Allen Kuhn with his trusty Canon 35 mm with a 135mm telephoto lens. He also used a 2 ¼ Rolleicord that was mostly for Ektachrome color film. “Color film made up just 5 % of my total images (about 300 images). I used it mostly for pit shots. The Canon was the work horse.”
West Coast photographer Allen R. Kuhn spent his youth photographing models, buzzing around Southern California in an Abarth Zagato, became a noted race photographer, found a career at Hughes Aircraft, married the girl of his dreams…and that was just the beginning.
Story and photos by Allen R. Kuhn
Unlike many car enthusiasts, my interest in sports cars was not influenced by my parents. Their style in cars was a 1928 Ford that they drove to Yosemite National Park for their honeymoon. They did, however, support my photo interests by naming me the ‘Official Family Photographer.’ In 1954, when I was 16, I found a copy of Argosy magazine (a men’s magazine of the day) with an article about Sebring. It had a fantastic two-page spread on Juan Manuel Fangio driving a Lancia D24, taken at dusk. It was an extreme pan shot. You could almost feel the sensation of speed with the blurred background and sharp looking car. That’s the style I wanted to achieve. [Read more…] about A Photographer’s Life: Cars and Dolls
