I put together this quick and fun lifestyle concept a week and a half ago. The idea was to get three friends out having a good time at a self car wash. Splashing and playing around, working the group interaction. Props to 82nd St and Indian School Car Wash in Scottsdale for letting us take over the place for two hours. If you ever need/want to give your car or truck a good scrub down, I definitely recommend checking them out.

Commercial lifestyle photography to me is about being able to draw out genuine moments and emotions in your subjects. Without this, you’re not really capturing the spirit of what this genre of photography is all about… to sell and entice others to want to be a part of what you’re photographing. It’s an ideal they can aspire to that is then represented by a clothing line, location or other product.

I was talking with a few other local photographers this week and we all agreed on one point. Concept, creativity and genuineness will really take your photography a step above where it may be now. Without these you’re just fulfilling technical steps instead of creating images. It’s the difference between engineering and art. One is mechanical, one is creative driven. I’d even go so boldly as to say stop worrying about your technical skills. Start focusing on your creative ideas and what you want to say in your own photography. The technicals will come with practice and attention. The creative might never if you don’t focus in on it. It’s the most important element of lifestyle photography. What can you create to draw in viewers?

Here we have our three friends arriving at the car wash. I like to utilize depth of field to create different layers in an image. It gives your image a subject and sense of place. I also enjoy little detail elements like having someone reaching in to grab keys. It hides their face and creates an “anybody” moment. You can almost put yourself in the same position.

Here our three models are once again playing around. You can create posed or set photos like each of these are, while at the same time bringing out the genuine elements of lifestyle. Simply set and direct where you’d like everyone to be, and then have them start moving and interacting. That way you have the right positions, and still a real feel to the images.

This last set I really like. You can tell how real the expressions are and how fun everyone is having. It’s all part of being able to add yourself as an extra party member to the group. Make yourself not just a passive viewer to the images, but a member of them. In that way you create an image that your viewers can not only appreciate, but engage themselves in as well.