A couple of weekends ago I made a quick trip to Miami for a friend’s wedding. So happy for them and was looking forward to some sunshine and warmth. Well, I got one of the two – it was so cold, seriously, about the same temps as Chicago. Oh well, a change of scenery is always welcome.

One morning we wandered Ocean Drive to check out all the great Art Deco designs in South Beach. We stumbled upon a happy surprise – Art Deco weekend + the street was lined with vintage cars.

Now, I’m not really one to care much about cars in any way and my intent was to try to make some photos of the Art Deco designs, something I struggle with. All the verticals, order, and symmetry weirdly makes it difficult to create abstract takes of this type of design. For me, it’s really more about isolating interesting details with this style of architecture. Miami has a unique way to do this with how fun all the colors are.

I love some good palm tree shadows!

Then, there’s as close to a street photography as I’ll get. Loved this woman’s colorful shirt, sunglasses, and gaze out the window.

So, those are the shots I captured of the Art Deco. Then, I got distracted by the architecture and palm trees reflecting in all that shiny metal and I was a goner 😉

Seriously, so fun! The most fun I’ve had photographing in a really long time. While most of these shots aren’t obviously the cars, it was so fun playing with the various colors, the very fun reflections, and the curves making for some warped patterns.

The morning of the wedding, I grabbed this sunrise shot of one of the lifeguard stands.

As much as I love shooting the way you typically see from me, it was really so much fun to find a new way to see things. There are obviously parallels but this felt so different and a different kind of challenge. And, the color – perfectly Miami.