John Robinette’s Award-winning Photo

John Robinette was walking around the Maple Grove Days car show last summer when something caught his eye. “It was a flathead Ford [engine],” says Robinette, who was intrigued by the contrast between the chrome and red paint, and the old-fashioned acorn nuts. “If you look closely, you can see my reflection in every one of the nuts,” he says. For a car enthusiast with a passion for photography, Robinette can’t think of a better activity than walking around a bunch of classic cars with his trusty Nikon camera in hand. “It’s the best of both worlds, because I love the art of the automobile, the lines of it, and then photography lets you have fun—you’re capturing history,” he says. When there isn’t a classic car show to attend, Robinette can be found exploring old junkyards, where he seeks out interesting textures and colors. He’s fascinated by variations in rust, which naturally abound in a junkyard. Since different types of metal offer up unique qualities as they decay, each car is “rusting away like a statue or a piece of art,” he says. Robinette’s photography has been published five times in various car magazines, and he’s been involved with a kid’s book on go-cart races. But he remains an advocate for keeping it simple and just having fun with photography. “Just take the camera with you [to shows and events] and enjoy it,” he says. “If you like both worlds you’ll have lots of fun.”