Earlier this month I was hired by Hot Import Nights, an annual auto show for tuner import cars, to shoot the branding and sponsorship materials for its three main sponsors: Sylvania Zevo, Valvoline and Fix-A-Flat. Before I arrived I was given a shot list so I had a general idea of what I was expected to shoot, but still had a lot of flexibility when it came to creating the shots. Essentially I was asked to shoot the branding and sponsorship materials as "naturally" as possible. That's a little tougher of a task than it seems considering how blatant advertising usually is. I also had to make sure all my shots were on the conservative side considering these events make it a point to feature lots of models with the cars.

It was a good exercise of one of the basic tenets of photography: be aware of your backgrounds.

While I was composing each shot I had to make sure I had a clear subject in the photo that instantly attracted the eye, but also featured the brand somewhere in the image all the while making sure the photo wasn't too risqué for the companies. It became a bit of a game for myself to get it done in different ways.

Also, sometimes when I'm shooting an event I feel a little lost trying to capture as much as possible. In this case, it felt good to scratch shots off the list after getting them done in a variety of ways.