Exec Auto
The Call
Exec Auto reached out to us in 2024 looking for photos and rolling video of three vehicles in their fleet. A Corvette Stingray. A luxury Range Rover. A Romero Q4. The kind of project where the response is immediate and unambiguous. Hell yeah.
Automotive work is a different animal than the fine art and portrait sessions we usually run. The subject does not need direction on how to feel, it needs the right angle, the right light, and a location that makes the vehicle look like it belongs there. We started scouting and landed on an abandoned parking lot in Harker Heights. Empty asphalt, broken lines, a little bit of decay around the edges. The kind of backdrop that makes a luxury vehicle look even more out of place in the best possible way. Contrast does a lot of heavy lifting in automotive photography, and that lot gave us plenty of it.
We timed the shoot for sunset. Anyone who has shot cars knows the golden hour does things to paint and chrome that no amount of post processing can fully replicate. The low angle light wraps around body panels, catches in the grille, and turns a parked car into something that looks like it is mid motion even standing completely still. We got out there with enough time to set up and waited for the light to do what it does best.
Bringing In The Talent
A car by itself tells half a story. A car with the right person behind the wheel or leaning against the frame tells the whole thing. We brought in three of our regular collaborators for this one, Gabe, Italia, and Shyane, to give the vehicles some on screen presence and life.
There is a version of this shoot that is just hood shots and three quarter angles, technically correct and completely forgettable. We did not want that. Having talent in the frame changes the entire energy of an automotive shoot. It stops being a product photo and starts being a story about what it feels like to actually drive these cars.
The added bonus, and let us be honest about this, is that Gabe, Italia, and Shyane also got to drive a Corvette Stingray and a luxury Range Rover for an afternoon. Nobody on set was complaining about that part of the job. We rotated through setups, moved talent in and out of frame, captured stills and rolling footage in the same pass to maximize what we got out of the fading light. The Romero Q4 got its own dedicated time once the Stingray and Range Rover sessions wrapped, since each vehicle has its own character and deserved its own treatment rather than being squeezed into the same setup.
By the time the sun dropped below the horizon we had exactly what we came for. Stills with real presence, rolling footage with motion and energy, and a set of images that made the abandoned parking lot look like it was built for exactly this purpose.
Every Frame Counts.
