APA – Interview with Vasco Estrelado

205

Originally published on

APA: Hello, Vasco! Please introduce yourself.

Vasco: Hello! I´m a 39 year old professional photographer based in Lisbon Portugal. Photography is my pation. I started late about 8 years ago. I´ve been a car photographer about 2.5 years.

APA: Where did your interest for Car Photography start?

Vasco: I´ve got invited to show my portfolio in the best car magazine in Portugal. “Revista Turbo” that was the first time I´ve photographed a car and I fall in love with the first photos.

Originally published on

APA: Hello, Vasco! Please introduce yourself.

Vasco: Hello! I´m a 39 year old professional photographer based in Lisbon Portugal. Photography is my passion. I started late about 8 years ago. I´ve been a car photographer about 2.5 years.

APA: Where did your interest for Car Photography start?

Vasco: I´ve got invited to show my portfolio in the best car magazine in Portugal. “Revista Turbo” that was the first time I´ve photographed a car and I fall in love with the first photos.

APA: What camera did you first begin photographing with? What type of camera, lens, and equipment do you use now?

Vasco: My first camera, was a Christmas present from my parents. It was a Canon 350 that I still have.

Now I use:

Canon 5DMKIII
Canon 7D
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Canon 430EXII Flash

APA: How do you match the car, its spirit and customer target with a shooting location?

Vasco: I try to photograph the car where that specific car lives. On is garage or drive way, and nearby roads. Places that tell something to the owner.

APA: For all the cars that you’ve shot, do you have a favorite?

Vasco: Well……..that´s kind of difficult. The car it´s not the only thing that makes the shot special, but all the things that involve the shoot. The place, the car, the final result. But if have to chose maybe a Ferrari 308 Quattrovalvole.

APA: You are based in Portugal. Does the landscape or artistic culture of the country influence your work at all?

Vasco: Yes of course. I live near a famous place in Portugal called “Serra de Sintra” where the World Rally took place many years ago. Also we have a amazing coast line with fantastic beaches.

APA: How do you keep yourself motivated and your photography creative, inspiring and fresh?

Vasco: It´s a constant search to learn, evolve and outcome myself every day. I´m doing always doing one of this things:

Watching a video on YouTube
Reading an article online
Watching photos of other car photographers
And now with the new and fantastic website from APA we have always some thing to read and see. Bye the way congrats. You are doing a very good jog helping this new “race” of photographers to grow and be taken serious by the industry.

// thanks for these words, Vasco!

APA: Can you name some photographers that inspires you with their works and why?

Vasco: I love so many photographers, but for me there is one that makes me very exited with is work. Frederic Schlosser is the man. Not only is work is top, but I think is always at a very high level. I never seen a “meehhh” photo of him. Also he is a fantastic person, always available to help and talk.

Other names that I love:

- Matt Magnino
- Andrew Link
- Thomas Larsen
- Michael Lee

APA: What type of software do you use for post-processing, and on average how long does the entire procedure take?

Vasco: I use Adobe Photoshop CC. It realy depends of what kind of look and technique that you use. But it could that a few minutes with some presets on editorial photos, and a couple of hours in some composites.

APA: Thank you for giving us this interview. Could you please share some important automotive photography tips that a beginner should try?

Vasco: The best way to have good photos of cars is………. photograph cars. If you don´t star doing it you will never have it. Just do it. Your friends cars, your personal car. Forget photoshop and composites. Learn the basics. Angles, focal length, time of the day, and most of all take care of the distractions in the first photos. Details is what makes a good photo. Trafic signs, pleople take them of when you are taking the photo. And don´t do car spoting thinking that you are a car photographer just because it´s a ferrari. If you go to the street photographing beautiful women you are not a fashion photographer. Get the oldest car, but control every thing. Position, angle, light, location.

Links:

- Facebook
- Website
- Instagram

Edward Schnitzer

105

Editor-in-chief, Automotive Photographers Association

You must be logged in to post a comment.