Westside Car Story
By Aaron Smith and Jeff Ludes

One morning, I received an interesting phone call from my agent, Paige Long @ Fox Creative. She pitched me a rather unique collaborative idea. One of her other artists, Jeff Ludes, is a very established automotive photographer who specializes in technical car imagery.

Paige is always thinking about how to provide a better, more holistic service for clients. She thought it could be an interesting creative partnership, combining my lifestyle photography background with Jeff's automotive technical expertise.

What made this collaboration even more natural was discovering that Jeff and I both come from skateboarding backgrounds and surprisingly share an interest in archery. We wanted our test shoot to feature more than just the newest luxury vehicle. Our vision was to find a car with genuine personality and pair it with rad models with colorful styling.

We ultimately chose a 1987 Ford Mustang, which proved to be the perfect subject. We shot everything on the westside of Los Angeles, covering locations from Santa Monica south to LAX.

I will first start with my images from the shoot. Check them out below!

We gathered my favorite creative partners for the shoot. 

Wardrobe Stylist: Lindsay Briatico

Makeup: Nicole Walmsley

Hair: Jesika Miller

Photo Assistant: Chiara Alexa & Mordan Dadds

Models: Stella Sender & Bailey Clark

Yes, I filmed this while on my skateboarder lol

Once we settled on our convertible Ford Mustang, I came up with a shot idea that I was thrilled about. What if we could capture the car driving under a plane during its landing approach at LAX, with one of our models flashing it? Sounds easy, right? Not even close!

Jeff, Chiara, and I scouted all our shooting locations beforehand. While exploring the area near LAX, we used a flight tracking app to time how long planes took to pass over our intended shooting road.

Chiara created a handy map with all the timing data we collected. We figured out that once a plane crossed Hawthorne Blvd, we had exactly 33 seconds to get to the perfect spot on the road for the aircraft to pass right overhead. The turnaround spot we found off Aviation Blvd would take 20 seconds at 40MPH to reach the ideal position.

During our shoot, as the sun was setting, we kept missing the perfect moment due to all sorts of factors. We decided to try one last time when we spotted a Delta Air Lines plane (the airline I particularly wanted as a devoted Delta fan) heading our way. Stella, our Mustang driver, flipped the car around and punched it down Aviation Blvd. Luckily, the stars aligned—the plane flew right over us, creating the perfect shot!

Bailey, our model doing the "flashing," was such a good sport. She was totally game for the idea from the start. When we got to the location, she said, "OK, let me take off my bra." I quickly said, "No, no, no—I can Photoshop out your bra strap; no need to actually do it." Thank goodness for that, as drivers in the opposite lane almost swerved multiple times when they saw a woman apparently flashing them, though she stayed covered.

And I'm so glad my assistant Chiara pushed to be in the car with us filming behind-the-scenes. I wasn't sure if there would be enough space, but we made it work, and I love the resulting video so much!

What an absolute blast getting this shot!

Jeff Ludes

Now let's check out Jeff Ludes's images. He brought this awesome rig that he mounted on his car to capture really rad follow photos and videos of the Mustang. That's something I've never done before, and I'm so stoked he was able to get so many great shots with it.

Photography is usually seen as a solo gig—one photographer on set, maybe with a second shooter now and then. I've rarely heard of two represented photographers with different styles teaming up to mix their creative visions. Jeff and I aren't starting a full-time partnership, but we're definitely open to working together when the right project comes along—especially when clients want a wide range of images. Together, we can create something unique that blends our different approaches.

I'm so stoked on this project! More of this please!

Thanks for checking it out.