Jake Blackburn learns valuable lessons from his classic ride.

Beginning in the early morning hour of 7 a.m., vehicles trickle in to claim their parking space amongst other students. A collection of hand-me-down cars with the occasional brand new set of wheels, trucks, jeeps, sedans and a few classics. This year, new to the parking lot is a bright neon blue 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger, driven by junior Jake Blackburn.

For his 16th birthday Blackburn received the keys to the classic Dodge nicknamed, ‘Blue Devil’. This name originated from his family’s favorite college basketball team, the Duke Blue Devils from North Carolina.

In 2001, before Blackburn was even born, his father, Scott Blackburn, bought the car for only six hundred dollars. At the time the car was just a 30-year-old shell that needed to be rebuilt.

“I started working on the car with my dad at the beginning of school, but my dad had been doing projects years and years before that,” Blackburn said. “Together my dad and I have put in defroster vents and tubes so that I can drive it in the winter, and we have also redone the headlights and rewired the horn.”

Blackburn has learned some valuable lessons from the half-century old Dodge. The value of work ethic and maintaining a vehicle teaches responsibility.

“Dealing with a 50 year old car takes a lot of patience,” Blackburn said. “Something’s always broken or out of place, and it’s a never ending battle to keep the car in good shape. Another thing I learned was that a good thing doesn’t need to be completed in just one night. My dad has been working on this car for around 20 years now, and we’re still not completely finished with it yet.”

Blackburn also makes a spiritual connection from his experience encouraging others to recognize that God is always at work in our lives, even when we don’t notice.
Over time we are the shell that can be transformed into a beautiful final form.

As a first year photojournalist the opportunity to photograph Jake with his classic ride was a valuable learning experience. Composing interesting images of a car, and communicating with my subject to find the right light taught me some great skills.

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To read more from The Feather visit, KNP Complex Fire takes over Sequoia National Park.

Slideshow images are from a early morning photoshoot with Jake and his ‘Blue Devil.’ – Images by Elise Bessey

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