As Summer comes to a quicker close than most of us would like, turning to the August page of the Dwyer and Michaels Classic Car Calendar from The Camera Corner was a breath of fresh air before our "Back to..." frame of mind takes over.

We've never had more response to a photo page than to the work of Photographer Toby Hagens and Model Eleanor Stout in the 2018 Calendar. So I reached out to Hagens and asked if he had any other shots from that day.

A little background; The way we did the calendar for 2018 was different than in previous years. We previously would gather the cars from the online vote, and assign models and photographers at a specific time during a weekend, and shoot all the photos at one or two locations. We have also changed up the routine to include many different locations around the Quad Cities in other years, but for 2018 we asked for complete photosets from coordinating photographers, models, and car owners. Our idea was to capitalize on the growing car/model/photographer scene in the Quad Cities, and see what you guys would come up with. [More below ad]

We received many great submissions, and got to know the names of car owners, photographers and some models we had never seen before. Overall, it was a great success and a great representation of the cool stuff happening around the car scene. But one photo stood out, the one above that we used for August.

So when I contacted the photographer, Toby Hagens, He was happy to throw us a few more photos from that days' shoot. It's not everyday you do a shoot like the one that became August for this years' calendar!

Hagens calls it one of his, "All time favorite projects." He said, "We happened to pick the hottest day of the year, and poor Eleanor had it the worst by far being covered in glitter, but she was a real trooper and pushed through and got some amazing shots."

Eleanor was painted with red glitter, multiple times, and touched up during the shoot as the glitter would sweat off in the extreme heat. Caleb Andreatta, the car owner, was beyond cooperative, according to Hagens. The car still had red glitter stuck in places at the January Rod and Custom Show, months later. Eleanor probably did too!

This is just one of the things I love about The Dwyer and Michaels Classic Car Calendar. Like everything else around here at 97X, it takes on the personality of the people participating, and becomes a family. My thanks to Toby Hagens for capturing the shot, and the shots below. And for Eleanor, Tracey, and Caleb who helped create one of the best images to appear in the calendar!

Can't wait for 2019!

Toby Hagens
Toby Hagens
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Toby Hagens
Toby Hagens
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Toby Hagens
Toby Hagens
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