23 Jonathan Harper - Building a career and authentic connections within the car community in LA and New York

The Creative Journey of Automotive Photographer Jonathan Harper

Discover how Jonathan Harper’s childhood fascination with cars grew into a thriving career in automotive photography, blending film and digital work to capture the essence of car culture. In this episode, he shares his insights on shooting techniques, building a personal brand, and the stories behind his upcoming Porsche-centric book.

Key Topics:

• The origins of Jonathan’s passion for cars and photography, starting with toy vehicles and family roots
• Transition from shooting on Blackberry to professional automotive photography
• The influence of light painting and his techniques for creating unique car images
• How freelance work with Bonhams helped launch his career
• Insights into shooting film vs. digital, including analog workflows and recent projects
• Building authentic connections within the car community in LA and New York
• Behind-the-scenes of creating a car photography book focused on Porsche models
• Practical advice for beginners: photographing everyday cars and controlling the narrative
• The importance of storytelling and capturing candid moments in automotive content
• Future projects: aiming for iconic cars like the Carrera GT and 918

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction and Jonathan’s background in cars and photography

02:20 - How light painting and creative techniques shape Jonathan’s style

03:46 - The pivotal moment that made freelance automotive photography viable

04:57 - From ad agency to car culture: Jonathan’s career evolution

06:23 - Lessons learned in social media content creation for BMW USA

08:46 - The journey into film photography and using the Hasselblad XPan

10:17 - Developing a Porsche-focused photo book — challenges and progress

12:52 - Navigating car culture in LA versus New York

13:52 - The inclusive nature of the car community and meeting new enthusiasts

15:49 - Using behind-the-scenes excerpts to connect with followers

18:23 - Balancing driving, filming, and comfort in capturing dynamic car footage

20:26 - The decision-making behind shooting in film versus digital

21:50 - Creating authentic content with analog for brands and social media

23:37 - Why Porsches resonate deeply with Jonathan and his book plans

25:06 - The logistics and challenges of self-publishing a photo book

26:53 - Approaches to shooting cars in motion, studio, and environment

28:43 - Tips for studio shooting and styling cars effectively

31:10 - Collaboration with partners and managing a dedicated car studio space

33:55 - The sentimental ties to family tractors and their rare presence in photography

34:06 - What the car culture reveals about community, freedom, and nostalgia

36:24 - Comparing LA and New York car scenes and community dynamics

38:02 - Practical advice for aspiring car photographers: mastering the basics

41:50 - Dream cars for future projects: Carrera GT, 918, and classic Porsches

43:37 - The upcoming Porsche book: content, medium format focus, and dreams

44:19 - Final thoughts and the significance of a physical car photo book as a personal branding tool

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In this episode of Shoot Wisely, discover how Jonathan Harper's childhood fascination with cars grew into a thriving career in automotive photography, blending film and digital work to capture the essence of car culture. In this episode, he shares his insights on shooting techniques, building a personal brand, and the stories behind his upcoming Porsche-centric book. I wanted to ask you, what came first? Your love for photography or your love for cars?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

It was cars first for me. It was always toy cars. Um and uh yeah, my grandfather was really into Ford tractors. So he had a he had a garage in Wisconsin full of classic Ford tractors that he tinkered on. Um, and my parents actually have no automotive enthusiasm really. I actually, my mom is more into cars than my dad is. And so they always joked that it skipped a generation and it skipped both my parents, and then I ended up with the car bug. Um, and then subsequently, basically, I started working with cars and and figuring out how to make cars look really good became a priority. And and that's how the camera thing kind of came about.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

So, how did the camera thing come about? How did the how did you pick up your first camera and start shooting?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

So I was working at the Classic Car Club Manhattan, and I had a Blackberry, and I was basically shooting crappy Blackberry photos of this garage full of amazing cars there. They had no Instagram. It was like early days of Instagram and kind of that sort of social media uh stuff. So I was taking photos on that and then just progressively moved into better cameras, just specifically to be able to take the kinds of photos that I was seeing other people taking and and just wanting to show cars in that like best possible way, basically.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

And were you when you first picked up the camera, were you only shooting cars? Did you shoot people? What what were you shooting?

SPEAKER_01 2:04

So it's always been pretty car-centric for me. Um it's uh people, you know, people are always part of it in in my current work in terms of portraits and stuff like that. But yeah, it's been very specifically like laser-focused car stuff, pretty much. Um and it started with really there's this guy in New York named Andrew Link, um, who does a lot of light painting. And it's where you do a long exposure, cameras on a tripod, and you move a light across the vehicle, and then you create um this kind of effect where your subject is lit and the background is kind of ambient, and then you can get into layering those and compositing those together. So I really sort of took it upon myself because I had seen this guy create um a niche for himself and and become, you know, a respected person in the automotive photography community. And so I was like, I I want to try to figure out how to do what he's doing and then put my spin on it too. Um, because it's it's something that like I could give you the whole recipe for how I do light painting, but any person would still come up with a different result, which is the cool part about a lot of aspects of automotive photography, is that a lot of people are using the same gear or or you know, formulas or whatever else, but everybody's got kind of a different look, and and that's how you set yourself apart.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

When did you make a connection that you can make a career out of this?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Um, it was 2014 or 2015. I had been doing kind of a series of corporate jobs from from uh uh working at an ad agency to helping the drive launch their social media aspect when when that was um just kind of launching. And I ended up being uh a freelancer, aka unemployed, and uh I got hit up by someone who worked for bottoms, and they they said, Hey, can you shoot a couple cars for us uh up in the Hudson Valley or in on Long Island? And that basically kicked off a whole summer, or I think it was it was a a little a bit over a year of just going all over the Northeast for bottoms um and shooting auction listings for them. And it was that was a real kind of like moment of of like, wow, this is this is actually paying my rent right now. And and it's I'm learning a lot. I'm able to go and meet some interesting people with interesting collections and stuff like that. Um, it's some really eccentric folks for sure along the way. Um and and that kind of that kind of opened the door for freelance automotive photography for me.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

I wanted to get into car culture, but not not just yet. Um so I wanted to go back because a lot of people think that, oh, somebody picked up a camera and they just shot and it all comes together and they know how to run their Instagram. But I'm pick I'm I'm picking up that you have a lot of experience that led up to this. Like you said you worked at an ad agency.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah. So uh I worked at the Classic Car Club Manhattan, which is this place in New York, for uh for a couple of years and kind of cut my teeth there, learned, learned about cars and learned about media a little bit, um, and positioned myself kind of in a way that I was able to be, I was able, I was poached basically from this job to an ad agency around the corner that was responsible for BMW USA's social media. And they basically had a it it was perfect because I at the time I was I was completely head over heels for BMW. I mean, I have a I have a five-speed shift pattern on my on my wrist that's that's modeled after the E30M3 that I that I was lucky to put a couple thousand miles on back in New York. Uh former group A race car, full cage and uh and an engine done up and everything. It was really cool car. But anyway, um, yeah, so this ad agency, they had this creative department full of bicycle riding, Brooklyn living creative people who, you know, are great creative folks. They can copyright all day, whatever, but they don't know anything about cars. And so they got in trouble because the agency had put out a photo of a car that wasn't a BMW. It was a tight shot on a badge, but it had a BMW badge on it. And they weren't able to tell the difference. And so they basically created this job for the BMW content expert and found me. And like this kind of landed in my inbox as like a 20, early 20 something in New York getting by. Like I was living in my parents' apartment. They they had an extra bedroom, they let me crash in. Um, and to get this email from an ad agency, like, hey, help us come run BMW USA uh social media. I was it was like it was a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

That's amazing. And so what what was some of your biggest lessons working for them?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Um, that I had no idea what I was doing with my camera, first off. Like I was a I was a photographer, and at that point I had moved on to a um a Samsung or like a glorified Samsung point and shoot with an interchangeable lens system. I think it was called the NX300. So it was an APS C sensor, uh small sensor, but I could do long exposures with it, and that's what kind of unlocked the light painting thing for me. So I was using that camera um for most of the BMW stuff, I'm pretty sure. Uh and during that time I also upgraded to my first full frame camera. Um, but basically I was, I was going, I was writing their content calendars initially. So the month ahead, I would have a, you know, a template and I would fill out the copy and I would find photos, whether it was UGC stuff, um, user-generated content or or um stuff people had submitted or stuff that press press release stuff that we had to activate on, or whether it was like taco day or whatever, we had to find stuff to post about. But then it got a little bit more fun when I convinced them to let me start going out to the BMW North America headquarters, which is in uh Woodcliffe Lake, New Jersey, and give me the keys to a couple cars, like once one day a month. And so one day a month I'd go out there and they'd give me the keys to like an M3, an X6M, and like an X4 or something. And I would just go take really mediocre photos in North Jersey in like fall and spring and like just stuff that I was really excited to be doing it, you know. Um, but looking back on it, it's easy to critique myself on that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Um, so when we met, we bonded over uh film. When when did actual film photography present itself to you?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

So I actually I I put it off as long as I could because I knew I was gonna go down the rabbit hole the way that I'd seen so many other people do it. Um and I I spent a long time honing my digital work, I guess, um, before someone, one of my good friends, uh said, I have a camera that I think you might make something cool with, and I want you to just hold on to it for a while. And I was like, Okay, cool. So I took it and I put it in my closet. And I have another friend who was really into analog at the time. This was like 2020 or 2021. Um, and I took, I said, Hey, I have this analog camera. Uh, could you help me get some batteries and just get some film into this? I I don't know what I'm doing. And he was like, Yeah, what kind of camera is it? And I I look and I'm like, it says X-Pan on the top of it. And and he's like, Dude, you're you're you have an X-Pan in your closet and you're just not dude, you're not using it like let me use that. And I was like, Okay, oh wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. Let me get let me get this thing going. And so that kind of kicked it off. And so the X-Pen is a you know a panoramic 35mm camera that shoots essentially two 35 millimeter frames wide. Um, and it uses anamorphic lenses, so it gives this really cinematic look that like I was just head over heels with immediately. And so that was a very quick progression of emptying my bank account, just like I thought I would, um, on film and and developing and like the first role I took to Sammy's on Fairfax, and they told me that they couldn't they couldn't scan X-Pan negatives normally, and they had to flatbed scan it, and I paid like a hundred bucks for my first role just to get it scanned. And so from that moment, I'm like, okay, if this is gonna work, this the scanning thing, I need to figure that out on my own. Um but yeah, so I I scan at home now and I I do develop only at a lab near my place. Uh and it ends up being a little bit more affordable because I'm just paying for film and just development, and then it's just my time in scanning, which is I don't want to do that calculation.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Yeah. So when I met you, that's the camera you had. I had my hostile blood in, and I I don't know who walked up to who and was like, oh, that's a you know, but that's I think I I think I walked up to you.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Um yeah, this is at angel stress, right? Yeah, we were up at uh Newcombs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Do you still go up there often?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Uh not not very much, man. That that that uh that place freaks me out just getting there. Like the people, um, I, you know, I frequent the old place, so I I hit the canyons pretty much every Sunday morning, whether it's in uh my Porsche or one of my motorcycles. And I just don't get the same fear that I get when I'm on Angel's Cress, man. I honestly like uh my palms get a little sweaty, you know, somebody in the GT or whatever is like on my ass, and I'm just like, dude, I just this isn't and then it's not like there isn't proof that people die every week.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

You know, so unfortunately, yeah. I've been avoiding it too, to be completely honest. I I've been um it's it's it's too sketchy.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yeah. And I feel like there's a lot of people that I love it too. It's beautiful. And one of the things that um a friend of mine uh took me, uh I took my scrambler up there, and we went just past, if you just pass uh Newcombs, there's a left turn that you can take that you just go through the forest. Oh wow and you you wouldn't know that as you know, driving in the street, but if you do anything off-road, it's amazing because you can go actually through Angel's Forest. Um so I wanted to talk about uh car culture a little bit. You you obviously have embedded yourself in in the car culture. Um how how did you do that? Just showing up because you shoot, like how did how did that come about?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

It's not something that I like purposefully did, but I think it's just something that comes from my natural enthusiasm for cars and for um, yeah. Uh and and also just that it's a testament to the richness of the car culture in Southern California that you could wake up on any given Saturday or Sunday morning and decide which massive car meet you want to go to. Um but it it's also um I I love getting up and out early in the morning and going and and hanging out with with car people, you know, and and being up in the mountains too in the evening. And actually, you know, I say I've been avoiding the crest. I was actually up there last week, but during the weekdays, it's been pretty awesome. Um and I don't wanna I don't wanna you know blow that up or anything. But it's also you know, just getting that far up into the mountains on a on a random Monday or Tuesday night, not everyone's able to do that. Um and I I feel really lucky to be able to do the stuff that I get to do, even when I'm not working, you know? Um just being out in nature and stuff. We're really lucky here in California.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, the couple times I did go to uh the meetup Friday mornings um at Newcombs, the coolest thing about it was that I was back in the city by 11 o'clock and I still was able to do my day. And then when you're up there too, at around 9 30, you hear somebody say, I gotta go home to paint the whatever, or I gotta get back so I can do, you know, it's like you you you you meet up, but then you're still able to, you know, it's not like a full day that you did a road trip.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

I think it's it's a classically LA thing. Sorry to cut you off. Just the fact that people meet like 45 miles, that that that you get a crowd like that up in the mountains on a Friday morning. It's like like I'm up there sometimes. I'm like, don't these people work? And I'm like, they're probably asking them themselves about me too, you know? So it's it's uh, I don't know, it's really special.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

The only thing there is like if you are working, there is no service. So you're like, oh, somebody's trying to get a hold of me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

They actually there's Wi-Fi inside now. So if there's uh you can like you can connect to a Wi-Fi, which honestly, like I prefer not to, you know, it's like I want to be disconnected if I'm up there.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Yeah. Um that uh so speaking of car culture and just something that uh has happened a lot in my career is um whatever I'm um it's a a photograph or uh a documentary that I'm working on, even if it is a documentary, people miss so much of the conversation between me and my subject. Um it's just those in-between moments that are so special. And I've I see that in your social media you're starting to share that a little bit more where uh these people that you shoot there you have these little excerpts from. Which I I love. I I really love. Uh can you talk about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah, thank you. Um uh thanks for noticing, I guess. Uh it's a couple factors. I think it's the most unfortunate one being Instagram pushing everybody into making videos instead of just sharing photos and making that the thing that they're, you know, they'll you're much more likely to gain uh more engagement, more followers, whatever, off of one really good viral video than you are off of the best photo you've ever taken. And that sucks kind of. Um the other thing is that uh I got a set of those DJI mics, which I I had I was on a shoot um for Road and Track, and the the one of the journalists had them, and we shot a little stand-up. And I was just like, I love interviewing people. Why don't I have a set of these? And so I bought a set, and I've been amassing little, you know, less than five minute interviews and also dabbling with putting the the uh microphone in an engine bay and telling the person to go rip up the road for a couple minutes. And and I feel like that's kind of goes back to the core of of even what I was doing with like GoPros back, you know, uh 15 years ago in New York City with the classic car club of just this like basic ethos of like strip strip everything else away and let's get some let's get a an interview with some nice audio and then some car audio and just like put those together and like see what happens, you know. Um and yeah, it's it's cool and and I appreciate your noticing. Um, I've been having fun telling a little bit more of those behind the scenes stories because I think that's uh interesting, almost sometimes more interesting than the photos themselves.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

So well, I think what's great about that is and it it definitely should be a series that you uh own. And I think what's great about that is that you have the images to cover. So it's not just a talking head. You can then cover it with the images, which is a good way to get more exposure to your images and a good way to just kind of package it up as um yeah, like a a a little profile series on on everybody.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Thank you. I think I think I'm trying to do that. I'm sitting on a couple of kind of interesting ones, but the last one that I just posted a couple days ago, obviously uh people people reacted to uh a buddy, uh a new friend of mine named Tommy King hammering his 911 ST on the crest and just sounds so good. Oh my god. Sounds so good, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

So um I wanted to ask you because it there's a difference between driving the car and being a passenger in the car. And a lot of times you're in these cars with people are really ripping. So how do you get comfortable with that?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Never. Um I'm not the best passenger, and it and honestly, it's my preference to like strap the car up with even with my phone and a mic or something, and then send that person off. And because they're because I know I well, I know myself, and with a passenger of the car, like I'm gonna drive a certain way when I have a passenger in the car, and then I'm gonna drive a certain way when I don't have a passenger in the car. And and I just passenger has a camera in their recording. Yeah, or you know, it's just there's certain it's it I want it to feel candid, and I and I feel like some of the most candid car moments that I've ever caught um are when I've sent someone out in their car alone um and said, go, like I want to, I just want to make a little clip or something, you know. And and you get like a guy who was he he was tuning his E36 uh E36 BMW. I don't remember if it was a 328 or an M3, but it had a massive turbocharger on it. And I was in New York and I I wired the car up. I was like, go go for a rip. And he was like, You're not coming with me. I was like, hell no, I'm not coming with you. And so then I'm I'm reviewing the footage and he's pulling over and he's tinkering and he's doing stuff and he like tries to do a pull and he has this like meltdown and and like he's like cursing at the car and stuff, and and it was just I mean, it was a really kind of like human moment, you know, where he's just like he's out there, he's testing the car, and it that wouldn't have happened if if I was with him, or he would have freaked out at me, probably, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Um, so how how do you decide whether or not you're shooting film or digital?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Um, these days it's been I'm I've uh changed the digit the the film um that I'm shooting. I'm shooting a lot less 35 millimeter these days, and I'm shooting on a a Pentac 645N medium format. Um and the the kind of mindset is that uh about a year ago I decided to start working on a book. Um, and I've been shooting 120, and basically this book is like as close as it's ever been to being able to share it. Um I posted the the cover of it on my story last week, and I should be getting a the latest proof tomorrow or the next day. And then uh it's it's all Porsche Cars and it's kind of with a distinct through line style. Um so so that kind of differentiates the film is personal for the most part. It's what it's what I'm kind of excited about these days. And then for you know, work and commissions and and commercial and editorial stuff, that's digital. But I have been enjoying working in more analog because especially for for brands who want stuff for their social media, um, they there's more of a desire for things that feel real and feel less produced and feel less uh like a press kit or something. And And film is something that gives that feel, kind of, you know, the hard flash and the green and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

I mean, you kind of just answered it, but do you think clients appreciate or or can differentiate the difference between film and digital?

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Sometimes. Um I think they are if I had to guess, it's brands chasing exactly what younger kids are chasing these days, which is that phones have gotten so good that the photos that you take on your phone are too good and they don't have much, they don't have feeling to them. They don't have a lot of character because it's just like, yeah, that's a that is that. That's an iPhone photo, and it and the shadows are pulled up and the face is perfectly balanced because it detected a face or whatever. Um, whereas whereas the analog stuff is like kids, teenagers are buying now like early Canon point and shoot cameras because that that take you know CF cards and stuff that and the prices for these things are going crazy on eBay because because they're the cool thing to go to the party and not have a photo on your phone, but to have a bunch of like gritty, grainy, kind of almost paparazzi looking flash photos. Um I think it's cool too, to be honest. I think I think it it's it it brings a little bit of character and analog back to to uh a lot of the really kind of austere feeling digital stuff that we see these days.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Yeah. Um you said your book is all Porsches. Um I mean I I probably can answer the question myself, but why why just Porsche's?

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Uh that's one I haven't been asked yet. And I I can't answer other than just saying that once I started shooting analog film, there was something about classic Porsche Cars and Porsche Cars in general that shot on film makes me react a certain way. And even beyond that, like it it evokes uh feeling from people that I I don't know, it's kind of intangible. And and it's you know, to your point, uh what really told me that I had something with this book is that I started sharing some of the initial photos, some little selects, on uh analog photo forums that have nothing to do with cars, just purely like analog photography subreddits and getting reactions in those places from people who don't care about cars and don't aren't car people. And that's what really kind of flipped a switch for me that was like, wait, this is actually like this, I think this deserves more attention.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Yeah. The thing I love about when you shoot film and a classic car is that time is alleviated from the equation that this picture could have been taken at any time since the car was actually in existence, which is amazing. What have you learned so far about putting the book together since this is your first book?

SPEAKER_01 25:15

It's a huge hassle. Um I wish that I had a publisher. I'm just self-publishing this. Um that there's gonna be a volume two, so I'm kind of hoping to get some interest and and find a publisher to help with this. Um, but it's it's definitely a labor of love. And uh I I worked with a designer. I knew that I couldn't lay this out myself in any kind of coherent way. Um, so I've spent a good bit of money.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Why is that? Why do you say that?

SPEAKER_01 25:47

I just I can't, I'll I'll look at my stuff and I just end up looking at everything. And then I'm I look at it one way, and then I look at it another way, and then I just I can't personally decide, like I can't make the decisions to choose what to put on the page. I would know, I would be able to choose basically, and one of the last things I did with my designer was go through and look at each set and make sure that there wasn't something missing that I really liked from there. But it's it's too, I'm already so close to this work that like paging through the book, um, it's it's hard to for me to be personally excited about it until I start showing it to someone else and seeing their reactions because I've seen it so many times and I've looked at it, and it's just like it's it's it's too close almost at this point. But I'm so excited to share it, you know, it like because sharing it and seeing those reactions is been really gratifying with the few people that I have shared it with so far.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Um I wanted to talk about so without giving any technical secrets away, there's a big difference between uh cars in motion, cars in the studio, and then cars in the environment. Can you just talk about your your approach to each?

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Sure. Um yeah, I mean static cars outside is probably gonna be the easiest thing in natural light. Um I generally trying to think of how to sort of verbalize this. Um I guess there's sort of a set of not rules, but uh things that you would look for kind of in most of those situations. So like shooting outside, I'm always gonna be aiming for sunrise or sunset. Like I'm always looking for good light because shooting midday is just it's it's tough. And especially analog, like I've I've shot a lot of roles of film where there's been a cool car up at Newcombs or something, and and and it just I end up getting the getting developed, and I'm not super excited about it. And I'm like, what am I gonna do with this stuff anyway? So um outdoor shooting, static stuff, always looking for nice light and nice locations. That's the best thing I'm I'm looking for. Um and honestly, that's all of photography, but it's just different, different sort of uh adjustments. Like if I'm shooting motion, I want to find a nice corner, a nice curve where the background is gonna look good. So that's location again, light. Obviously, I want good light, but I'm usually going between camera settings. If I'm panning, I'm starting with something pretty safe at like one one hundredth or something like that, and then slowly working my way down as I know that I've gotten something good kind of at each as far as I can, you know, even down to like one 115th or something like that. Um, and even if you don't get something that's bang on sharp, it's gonna be, it's gonna look cool because you're gonna have a lot of motion blur and stuff. Um, and then on the other side of motion car to car, um, find a good road, make sure you're strapped in, um, make sure you're not, you know, you're not doing anything unsafe. And uh, and that's a lot more just kind of spray and pray. Uh, make sure you've got your your your focus set on active and and a good bit of of uh room on your memory card. Because when I'm doing car to car, like I'm coming away with many thousands of photos that I'm culling down to like three or four keepers, you know. Um and then studio, that's like tough. You need the space, you need the light. Um we have this studio in Van Nuys where we shoot a lot of bring a trailer cars, angles studios. Uh, we've got a turntable in there, we've got a psych wall. Um it's really it's about controlling reflections, more so I think in the studio and having enough light to get it where you need it.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Um because when you're in the studio, a lot of people don't realize that you know, car is basically a of a just a mirror.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yeah. Yeah. And we've we've had to do a lot of adjustments inside of our studio. We've we've had to like we're like zooming way, way pixel peeping. Like, what is that? And how do we get rid of it without having to retouch every single photo? You know, right? So we've been, yeah, we painted walls and we've um we've got extra lights to kind of uh overcome certain other things. Um but studio stuff is it's intimidating for a lot of people, but we've done some interesting, we we had a little kind of open house event and we've been inviting photographers who have never shot studio photos before in and kind of setting them up, you know, put our receiver on their camera and and get them with the settings going and say, okay, now shoot some photos. And their like mind is blown because they're like, wait, this is how easy it is. And it's like, yes, when you've done this kind of build out, you know what I mean? It's it's it's easy, it can be that easy. Um, but off-camera flash is like one of my favorite ways to set things apart. I've I've got a couple strobes that can overpower sunlight and you know, fill fill a shadowed part of a car where you want to just show something a little bit more. Um, and that's the kind of stuff you you can run and gun that stuff too. Like a lot of times I just have someone hand holding that and I'm like, okay, angle it down a little bit more, angle it up, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Now, what what did you just mention about your studio? It almost sounded like you were giving a class.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

We we've thought about doing kind of class things. Um, we don't have anything like that set up right now, but more so we're we're trying to find more photographers to cover our needs. And so we're bringing people, local people in to check out the space and and car car photographer guys, videographers, stuff like that, um, who we can we can work with um in a way that makes sense for us, and then they can learn something too.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Right. And now when you're saying we, who who are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 31:52

I've got a partner, um, a couple partners, but the main guy I work with is Charlie Schulman. Uh, he runs a private dealership called PTW Motorsport, and then he also runs the studio. So the two kind of factors of him having a private dealership where he's always got uh he's always got something going on. You know, he's either buying or selling. He's got a beautiful 1968 target. He's selling right now. I think he just sold a uh five, seven, five Marinello. Um, but he is kind of our sales guy and our our business guy. Um, and he's doing an incredible job keeping things going there. Um, and then I'm in and out kind of uh overseeing, and I'm technically the creative director. So making sure that everything looks good and that we're we're kind of upholding a certain level of quality no matter what photographer is shooting the car.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Got it. I wanted to go back to your grandfather and the um the Ford tractors. Um it's definitely the first time I've heard I've heard of that. What have you shot it?

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Have you ever shot any of the this was this was way before my my photography years. Um and the tractors are long gone, unfortunately. But uh it's it's a it's a it's a pretty um niche collector uh world from what I understand. And I don't know a ton about it, but it's like early Ford tractors have some some pretty crazy values, like not, you know, not like Porsche tractor level stuff, but um I know that it's like you know, these guys are very uh meticulous. And I I got some really cool like uh 118th or or whatever scale models of really intricate Ford tractors over the years, which I certainly destroyed one way or another. Um but yeah, honestly, you you got me curious now too.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Like I kind of want to know more about it, but somebody in your family must have some pictures. Somebody in your family must have some pictures.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

There are there are photos. I could I could probably dig up a photo or two if if uh if you'd like to see something.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Yeah, I I think you would you would enjoy it too. Um so I wanted to ask you, you know, cars mean different things to to everybody. There's like uh freedom, status, nostalgia. You've met so many people. What what do you think a common through line is?

SPEAKER_01 34:15

I think um that's a great question. Uh I a common through line is the community, especially out here in California. And especially as I get deeper and deeper into the Porsche community, it's people who who all know each other and all are kind of showing up at the same meets every weekend. And it feels kind of like a family. It's like totally cliche to say. But and I'm I'm the kind of person who I can be very extroverted, but I can also be very introverted. So I really like my I like being alone at home. I like having time to just quiet time to look at things and and tinker and stuff like that. But when I do decide to go out, it's really fun to have that community and to know that I'm gonna see someone that I know uh and and to catch up with them and just have a have a casual kind of fun encounter, see what's going on in their world. Um and then there is also just the factor of of fun, just joy of being able to a good car and a good road, and and even more so with people who you know and you know how they drive, and and you guys are kind of a the cars are matched well and and everything's just happening, you know?

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Yeah. I I just I didn't realize how inclusive it was. I think, you know, looking at car culture and maybe um some of the misconceptions of it is that you know it's it's uh it's not inclusive. And you know, when I got my I call it my budget boxer, I remember thinking like, oh man, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna be shunned away. But it was the exact opposite. You know, people were very, very inclusive. Everybody was really um helpful, everybody has a mechanic that you need to go see. Um, so I I really appreciate that about the culture.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

I found the same. I actually had this, I had a 986 as well. I don't know if you remember that, but I had one for for a year and I miss it. I want another one. What happened to it? Sold it. I uh it was great, but I put too much money into preventative stuff and I needed something more comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm I'm surprised. I've had mine for two years now, and I I just I I love it. I it's just it's perfect for me. Um, I wanted so you go back and forth to New York and and LA a lot. I know there's a weather aspect, but uh what do you think the main differentiation between car culture in New York and LA is, aside from the weather?

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Um it's less well, less welcoming, maybe, and more clicky. Um so like a good example is like I can roll up to Newcombs and sort of choose a car and find the owner and convince them to go up one corner or down one corner or somewhere, not at the meet, and shoot a couple photos after I I show them my analog camera and and tell them that I'm a photographer and that I'm you know working on a personal project or whatever. Whereas in New York, when I try to go do that, it like almost never works, which is not like it's it's not like a I don't know, it it people are just out for different reasons. And it's usually like, oh, I'm just out for I'm just out cruising today. And I'm like, okay, this will take like 15 minutes, but and I don't want to seem desperate or anything, but I'm also like I have a lot of good little spots near the uh the meet that I go to over in Hayfields in Connecticut and some pretty heavy hitter cars that that show up there, but it's a it's a it's more work for sure. You need to, you know, you need to kind of uh have a little bit more rapport, which I'm working on. And I've got I've got some really cool stuff uh in the works back in New York, actually.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Awesome. So uh what would be your advice to somebody that is is wanting to get into shooting cars for a living?

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Yeah. Um it's easy to want to just go to Cars and Coffee and shoot cars and and trying to find ways to make that work for you. But my best advice is to take any car, your parents' car, and make that look good. Like if you can make your parents' Honda Accord look incredible at sunset or sunrise, then you're you've got something that you can show to someone who has an actually cool car and say, look what I did with this. Think about what we could do with your car. And I just think that there's too too many people are too focused on arriving where the cars already are. And it's in that situation, it's some parking lot at noon where there's people and there's cars, and it's it's not a good place to take car photos, you know? And why not take control of your subject? Doesn't need to be a Ferrari or a Lamborghini or anything. Like the the less exciting the car is, the better, because then you're able to focus on just making it look good and and not just, oh, I've got a Lamborghini in front of my lens. So take control of your subject, go shoot something that isn't exciting and make something that's actually cool.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Yeah, I when I when I that's amazing advice. When I at Old Place, there's always people inviting me to car shows saying, like, oh, you're gonna get some amazing images there. And I always I never I don't want to make them feel bad because I'm I appreciate them, you know, trying to uh you know keep me informed. Yeah, uh whenever I talk to somebody, I'm like, well, that's like telling uh a nature photographer, oh, there's this amazing zoo you should go to. You're gonna get some amazing pictures. You know, it's like exactly it doesn't, you know, you got people standing around, you got, you know, plus you don't want to see a bunch of other cars in the background, even if they're amazing. It just, it's just not that's not what it's about, you know. So it's about putting in the work and and you know, actually going out there. That's why I love, you know, what you're doing with showing the conversations that you're having, you know, or or sharing that a little bit more, because a lot of times people just see the beautiful pictures and they don't realize that you have to gain a certain amount of trust in order to get somebody to take their$20,000,$120,000 car to a certain area and you know, take the time to shoot with you. And and I uh I appreciate that you're you're showing that more.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

I mean, I appreciate the people just going and doing that with me, especially for this this book idea, sort of explaining like, hey, I want to go spend a couple hours and and you know uh use a plastic cover and shoot some stuff, and they're like, what? But but one once you see it in, you know, in in uh in action, then it kind of clicks, which uh which is fun.

SPEAKER_00 41:03

Awesome. I asked um most of my guests what their advice to shoot wisely is, and shoot wisely is a very broad term, but I'm gonna ask you, what would be your advice to shoot wisely?

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Chase good light. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

One thing, one thing my my brother who is a photographer always told me that um the only thing you're doing with photography is capturing light falling on subjects, whatever that subject is, it's just capturing light. That's all you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

That's true. That's very true. And I mean that's what I've done too, is like I I like I I chase good, you know, good stories and good subjects, and then find a way to put that in the best possible light.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Is there um is there a golden egg car that you haven't shot yet that you would you would love to shoot?

SPEAKER_01 41:58

Um there's a couple cars that I'm hoping to get into the second volume of my book. Um and the first volume is pretty general. There's some there's some really cool cars in it, um, but I'm I want to aim a little bit higher in terms of historic uh Porsche cars. Um I'd like to get a Crayer GT in the book, I'd like to get a 918 in the book, and a 935, like some of those classic, classic Porsche race cars, especially with race history, I think is where I'm where I would really like to head. Um and I've I've got some I've got some some uh some plans for that.

SPEAKER_00 42:38

What was the uh criteria to to for a a car to be featured in your first book coming out? If there was one?

SPEAKER_01 42:46

There really wasn't one. Um it was more so about who I could convince to do this thing, you know, and and it's it's between New York and LA, so that was kind of fun to focus on both of those places. Um, but the criteria was notable Porsche cars. So good colors, good specs. Um I think the what the way that I was shooting a car, cars with big wings, especially look striking with the plastic kind of over it. Um but yeah, mainly just just kind of interesting, notable Porsche cars was was the the criteria.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

And you might have said this before, but is the book a a combination of film and digital? It's all medium format film. Right. You did say that before. Yeah, it's all medium format. Yeah. Amazing. Well, Jonathan, I really appreciate your time. I really look forward to uh anything you post, really. Um, but I really do look forward to You too. When the book thank you. I really look forward to when the book comes out. And the one thing, you know, when I did my book, the one thing I always tell people is think of your book as a really expensive business card. Because you, you know, whether not you make money on it it's it's a physical thing that you're gonna give to people that they can leave on a counter and somebody picks up and they start looking at it and they find out who you are and and what you do and it's um it's it's advertisement at the end of the day and it makes you it makes you feel once you're done no matter what happens with it it just makes you feel good to to have something physical in your hand that is inherently yours.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

I have a congratulation grab it really quick yeah please please please please I can show the outside it's uh it's not quite perfect yet but this is pretty much what it's going to look like right here. Oh beautiful thank you that is striking man a little spine and uh yeah it's uh it's 154 pages of uh of all really interesting covered car stuff beautiful beautiful beautiful and what can you pre-order it or what will so um I'm waiting on the final proof this week and then uh the pre-order link will be ready later this week or early next week.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

Okay soon very soon very soon so by the time this this podcast is out there will be a link to pre-order.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

It's actually it's not gonna be a pre-order it's gonna be like the full on order. So it's uh yeah it's gonna be going to be ready to go.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

Oh super exciting so this is gonna be perfect timing. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 45:24

It is it is thank you. Thank you for having me on this been really fun um I'm sure I'm gonna see you at the old place sometime soon.

SPEAKER_00 45:30

Yeah. Uh Jonathan I really appreciate your time and um good luck with your book and I look forward to seeing it and holding it in my hand. Thank you Amir have a good one. Thank you for listening to Shoe Wisely if you found something in this conversation that inspired you, moved you or made you think a little differently please share it with someone who might need to hear it. Your support means a lot and it truly helps the show grow. If you enjoyed this episode please like subscribe and leave a review or comment on your favorite podcast platform. Those small actions make a big difference and help more people discover these conversations. I'm your host Amir Bahimi and remember create with intention live with curiosity and always shoot wisely