Category: Photography Blog

Image of a 2016 Gulf Orange Porsche GT4 by Randy Wells

BRING A TRAILER

I’ve been working with clients directly to photograph and film their car for sale on BAT. The results have been remarkably well received by everyone, and it’s provided me with another outlet for short videos that provide engaging content and another way to tell a story. Look for my most recent work on this blog journal soon!

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A LEGENDARY SEATTLE PHOTOGRAPHER HAS PASSED AWAY

Bob Peterson was well-known in Seattle for his amazing photography. His pioneering work was featured in magazines, ads and brochures for such clients as LIFE, AAA, Nike, the Seattle Super Sonics, and many more. He was also an iconic photographer for annual reports in the area, just like Harald Sund and the late John Terence Turner. These guys did this stuff on demand with one chance only – on film. We will all miss his approachable nature and wry sense of humor. Continue reading “”

THANKS PANO!

Porsche Club of America has been very good to me over the years. This month, their national magazine, Panorama, has honored me with a short bio and multi-page essay featuring my photographs made at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. There, I photographed a very rare gathering of Porsche 917 race cars, partnering with writer Jay Gillotti, who did a great job telling the story of these magnificent icons. Thanks again for their support at the Pano editorial staff – Vu Nguyen, Rob Sass, Amy Skogstrom, Emma Smith, Doug Lloyd, Allen Lane and Richard Baron!

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STAYING HUMBLE

At some stage in your career, hopefully early on, you decide it’s important to stay humble, no matter what level of success you achieve.

The passion you feel along the way can have a way of making everything you experience a bit larger than life, obscuring the overall relevant importance of what you are doing.

Sure, some ego is important for the artist to survive, as is drive, tenacity and grit, which are all necessary to succeed, but those won’t determine what you leave behind that actually matters. Continue reading “”

THANK YOU 356 REGISTRY MAGAZINE

Renée Brinkerhoff with her heavily modified Porsche 356 and Valkyrie Racing team in Antarctica grace the cover of this month’s 356 Registry Magazine. Inside you’ll find an in-person interview I was fortunate to make with Renée at her Colorado Ranch right before the trip. Included are my images of her ’57 “street” coupe that she trains with when not competing in her ’56 rally car. Check it out!

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EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT
DON’T ASSUME ANYTHING

Perhaps I could be a life coach. If only I wasn’t so busy. Oh, that brings up another oft-quoted piece of advice, “Be careful what you wish for.”

It’s not enough to memorize this stuff. You have to incorporate it into your daily practice, and anyone who has lived a life of self-awareness knows this to be true.

Maybe I could fulfill this role with a really young person or someone who is not quite sure they know it all. Continue reading “”

SELLING YOUR CAR

There’s a preconception that it’s too expensive to hire someone like ourselves to create professional photos and video for your on-line car auction. The reality is there are several layers of pricing and content available from Wells Imagery.

Your car has always had the best chance of selling for top dollar if it is photographed in a certain way. To meet this goal, we have perfected that approach and provided clients with complete feature photo shoots for over 250 cars.

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MY HOME WEBSITE

What you are looking at is not my main website. This is my blog.

Fun, sometimes serious, it’s a weekly journal that I do more for my sanity than anything else, but I’m happy if you find joy in it.

Some visitors to this blog are unaware of my main site where you can find thousands of images. Every so often I change the home page image there. I’m especially pleased with the current photo I made of reflections in a window at a So Cal air-cooled Porsche gathering. It changes regularly. Enjoy.

WELLS IMAGERY

Randy Wells

LUCKY STILL

I wrote this to a talented professional automotive photographer struggling in today’s world:

“Don’t be bothered by some of the stuff you see happening from those trying to make a living as a car photographer today. For the most part, they either have financial backing or cannot see the effects of the low fees they accept for their work.”

“Understand that most will never achieve what we were lucky enough to experience in the past. What we did then (and still manage to do today when the client has a budget) is considered a glamour profession. And it can actually feel that way when you are shooting, being treated fairly, and see your work published. Continue reading “”

WE REACHED 3,000 FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM

“What?” you ask. “Only 3,000 followers? Don’t you think you should have more than that after posting regularly on Instagram for three years? Especially after you won a national award for your efforts?”

Well, Andrea and I don’t believe in buying followers. If we bought them we could easily have 10X this amount. However, they would not be real followers. The number of likes we’d receive per post on IG wouldn’t change all that much after all the money spent.

@cars.randywells

What we do have is a great appreciation for the authenticity and loyalty of those who do follow us. You are the ones who view our curated site on a consistent basis. We are proud to say that over 1/3 of our followers regularly like our stuff. That’s huge! We have even received over 60,000 views and 5,000 likes on a few of our single posts, because others have graciously hubbed that image on their IG sites. Thank you to everyone for your support! Continue reading “”

LAST CHANCE TEXACO

Rte. 66 is one of my favorite roads to travel on. I grab my personal photo kit and some clothes in a carry on, fly to Las Vegas, rent a Mustang GT convertible, and drive down to the original route.

This photograph was made somewhere along the way where an old Texaco gas station sits next to a modern Chevron one. You just hang around listening to the birds and waiting for the right light. Then presto, you are transported back in time to a simpler world.

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS, IT’S ALL ONE STORY

Everything worth doing takes time. Commitment and intention are everything. Otherwise, projects end up half-baked, or worse yet, contain inaccurate information when they were thought to be “finished”.

Our title says it all. Remember the big picture. “You’re only as good as your last job” is something else to keep in mind, no matter how far up the tree you climb. Another is, “The higher you climb, the harder the wind blows.”

Stay calm and focused on your goals, and try to ignore the noise that passes for excellence. It just ends up competing with your attention for what really matters.

Transform your thinking

Drone image of North Cascades landscape at sunrise, Washington by Randy Wells

LOOK UP, THE SKY IS OPEN.

Drone photography and videography can be magical.

However, it is not for the faint of heart. The deeper you go into this discipline-laden aerial specialty, the more you risk being confronted with the limits of what is possible. Those limits are not very forgiving.

Still, for me, the effort is worth the risk for the imagery that can only be acquired aloft. It’s an inspiring and addictive vocation. Fly safely.

For more, see Randy’s Landscape Instagram page: @landscapes.randywells