My name is Rob, and I'm a car guy. I have been since I was a little kid. I went through a lot of different stages in my life. When I was little, it was all looks. There was the raw and vulgar design of Ferarris and Lamborghinis, and the absolute beauty of Aston Martins and Alfa Romeos. I had no concept of how quick 0-60 in 4 seconds was. I just knew that cars were nice to look at, and that I liked to go fast.
Once I reached driving age, I also reached the age where I liked to tinker with things. I modified most of the cars I owned in my late teens and early twenties. I discovered the joy of small displacement, large turbocharger engines. There isn't much that can compare to the throaty, nasty noise of an open-to-atmosphere wastegate at full-tilt.
During this stage, I kinda lost track of the design element of automobiles. I couldn't care less what a car looked like, what condition the paint was in, or anything else, as long as it was fast. I started to develop a penchant for ugly cars. They possessed a certain character that drew me to them.
I outgrew that phase a bit once I realized I was an adult, and had actual responsibilities. Having a car that could get where I needed to go without having to change a head gasket on the way started to show a little more importance.
Things came full circle after I got into photography. I started noticing things about design and functionality that hadn't been present before. I'm still drawn to cars with character.
This brings us to my first photo-shoot involving a car - my dad's 2000 BMW M coupe. I'd wanted to shoot his car for the longest time, but just couldn't even seem to find an opening in my schedule. For his birthday this past year I decided I was going to make it happen.
When I started scouting locations, I landed on a back drop of the Tennessee River bridge, and the parking garage downtown.
The shoot couldn't have gone any better than it did. The sunset behind the bridge was amazing. The rain came and went while I was driving to the parking garage. That little shower gave the concrete a certain sheen that added a lot to the roof top photos.
That shoot was the first time I felt like a real photographer. For a long time, I just sorta wandered around and waited on inspiration to make itself present in my head with what was surrounding me at the time. A lot of times I would see something I needed to photograph, and it would just come out all wrong - nothing like what I saw from my mind's perspective. It felt like all my good shots came out of luck. Taking 40 pictures of the same thing, and just stabbing in the dark at what settings, or viewing angle I needed to use.
With this shoot, I had a pretty clear image in my mind of what I wanted, and I was able to successfully capture exactly what I was looking for. I'd made it. I could 'see' things before I actually saw them. It's a wonderful feeling. It just goes to show you, sometimes practice can make perfect.
Check out the gallery and tell me what you think.