Category: Photography Blog

R.I.P. JIM BRANDENBURG

National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg has died at age 79 in Minnesota. He was an amazing landscape photographer with integrity that is all but absent in todays world of digital scenic image capture. He once spent a month exposing one frame on a roll of film per day – un-orchestrated and un-manipulated. They were all great. Only Ernst Haas and Frans Lanting approached his ethics when it came to nature portrayal and conservation.

APRIL FOOL

My approach to finding new cars and car owner stories for my editorial clients has changed over the past ten years. There has been a significant increase in the frequency of encountering fake owners and/or fake cars that has put me on guard. Fortunately, so far, I have identified these problems early enough in the process that I haven’t become a part of their rouse. My goal as a writer will continue to be vigilant and committed to only bringing the best car stories to publication with integrity. I’m all for the underdog, but nobody wants to be a part of a scam, including my editorial clients.

THANK YOU PAT LONG AND PORSCHE 356 REGISTRY MAGAZINE

Porsche 356 Registry magazine editor Peter Bodensteiner was kind enough to approve an assignment I proposed to photograph and write about someone I’ve come to know over many years. Pat Long is a Porsche factory race car driver and co-founder of the Luftgekühlt brand. It was a blast riding along with him in his 356 and creating portraits at his favorite hang out, the Rock Store on Mulholland Hwy near Los Angeles. Good times!

Porsche 356 Registry Magazine

THANK YOU TO ALL THE AUCTION HOUSES

I’ve been keeping very busy this season photographing some beautiful cars going to auction. It’s not a big part of my work, which is commercial ads and editorial magazine jobs, but it’s fun and it keeps me flexible!

R.I.P. CONTANTINE MANOS

Constantine “Costa” Manos passed away peacefully at age 90 last week. He was a brilliant pioneer of color photography and a member of Magnum Photos. Along with Ernst Haas and Alex Webb, his color work influenced me deeply.

PERSONAL WORK 2024

Followers of my blog know that at the end of each year I post a series of three personal photographs made at a non-assignment single location. Here’s a selection from one evening last month on the east side of California’s Sierra Nevada range.

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE

Every so often I get an inquiry from someone I know who has a friend who wants to be an automotive photographer. I like to help others when I can, so I usually start with something like this:

Success means something different for everyone. For me it means being paid well for doing what I truly believe I was meant to do.

As you know, I have been and continue to be very fortunate working non-stop in the automotive media business. That doesn’t mean I am any less compassionate to those starting out. Here’s why. Continue reading “”

11-11-24

R.I.P. PAUL CAPONIGRO

A famous photographer who was under-appreciated has passed away. I own three of his signed prints but never met him. In my opinion, Caponigro was the Ernst Haas of B&W photography.

(Photo: Galaxy Apple by Paul Caponigro)

10-20-24

THIS SITE HAS BEEN CHOSEN AS ONE OF THE BEST AUTOMOTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY BLOGS AND WEBSITES IN 2024

Feedspot ranked this page #7 out of the top 35 car blog sites for 2024. I’m very honored of course and honestly a bit shocked. I began this site in 2010 more for myself than anyone else, so it’s always a surprise to see how many folks visit. It began as a great way to keep writing regularly as an automotive journalist, and it still fulfills that role. Thanks for visiting, and thanks to all at Feedspot for this distinction.

FEEDSPOT

TIPS FOR BETTER PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

Study the classics – Great paintings can inspire you to try new lighting.
Shoot frequently and for yourself – Don’t care about what others think.
Live a life where you’re open to new ideas.
Don’t include too much – Choose your foreground and background carefully.
Eliminate distracting elements that don’t contribute to what you are inspired to portray.
Wait for a gesture, the best moment when the subject reveals themselves.
Technically, for tight close ups, a long telephoto set at f/5.6 to f/8 is the way to go. Cell phone photos in wide mode are horribly distorted for portraits.
Tell a story – Environmental portraiture requires even more forethought than a tight composition. With a moderate wide angle to normal lens, only include in your frame that which adds to the story you want to tell. Simplify!

IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE THAT COUNTS

Above is a great Panorama story title that wasn’t even mine (thanks, Jeff!). The current PCA magazine “Youth” issue tells tales of Porsche enthusiasts who have made a mark in their community.

Two of these stories are mine. Each one portrays a woman known for her upholstery and other handiwork. Both were proposed by me, yet they are quite different. Both include my text and photos. In my first story, pictured here, a father/daughter duo fully restored an award-winning Porsche Speedster together. It’s a heartfelt ode that keeps things real. Their Speedster is also pictured on the cover. In the second story, my images included some of my better portraits. They are not shared here, nor were they published on request of the subject. I look forward to recreating that magic and emotion with a new subject in a future article for the magazine. See both of these stories in the September issue of Panorama magazine!

Porsche Panorama Magazine

PHOTOGRAPHY HAS BEEN NAMED THE MOST LETHAL ACTIVITY AT GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

According to a report by NBC News, “National Park Service data revealed that there were 205 fatal falls across the entire park system in the U.S. from 2014 to 2019 — the most recent year for which data is available. At the Grand Canyon National Park, 14 people were killed in fatal falls in the same period. Photographing accounted for four of those unintentional deaths.”

Be careful out there! Don’t assume anything and don’t fall.

MICROSOFT AI GETS IT WRONG AGAIN

The CEO of Microsoft AI Mustafa Suleyman has shown an alarming ignorance of copyright law after he claimed that all content on the open web is fair use. – PetaPixel

“I think with respect to content that’s already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the ’90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been ‘freeware’, if you like, that’s been the understanding,” Suleyman says.