I’ve always had a passion for two things: cars and photography. I can always appreciate a great photo. Ever since we launched Secret Entourage, we felt it was important to have good pictures and a presence on social forums and websites like Flickr.com. I browse through Flickr.com everyday and come across some of the most talented photographers. Whenever I see a great photo, I add them to my contacts just so I can keep coming back to see what they’ve uploaded. Flickr.com is a great website in that a lot of the guys that do automotive photography use it and it seems like a very close community. You will always see other photographers commenting on your photos from all over the world. This brings us to our first featured photographer: Ian Jones Photography.
To be honest, there’s only a handful of photographers I consider to be excellent based on several aspects such as: object selection, composition, quality, post processing, etc. I consider Ian Jones to be one of them. I came across Ian way back when I first joined Flickr. After doing a search for something I came across his photo stream and noticed he had a recurring theme: exotic cars, Los Angeles, and great photos. You can never go wrong with those three. As a resident of the east coast, we are always looking forward to seeing pictures of events that go on in Southern California simply because they do it better there. Ian has always been able to bring photos from everything to Rodeo Dr to Concourse D Elegance.
Ian, like us, has the same passion for cars and photography. However, more so a hobby than a job. It runs in Ian’s family also. Ian’s dad is also a photographer who has worked with several different manufacturers ranging from Mercedes-Benz to Acura. Back in the early 90’s Ian’s Dad was commissioned to take photos of the Acura NSX. In fact, you may have seen his fathers photos in Acura brochures or advertisements.
There are generally two marquees when dealing with professional level digital cameras: Canon and Nikon. We personally use and like Canon while others, like Ian, use Nikon. Ian works with the Nikon D2X with a 18-200 VR lense. As a backup camera, Ian also has a Nikon D40X. One thing I’ve noticed with Nikon cameras is that their colors come out very vibrant without much post processing as you can see in Ian’s photos.
One thing I like about Ian’s photos are that they are very clear and realistic. There’s no over done HDR style post processing of any sort. I asked Ian what he does to his photos and he mentioned that for the most part they are untouched. He simply just adjusts the curves and brightness to compensate for under or overexposure.
Ian mentioned to me that although this is more of a hobby for him, he has been compensated for his work before. We asked him what the future held for him. He mentioned that he would love to work in an industry revolving around fine automobiles. We think Ian will have great potential. :-) With being so involved in the LA exotic car scene, Ian has had the privilege to meet many people with great stories to tell. Being an avid Ferrari enthusiast, Ian said his best photography moment came while he was performing a photoshoot on his father’s friend’s Ferrari 348. The owner of the Ferrari simply tossed Ian the keys and told him to take it for a spin. Of course Ian couldn’t resist.
We would like to personally thank and congratulate Ian Jones of Ian Jones Photography for being our first featured photographer. He is the first of many more to come. We personally believe Ian to be one of the best automotive photographers we’ve seen. If you are from the Southern California area and would like to hire Ian for photography work, you can contact him at ijfoto91@gmail.com. Please take a moment to check out more of his photos on our sidebar or going directly to his Flickr.
