My current photographic obsessions are vehicles and people. My vehicles of choice have mostly been airplanes, but I am just as passionate about photographing automobiles. Furthermore, I suspect there are actually a few more opportunities for paying work with automobiles (although this is hard to gauge from my current vantage point.) I knew to really push into this realm I needed to do two things; learn a few more things about automotive photography and flesh out my automotive portfolio a bit more.

So, for step one I had run across Tim Wallace’s classes on Kelby One and took most of them. Tim is a fabulous teacher teaching one ways to get that luxurious car look in a photo, while still emphasizing the fact that there is a lot of room for the photographer to do it his way. There is no one right way to photograph a car. While practicing the Tim Wallace methods, I learned the most difficult part of the technique is perfect positioning of the lights, especially if the ambient conditions are too bright for you to see the modeling lamps. I still haven’t got this down perfect, but I believe I’m close enough to produce some good work.

On the second point, I decided to move ahead with my dad’s Jeep Patriot rather than waiting for the opportunity to work with a vintage or sports car. This way I can flesh out my portfolio sooner, and while my dad’s car isn’t a 68 Dodge Charger, it still has a beautiful paint job and very iconic, branded details.

Look for my new automotive work at www.rabimaging.com around the end of May. Or, take a look at my current “Surface Vehicles” portfolio.

The photo at the top of this entry is my favorite automotive photo prior to the latest shoot.