Saying that David Dewhurst has been at photography for most of his life is an understatement. By the age of 15 he was he was already a working pro, getting to paid by national magazines to shoot what he loved – motorcycles.

While that was a lesson on it’s own, David loved photography so much that he pursued a formal education as well. He attended a three year course on Industrial and Commercial photography at Blackpool College of Technology in norther England, and that’s where he learned the subtle art of being and capturing controlled images.

That combination of real world and formal training took David to his first full-time job, as the beat photographer for a regional newspaper. In those days prior to TTL Metering, or TTL flash David learned to be prepared for anything, and in those days we didn’t have autofocus either! Thinking carefully about his exposure, learning how to get the most out of a flash by bouncing it, and taking control of a shoot were just a few of the on-the-job lessons. Always having a plan was another.

David knew what he really wanted to photograph, he wanted to get back to motorcycles, so he convinced the newspaper’s owners to actually start a national weekly newspaper about off-road motorcycling. They did, and he was the technical editor, bike tester, and photographer for five years. That drive would land him at Cycle Guide magazine in California, but that paper he started some dirty years ago is still going strong.

Today, David is a sought after pro, with a successful business in LA, shooting what he has always been passionate about – motorcycles and cars. That passion, and understanding of the subject, informs his every shot.

David has had magazine clients that included Car and Driver, Cycle World and Cycle, and his corporate clients included all the major players including Honda, Toyota, Lexus, BMW and Yamaha.

Part of what sets David apart from the rest is that drive we discussed earlier. If he needs a piece of gear to get a shot, but the gear doesn’t actually exist…. he makes it. He even built a 3-axis gyro, with heavy mechanical gyros, to get better car-to-car action, and he built a twenty-foot geodesic arm to rigidly mount a camera out in front of a car! But wait, there’s more… he built his own suspended arm to mount video cameras for high-speed action shots. David is the real deal.

Join photographer David Dewhurst and me as we look at how he captures amazing car images, while they are moving, on this episode of Behind the Shot.

Portfolio: dewhurstphoto.com