Automotive Commissions

The theory used to be: Photography shall be a record of what the eye sees, and the more exact you can reproduce it on film and then print, the better. That is that, and you may as well get used to it.

My images fly in the face of all that.

One of the most fun things for me is commission work. It's a little stressful, but fun to see the smile on an car owners face when they see the finished image in print. The biggest trick is getting the color of the car right, it's their car not some one else's that they want. The rest is crafting an image for the art of it.

The owner of the Cayman has been a volunteer at Balboa Park in San Diego for years. She wanted a shot of her car, but had no idea where in the city to do it. I had several locations from the coastline to the mountains, but when she spoke of how much time she spends in the park, I thought, "Why not there?"

That lead to a few issues. Where to take it in the park that says "Classic?" The California Tower says it all, but the car had to be placed perfectly to get the final composition I wanted. Also, when to do the shoot in order to avoid people and traffic. A weekend morning with sun seemed to be the answer. We also needed a day without fog to capture what I wanted in the background. First is the out of camera shot, and next, the processed final image with all the distractions taken out, and my spin on what I wanted the image to look like. A cleaner image enhanced with color to bring things to life, and a leading line encircling the car.