Merry Christmas!

Another year has come and gone and, despite not shooting as much this year, I’ve kept myself busy by creating a new project. For those who follow me on social media, you’ve probably already heard about River City Congress. So what is it? Well.. once I’ve got a real page that doesn’t compress the images down into smaller bytes, we’ll talk about that. Until then, here are a few Christmas images I put together for the new project.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to each and every one of you!

Gear: Sony A7RIII, Sony 24-105 f4 G OSS, Samyang AF 35 f/1.4, Samyang AF 18 f/2.8, B&W CPL, Rig Pro 20’ Kit

Post Processing: Adobe Photoshop

2019 Year in Review

In 2015, I decided that I wanted to start shooting cars and build stories. I hoped I'd get the chance to have my work featured in publications, backed by brands people knew all over the world. At the time, there wasn't a single reason why that should've or could've happened. So I started practicing. I photographed a variety of vehicles, even shooting some small videos to help with story telling and to dip my feet into a changing market, all with the hope of being noticed by the right people and paving the way for a future in automotive photojournalism.

In 2018, I decided that hope wasn't getting me anywhere. I teamed up with a friend who had a pretty incredible Volkswagen, we put together a fairly challenging shoot at night, released a single image and a blog post about what we hoped to accomplish, and then I actually did the leg work to get that in front of the right eyes. Instead of a quick share on Facebook or Instagram, I looked up the editor's information of the publication I wanted in, I passed on the private gallery of photos even the owner hadn't seen yet, along with some build details, and told them exactly what I wanted. Seven hours later it was green lit to be published.

2019 has been the year that my work has transcended beyond my own label, Cinemauto, and into the pages of some well known publications. While I've had a few small bits in publications before, this is the year I took control, started the conversations, and made the necessary moves to bring my dream to life. It sounds ridiculous to say that, because it's only been three publications this year, but two have landed covers. For someone who was absolutely no one this time last year, I consider that a victory.

As I write what will likely be my last entry for 2019, I'm thankful. I've had the chance to work with some really great people, to share my passion for this craft with more people than I ever imagined, and to grow as both an artist and an individual. While photojournalism will likely never be a career for me, its practice has taught me a great deal this year. Having crushed my 2019 goal, I'm excited to see what 2020 brings!

Night Shooting

For a variety of reasons, I've recently become obsessed with shooting at night. While I've been terrified of dealing with artificial lighting in the past, educational opportunities and experimentation have pushed me out of my comfort zone and into a completely new realm of photography. So far, I'm over the moon about the possibilities. The tones you can control when working entirely with artificial lighting is probably my favorite part of this whole experience.

Making use of a Yongnuo YN-360 and an Einstein E640, I've been pretty content with the results so far. Mixing in techniques like shooting the car at a higher aperture (to ensure it's entirely in focus) and then blending a background from the same angle but shot at a shallower aperture setting, has helped give me more control over the final image. This is by no means a new technique but it's definitely one that has helped me in isolating my subject, holding onto sharpness across the entire vehicle, and gives me a long enough exposure time to paint the vehicle.

If it's possible, I've been opting to leave filters off of my camera when shooting at night. Sure, cutting reflections is valuable when working with glossy vehicles but, for me, battling the more pronounced refraction issues of that extra glass filter just isn't worth the hassle. Honestly, if you're shooting with a strobe, you can typically shoot at a higher shutter speed to cut the ambient reflections completely out. If you're working with a wand and light painting, that's a different story.

When deciding which method I'll use to light a car, light painting or strobing, it typically boils down to a couple of factors:

What color is the vehicle? If the vehicle is any color aside from black, I'm pretty game for strobing it. To me, strobing it produces some nice gradients in the color and light, which feels more natural. Since black vehicles don't have any color to help carry the light across the body lines, they typically react better to light painting (or strobing with large modifiers) to show contour and shape. That said, even when light painting a black vehicle you will find better results if you make use of a softbox to help make the light source larger and softer. (The two black vehicles in this post are great examples of what happens if you don’t use a large light source for painting - they basically look like outlines.)
Where will I be shooting the vehicle? If I'm working with a location that has a lot of ambient light, I'm more likely to strobe my subject vehicle. It's harder to leave the shutter open longer to paint a vehicle with light if I'm battling overexposure from various local light sources. (I know, I know.. Couldn't you use ND filters or stop the aperture down more? Sure - but that means you'll need to increase light output from your light painting device to compensate.) But, if I'm working in an area that has little ambient light to worry about, I may opt to light paint the vehicle. Once you get the hang of light painting and how to position the light to hide it in the body lines, it can be faster than messing with strobes, battery packs, light stands, modifiers, etc.

Keep in mind - these are not rules. I won't only light paint vehicles with color on them, or not strobe a black vehicle (though I've yet to do this). They're just some things I've run across when shooting that have helped me create a baseline when deciding how to approach lighting a vehicle.

Gear: Canon 6D, Canon 17-40 4L, Canon 24-70 2.8L, Canon 70-200 2.8L I, Canon 85 1.8, Tiffen CPL, Yongnuo YN360, Einstein E640, Sunpak Tripod

Post Processing: Adobe Camera Raw & Adobe Photoshop

Dear Super Street,

As a lover of import vehicles with style and speed, I've been a fan of your magazine since before I could drive. I'm from a part of the country where, back then, we had very little in the way of car culture. To be honest, aside from some beastly drag cars, we're still more of a truck culture around here. Your magazine was a window into a world I always wanted to be apart of. A place that I knew existed but just couldn't quite escape to.

Some twenty years later, still living in the bread basket of America, I'm still picking up issues of your magazine and dreaming. Though I'm older and more financially responsible these days, so I tell myself, I'm still pretty much just a spectator in the world of car building. While I love a good turnout at my local cars and coffee, and occasionally join my local VW enthusiast group for a monthly meal out, doing more than daily driving my car is still outside of my wheelhouse.

While builds still haven't become a huge part of my life, there is one part of your magazine that has truly resonated with me all of these years. The photographs. The images your photographers have created to share these incredible build stories with your fans are absolutely superb. It's hard to do these unique vehicles justice in just a handful of images, and yet your team manages to pull it off, time and time again. Your visual presence is where I first fell in love with your publication, and it's now where I dream to find myself within the automotive community.

In the last few years, I've focused my interest in car culture on documenting it. While I've still got much to learn, I'd love to share some photos with you of a local build that I think would be a perfect fit for your publication. (Heck, you've included a shot of his car in your events section in the past - so it's clearly up your alley.) It's a 1987 Volkswagen GTI, purchased 20 years ago by a high school freshman, that's been completely transformed.

Of all the car magazines out there, you are the one who introduced me to tuning style and culture. While I know your focus isn't primarily on European cars, I also know that you've included some truly exceptional European builds in the past. I ask that you consider this one for your magazine, and that you review the private gallery I've passed on to your editor. It would be a dream come true to see my friend's build in the pages of your publication - especially if it were my photos used to share it with your fans.

Update: They accepted my request and gallery! The feature was released in the special Euro issue, in July of 2019. You can see the story and photos on their site!

Gear: Canon 6D, Canon 70-200 2.8L IS I, Einstein E640, Yongnuo YN-622C Triggers, Neewer Light Stand, Sunpak Tripod

Post Processing: Adobe Camera Raw & Adobe Photoshop