Damn, do I love to shoot cars at night. Actually, I love night photography generally. Most of my non-automotive work centers around nightscapes of one form or another. But that passion is even stronger with cars. There’s something about the way the paint pops, the colors shift slightly, and the cars stand out from the background that has always captivated me. Whether it’s light painting or strobes, I just can’t get enough of the way a car looks under the lights. So for me, 2019 was the year I really found my own style. My process for shooting and editing these cars has evolved over the past few years and (if I can be forgiven a little pride) I’m really happy with the direction that work has taken. This year, I focused in hard on those night and low-light shoots. Here are my ten favorite shots from 2019:
1. RX-7
I love this car. The FD RX-7 is one of those cars that we late Gen-Xers will always have a soft spot for, and Bill’s build is really something special. Before we got together to shoot, I was scouting locations and the view from this spot sealed it for me. I knew that this shot was something I wanted to try, something that would really showcase the special paint job and the sculpted shape of the little Mazda. This overhead view was a little bit out of my usual comfort zone, but it was by far the most satisfying shot of the year for me.
2. Chevelle and El Camino
These cars came to me as a private commission this summer. The owner told me that he wanted to shoot them together and that he wanted a gritty, urban, highway overpass feel for the photos. This location ended up being exactly what we both were looking for. There were some challenges that we had to work around, but ultimately the setting really complemented the color and excellent condition of these nearly original old-school muscle cars.
3. Chevy and Train
As soon as I laid eyes on Dan Butler’s 1961 Bel Air, I knew I wanted to shoot it for a feature. The patina of age combined with amazingly intricate pinstriping and a killer set of chrome wheels to really set this sedan apart. There’s something about the way that light painting highlights both of those aspects of the car that really worked for me. This shot in particular was one that I loved straight out of the camera. Light painting requires very long exposures, and I’d hoped a train would pass by while I had the shutter open for this one. Lady luck answered, and we ended up with this shot.
4. Neon Gladiator
James was never going to be happy with just having one of the first Jeep Gladiator Rubicons off the line. He immediately got to work setting it apart from the pack, most notably with the matte, highlighter-yellow vinyl wrap. It is absolutely impossible to miss this car. When we shot the Gladiator at a motor condo containing (part of) an amazing classic Corvette collection, it seemed like a no-brainer to get these totally unlike cars together. The result is one of the more “commercial” images I’ve made.
5. RX-7 Forgestar
I’m a sucker for wheel shots. Always have been. A quality set of wheels is one of the highest-impact modifications you can make to a vehicle’s appearance, and pairing it with great tires makes it a huge performance gain as well. In this case, the graphite finish on the Forgestar F14s looked absolutely perfect with the custom blue paint on the RX-7, leading to this vehicle’s second entry in this year’s Top Ten.
6. Schwartz Camaro
Hot rod shop Schwartz Performance is known best for their custom muscle car chassis, but they also obviously know autocross pretty well. This third-gen Camaro is out to show the world that muscle can dance, too. I love this shot for the way that it accentuates the aggressive stance and wide tires that serve a real purpose for the Camaro. Another custom blue paint job (I’m beginning to notice a bit of a pattern here) looks amazing under the lights at night.
7. Slammed Chevy
Another shot from the feature on Dan’s Bel Air, this was an angle that just worked out perfectly. As the kids say, “she thicc.” (Am I doing that right? I’m pretty sure I’m doing that right.) This photo shows off all my favorite features of this build, and it’s one of the more flattering angles for this classic Chevy.
8. Mojito Jeep
Mojito Jeep belongs to the same family as Neon Gladiator, both literally and figuratively. Of course they share a lot of parts and common architecture, but the owners of these two off-roaders are husband and wife YouTubers. These aren’t mall crawlers, they venture off road frequently and provide a ton of content for the community. Shooting Mojito Jeep early this spring, we found a great location and got lucky with good weather and a beautiful sunset. This was also one of my earlier attempts at color grading in my post processing and I was very happy with the way it came together.
9. Schwartz Camaro Wheel
Remember I said I’m a sucker for wheel shots? I wasn’t kidding. I also love this kind of top-down lighting for profiles. It accentuates the lines on a boxy, sharply creased car like this Camaro and lets the color pop while the shadows fade into blackness. The way this shot brings out the details on the car made it a real favorite for me.
10. G8 Profile
I still can’t figure out how GM decided to kill Pontiac. Look at this thing. Just look at it. That’s a V8 powered, RWD family car that still looks great 10 years after the car went out of production. Corporate politics aside, Eric’s G8 is an amazing combination of upgraded peformance and appearance combined with daily driveability and comfort. This shot was actually supposed to take place in a completely different location, but when that didn’t work out, we hastily moved everything to this business complex. Sometimes our mistakes can lead to our biggest successes.
Wow ! those cars are awesome and Interesting I remember back in the day a great job James