Where do you draw inspiration from?
Initially, two people that I drew inspiration from are Paul Henri Cahier and Rainier Schlegelmilch. They were both F1 photographers starting in the 60s and into today. When I was a lot younger (and still now) I would read a lot of racing history books, and their use of color, speed, composition was unlike anything else I had seen from back then. On a more general note, I also find inspiration in a lot of graphic design/artwork that has strong colors and lines, minimalism. I don’t have any specific people/artists to name, because I lie everything from furniture to movie posters that display those qualities.
Initially, two people that I drew inspiration from are Paul Henri Cahier and Rainier Schlegelmilch. They were both F1 photographers starting in the 60s and into today. When I was a lot younger (and still now) I would read a lot of racing history books, and their use of color, speed, composition was unlike anything else I had seen from back then. On a more general note, I also find inspiration in a lot of graphic design/artwork that has strong colors and lines, minimalism. I don’t have any specific people/artists to name, because I lie everything from furniture to movie posters that display those qualities.
Is your style something you created or did it come naturally?
I think a bit of both would be an appropriate answer. From the beginning I had an interest in shooting different or uniquely (definitely from the feedback of people I worked with early on), but my style has for sure been evolving or becoming more focused over time. I don’t know if I’ve ever set an exact or specific target for my style, It’s just based on what I happen to like at any one time.
What was your first paid photo gig?
I know that for a race or two in 2006 maybe I brought some prints to the track and made some sales to drivers just by walking up to them and asking if they wanted to buy the prints, but the first time someone actually hired me for photography was a a driver and his dad that I met through a friend. This was in 2007 I think and they raced a Mazda Miata in SCCA. I “worked” for them for a couple years and that eventually led to the first “professional” race that I ever went to for work when the same people later brought me to Road America in 2009 when they were racing in Volkswagen TDI Cup.
I know that for a race or two in 2006 maybe I brought some prints to the track and made some sales to drivers just by walking up to them and asking if they wanted to buy the prints, but the first time someone actually hired me for photography was a a driver and his dad that I met through a friend. This was in 2007 I think and they raced a Mazda Miata in SCCA. I “worked” for them for a couple years and that eventually led to the first “professional” race that I ever went to for work when the same people later brought me to Road America in 2009 when they were racing in Volkswagen TDI Cup.
What is your work flow for any given race and/or event?
This can depend heavily on the client, but I’ll give an example of the Bentley team that I worked with the past two years. Their deadlines were pretty relaxed, so I only needed to deliver a couple photos at the end of each day to use in press releases and social media, with the remainder to be delivered by the evening on the last day of the event. In general, I will usually take an hour or so after each track session to download what I have shot and sort the images first by their content (client 1, 2, 3, etc… or whatever it happens to be). To be technical, I’ll give each client a different color label in Lightroom so I can easily select all images that contain a certain clients images. I’ll then go back through all the color labeled images and mark everything thats is at least usable to some minimum standards. Usually this is just to mark everything that’s framed okay and is in focus, and everything that meets that will get a 3 star marking. (sometimes I will give anywhere from 3-5 stars depending on how cool an image is) At that point I will go back again through every image with at least a 3 star ranking and start to weed out the awesome images from the marginal ones. When I decide on the final selected images for each client, I will give them a “flag” in lightroom. Only images with this flag will go into the edit stage to make color corrections, cropping, dust removal, etc… This may not be the most efficient workflow, but it works for me and I have different marks for every stage of the process if I need to go back and search for different images to use. During the race week, I usually keep the edits pretty simply, just basic color correction. The images I post on my website in the week(s) after usually get a bit more time spent on them. As I said before, this all depends on the client. For some magazine work I do, the images aren’t really do for a number of weeks so I really won’t do much editing or sorting at the track and will try to spend most of my time shooting. However, the year I worked with an agency, the deadlines were really tight after each session so I had to do a really good job at being speedy with the sorting, editing, and tagging, to have everything done within a half hour to an hour after the conclusion of any session.
What’s your favorite event to shoot?
My favorite are the endurance races like Nurburgring 24 Hours or the Baja 1000. There’s more time to experiment, and there’s also more interesting stuff that goes on with the crew (end even the cars) when the get tired/dirty/beat up.
How did you become an automotive photographer?
I’ve always had an interest in racing just as a fan so I would want to go to any races I could from an early age. Being so close to PIR growing up really helped with that. The photography part wasn’t really an initial goal. I just started bringing my dads film SLR with me when we would go to a race and I just kept doing that for a few years and really enjoyed that aspect, beyond just watching as a fan. I did take photography classes in high school but it was never in my head as anything more than a hobby. I wouldn’t really say I had any serious schooling in photography, or business, but the high school classes were definitely an outlet for me to develop my interest. Even in college, it wasn’t the plan. I did a degree in vehicle engineering, but I spent all my free time with photography. It was only during the last year or so before I graduated that I felt like I could maybe make a job out of this.
I’ve always had an interest in racing just as a fan so I would want to go to any races I could from an early age. Being so close to PIR growing up really helped with that. The photography part wasn’t really an initial goal. I just started bringing my dads film SLR with me when we would go to a race and I just kept doing that for a few years and really enjoyed that aspect, beyond just watching as a fan. I did take photography classes in high school but it was never in my head as anything more than a hobby. I wouldn’t really say I had any serious schooling in photography, or business, but the high school classes were definitely an outlet for me to develop my interest. Even in college, it wasn’t the plan. I did a degree in vehicle engineering, but I spent all my free time with photography. It was only during the last year or so before I graduated that I felt like I could maybe make a job out of this.
If you shoot full time, what are other subjects you cover to help pay the bills?
I do shoot full time, but It’s all motorsports, or at least all automotive. I have done a few commercial shoots for Toyota with their road cars. I do shoot aviation on the side, but that’s really just as a hobby because I love planes and I haven’t tried to make any business out of it. In fact, I’ve specifically not attempted to look for aviation photo work just so I can keep that for personal enjoyment/fun and not stressful work.
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