27
Jul
2010
Volvo C30: Same tunnel, same old tricks
Photographing cars was the reason I got my first camera. I’ve always been a big car guy, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by my current ride; a Scion xB. Maturing sucks. My brief 10 year driving history includes having my name under an 87 300ZX, 96 300ZX, 94 RX-7, 99 Subaru 2.5 RS, and now…. the box. Unfortunately a fire-spitting RX-7 can’t haul all of my photography gear.
Back on point, after a 2-3 year hiatus of not shooting cars (focused on people and designing), I got an itch to shoot Lauren’s new Volvo C30… that, and I had a day left of renting the Canon 15mm 2.8 lens for the Ashley Knights Jr. photoshoot (hence the same location!). I wanted to focus on just 1 shot, a motion/rig shot. This technique used to be a super tight-lipped secret up until a few years ago. I like to think I was one of the first digital photographers to figure out how to take this kind of picture. Along with names like Easton Chang, Luke Munnell, Josh Mackey, and Jason Siu come to mind as well. Back then I was using a 2.5mp “state-of-the-art” Olympus camera lol. In fact it was a rig shot that gave me my big break in the automotive industry, and opened a lot of doors. Now with the spread of blogs, tutorials, and every photographer out there willing to share every shred of knowledge in a youtube video for any kind of fame, the secret isn’t so, secret.
Unedited image. Despite an occasional car at 3am, the famous tunnel had very little traffic.
My trusty rig, totals 12′ in length. Got the piping specialty cut at some NASCAR shop in North Carolina years ago.
The two 6′ poles are connected with a slightly smaller diameter metal sleeve, and held together by… yes, paper clips 
I may not have the fanciest rig on earth, but I dare say it’s the most practical!!
I almost felt like I was 16 again shooting my buddies cars long after midnight. In hindsight I would of done a few things differently for this Volvo image, but it’s a good starting point to my revamped interest in shooting things with 4 legs instead of 2.
15
Jul
2010
52 MPH…
…on 2 wheels, without an engine, and on a flat surface. Unless you consider your legs an engine, then Ashley Knights Jr. is the Pagani Zonda of the bike world. Normally a person would hop in a car to go the National speed limit of 55, Ashley just does it with a 15lb carbon fiber bike and 2 (very) powerful tattoo-clad legs.
Ashley had just reached Cat 1, now aiming to ride internationally in the next year, and what better way to get extra attention than eye-opening pictures? Personally as a road bike enthusiast I was all about the shoot. Cyclists are some of the nicest people I know, and make a very fun and challenging shoot. So, after a meet-up time of 3am in downtown LA, we were off.
After the tunnel, we had a short breakfast to wait for the sun to come up, then headed to the river for some downtown LA backdrop shots:
Fortunately at 4am on a weekday, the tunnel had very little traffic. My beautiful assistant Lauren doing a FINE job of adding sweat to Ashley 
I think Ashley kinda looks like Michael Shumacher… which is pretty fitting. With a call-time of 3am to 7am, I promptly went straight home after this shot and slept till the sun went down. Oh and thank you for the chocolate chip cookies Briana!
