The principle of this one is simple. Just as my wife has a bag full of hair stylist shots every time she hits the hair dresser, start a folder for car photography ideas. Start thinking like a car photographer. Every time you see a great car shot, keep it in a file. If you’re online, grab the screen and save them to a folder. Put that folder on your desktop and name it with capitals something like “CAR PHOTO IDEAS” That way, it won’t be buried in your documents folder with all the other word docs you’re got. Copy pictures you admire, or wonder how they were created. When you’re bored, open it and flick through. My ‘Lightbulb File”, called because the contents gave me a lightbulb-in-the-head-moment, is full of shots I’ve seen in magazines, sometimes not even car related, but the subject gave me an idea to try out.
The OTHER REALLY BIG THING to start a file on is locations. Start looking at places as you travel around and think about how they might make great car photo shoot locations. Sure, many of them will be out of reach or not practical, but others will be perfect possibilities. Start looking at roads too. I know it’s a bit geeky, but roads are important. The type of surface, width and backdrop beside the road all go towards making it a good place for a location. It’s orientation to the light is important too. Will the road be perfect for a late afternoon summer time shoot with the sun playing on the side of the car? Those roads are gold dust, so make a note when you see one. Grab a shot on your iPhone and save it to a folder, then sync it to your desktop later.
It doesn’t have to be a virtual folder, either. Magazines can be (quietly) ripped and shots kept on a folder and this is often a better way to do it. You can pull out the folder in an idle moment and remind yourself of those ideas you got when you first saw the picture.
The whole idea of this is not to just simply rip off other photographer’s ideas, but to get you thinking about ways you can take that style of shot and create your own interpretation of it. If a shot in your folder inspires you with an idea for a shot you’d like to try, write it down straight away, scibble a note on the picture if you like. We all get busy doing stuff and if you don’t write it down immediately, the spark if an idea is gone and later, you’ll be looking at the shot, trying to remember that little nugget to turn the lightbulb back on again.
