Ethan Klemm documents chrome culture, one analogue photo at a time
Meet the Murraylands photographer who has made it his mission to snap South Australia’s classic cars and the people who love them.
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Ethan Klemm has fond memories of riding in his grandpa’s 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster.
He would be bundled into the back every Christmas for a car club rally, and – without a seatbelt – would slide across the bench seat as they wound through the hills up past Palmer.
You felt every bump, he said – you were really connected to the road.
The upholstery and trim always had a particular smell, too: quaint, but comfortingly familiar.
Dennis Kuchel had owned the sleek, black auto for 50-plus years, and always looked after it.
Rather than mechanical work, though, his grandson would take on a different craft as an adult: analogue photography.
Mr Klemm started university with thoughts of working in movie production, but found the “film photography” course he’d enrolled in was all about actual film, the acetate stuff you used to take photos on when he was a kid.
Undeterred, he learned to use an old Pentax camera and develop his own shots in a darkroom.
Like classic car maintenance, he found that analogue photography required purpose and dedication.
The more he pursued his new hobby, the more he fell in love with it.
“Every photo costs money, so that adds an extra level of intentionality,” he said.
“If you stuff up a photo, there’s 50 cents down the drain and your time, so it makes you learn quick.”
Sure, smartphone cameras were convenient, he said; but why take 10,000 average photos when you could focus on setting up one or two shots you would really love?
What Mr Klemm loved, he decided, was photographing classic cars.
So a project was born.
He would travel around South Australia, documenting car clubs, their members and their vehicles.
The aesthetics of classic cars lends itself to artistic photography. Photos: Ethan Klemm.
Between the National Motor Museum and our state’s dry climate, which tended to keep old metal from rusting, SA had more classic cars per capita than any other, he said.
A grant from the Murray Bridge council, auspiced by a local Rotary Club, paid for his fuel, film and some of his developing costs.
A roll of 35-millimetre film cost $20 these days, and developing it cost $20 more.
Medium film for his vintage Mamiya C330, a twin-lens camera you aimed by looking into a mirror set into the top of the body, was even more expensive.
He was also grateful, then, for a donation of film by the late Andrew Hay, the local chemist and photographer for whom one of the annual Murray Bridge Rotary Art Prizes is named.
Forty rolls of film later, Mr Klemm’s book, Chrome Culture, was complete.
Ethan Klemm's book documents classic car culture in South Australia. Photos: Ethan Klemm.
“The first part of the book, Chrome, is all about the design of the cars, which gave me a chance to shoot some very abstract photos,” he said.
“The second part, Culture, is all about documenting the culture and the people, these cars and what we do with them.”
It was a testament to the car and camera manufacturers of the 20th century that both had endured so long, Mr Klemm said.
Still, when he returned to take a photo of his grandpa’s old Chevy, he was almost thwarted by misfortune.
The battery died in an untimely fashion, and they were barely able to wheel it out of the shed for its big moment.
Luckily a golden sunset in the background lent just enough ambience to make the shot worthwhile.
- Buy a copy of Chrome Culture: Visit Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, or Page and Turner at the Myer Centre in Adelaide.
- More information: Follow Fortified Film on Instagram.
Disclosure: Mr Klemm gifted Murray Bridge News a small framed photograph which now hangs in our office.
