don’t really notice them.
There weren’t too many dealers in attendance at this convention and the general feeling was that dealer attendance was down almost 50%. The day I left, I went by the registration booth where they had bags that dealers would get when they signed in. There where hundreds if not thousands of these bags stacked up waiting for the dealers to show up.
Dealers are also watching their $$ this year and the downturn in the economy is spreading out like ripples on a pond.
Our not buying cars affect the dealers and this in turn affects all the companies that sell their products to the dealers. So I guess we should all get out there and buy a new car!
Here are other pictures from the show.

Welcome to VistaPhotography!

Things have been slow as of late so when I was asked to go down to New Orleans and the NADA Convention I couldn’t say no… I mean it’s 25 balmy degrees here in Salem MA and it was 72 down there. Can anyone tell me why I came back?

I know most of you are tired of any talk about the state of our economy and really want to see pictures of the hot cars and hot chicks… I mean ladies (I don’t want to appear sexist but they (some female vendors) were dressed rather aggressively as one vendor called it).
More on this later… and back to the convention news…

The company that sponsored me into the event was FinCo Management and I spent two days enjoying the show’s exhibits and seeing what things are being directed at the dealers who attended.
Toby Reiley who is the CEO of FinCo Management (A new start up) hired me to create a 30′ vinyl banner along with handouts/invites for people as they came by the booth.

The Buy Here – Pay There tag line is directed at medium size dealers who are having to turn away customers who are credit poor but have a good cash down payment

They are currently looking for distributors and commission based sales reps from across the country so if you are an experienced sales pro contact them through their website.

Ok, the part you are probably more interested in….

One of the busier vendor booths was the one for… I can’t seem to remember but they did have Miss Juliette Frette and Miss Laura Croft signing publicity photos for guests stopping by.

I’ll say this now, if you only want to see racy photos of the two playboy bunnies then google them and I’m sure you’ll find tons of shots of them.
I found Miss Juliette Frette and Miss Laura Croft (June and July 2008) who I chatted with for a few seconds between signings to be very nice to talk to.
Please enjoy this single shot but if all you want are nudes then you may be disappointed I mean what do you expect?
I’m hardly Arny Freytag and We’re at a trade show and not on location in the Caribbean…!

2008 models

I know my picture is rather tame but I have to say they are very natural at what they do. I’ve photographed many people for portraits and at weddings and I’ve never had anyone who just turned on “the pose”.
No direction by me, they just knew what to do and give this photographer a perfect look. I wish everybody could do this… I guess this is one of the benefits for fashion photographers. They usually deal with professional models who are paid to know how to pose…

I still have shots of the hot rods and different aspects of the convention so it will take a few days to cover it all.
So please come back during the next week.

Jeff Folger
Vistaphotography