Childhood Passion Starts a New One: Automotive Series

Childhood memories with my Dad included hearing these words, often – "Wanna go for a ride? Well, buckle up and hang on!" We'd head out down a river road worthy of a race car because of it's thrilling winding turns among the hillsides. I'd feel a rush as the torque smashed me back in my seat as Dad would crank into 2nd, taking it right up to the red line before he'd switch gears in his Audi Quattro. As I grew up I'd often have my pick of cars on a lot to test drive, that is aside from the cars over 60 G's.

Those fond and exciting experiences I had growing up never quite left me. Let's say it's more of a lifelong love of test driving cars and trucks. The only thing missing was merging my photography craft with this passion. Until now.

With a little inspiration from other shooters and a good nudge from my agent, I decided to set up my own test shoots and to keep it ever more challenging I shot them in Winter! South Dakota Winter.
My first set up was with a sweet new Chevy truck, and the other a sports coupe.. My agent and I discussed the shoot with the truck in detail and we decided to go with an easy going rural style; story telling with the idea this would satisfy both lifestyle and product needs of prospective car clients.

During the process I took to it quickly, loving the details and finish of the car in contrast to the pre-scouted location. I realized that there's a relationship in process when man interacts with machine and I was there to capture it.

For the post production I partnered with a choice retoucher at pxlhouse. This too was rewarding as a particular style developed reaching the ultimate look I was after.

This project has also inspired me to play around some more, by shooting some machine related projects including farm combines and tractors. These will be showcased on my website ongoing. Keep checking back for more cars, trucks and agricultural equipment because I believe I've come upon an entirely new category for my shots.

View more of Robb's Work at Robb Long Imaging
Retouching by Pxl.house