I had the extreme privilege this last week of getting to do a shoot with Dave. My goal for this shoot was to capture him in his working environment; trying to let the outside viewer get a feel for what it’s like to be in his shoes. Imagery is one of the strongest ways of portraying a person, and I hope these images give you an idea of who Dave is as an individual.

Dave has a regular day job and joins the rat-race during the week like everyone else, but in the evenings and on the weekend, he likes to work on cars.

Dave’s been working on cars for over 30 years, and the passion continues to grow. One of his current projects is building a street-rod for a friend out of an old ’42 Plymouth.

He’s got two garages to hold the cars that he’s collected and restored over the years. Among his collection are two Oldsmobiles, three Corvettes, and a beautifully restored Ford Model-A.

The shot above was taken in his paint booth with a vehicle he fixed up, painted, and is getting ready to sell; typical turn-around for this line of work.

Most of his work requires him to be inside the shop, disassembling, adjusting, hammering, welding, replacing, etc. When the weather’s nice, he’ll open up the doors to let in the light and the fresh air. He continues on, goal in sight.

The great thing about Dave, though, is his relaxed manner and his sense of humor. There were times during the shoot he just couldn’t resist striking a funny pose or making a joke about something. It really enhanced the shoot and really made him more comfortable with the whole process. He even came up with the idea of breaking out the sunglasses and getting some more “laid-back” shots. I truly think that those shots illustrate his personality more accurately than the posed shots.

The shoot was a ton of fun, and I was pleased with the images we got. Dave was happy too; he even asked if I would come back next spring to get some shots of his cars! That’s definitely going on my calendar for next year.