Traveling with an Automotive Photographer

Automotive Photography  •  Photography Tips  •  Travel Photography

The worth and intensity of your passion can be imagined from the amount of effort that you are willing to put in its realization. There are not many people who would give up the comforts of everyday life and virtually live on road in order to pursue their passion. John Jackson of NotStock Photography is one such person who has travelled some 170,000 miles during the last four years, following his love for hot rods, bikes and automotive photography.

The remarkable fact about John’s journey is that he has been travelling in a 1964 Corvair van which is a feat in itself. John got this van as a birthday gift from his wife some four and a half years ago and it seemed something that was made just for him. John talks about his journey and says that there are a lot of people who are completely shocked when he tells them about his journey and that he has actually been travelling on a 1964 Corvair, which contains no A/C, and covering 60,000 miles a year, topping out at 60 mph. However, he is completely satisfied with his journey since this is something that he always wanted to do.

The main aim of John’s journey is to find bad ass hot rods, bikers and owners of unique vehichles who usually don’t get a feature in magazines and photograph them. One of the reasons why John loves to shoot cars and bikes is that he has been fascinatred by then ever since his childhood. He inherited his hobby of photography from his mom, who herself was a hobbiest photographer and even though John did not have any formal education in this field, his exposure to cameras and photography at a very early age helped him a lot. Besides, he attended a few seminars and largely learned the intricacies of photography on his own. Talking about photography in today’s world, he says that it has become very simple since with digital cameras, all you need is a memory card and a good lens and the rest depends on you. Factors that are important in other forms of photography such as wedding photography or event photography also play their role in automotive photography and it demands equal expertise.

Talking about his experience of shooting bikes and cars, John says that this hobby is something that never gets old, since every time you think that you have seen everything, someone builds something innovative and you are hooked again. John’s van is filled with the signatures of all the owners whose vehicles he has photographed over the years. John says that he never intends to retire from this job of shooting hot rods, meeting new people and discovering new places, since this is more of a passion and something that is a source of immense satisfaction for him.