June Photographer Spotlight ” Victor Lopez “

Get to know one of our Street Trucks Photographers, Victor Lopez. We had a one on one interview with him. Get to know what he looks for when covering a show. Check out some of his favorite shoots below the interview.

ST: Introduce yourself. Let people get to know the man/woman behind the lens

VL: My name is Victor Lopez, based out OKC. Custom automotive magazines helped me learn English, but in turn, has made me crazy for anything lowered, on wheels, or out of the norm. Video games didn’t make things any better for me with the custom scene.

ST: When did you get into photography?

VL: I started from a young age, probably around 7-8, whenever my mom made the official media guy in the family. I was always taking video, or photos, for special events or whatever they needed me for. From there I genuinely took an interest, and I started taking apart magazines to build an inspiration wall. I did a lot of phone photography and edited on it too, till I stole my mom’s camera in college, taking it to truck meets, and it grew from there.

ST: Do you have any covers and if so, how many?

VL: I have 4, but I’m shooting for more!

ST: Who are some of your influences?

VL: Early on, it was magazines that influenced me, from Street Trucks, Truckin’, Import Tuner, Super Street, and Lowrider magazine for sure. As I grew photographers like Andrew Link, Dale Martin, Denis Podmarkov, Pepper Yandell, Sergey Poltavskiy, Khyzyl Saleem, and even some of StreetTrucks own push me to do my best.

ST: When you go do  a shoot, what’s in the camera bag?

VL: I shoot light, so typically its my Nikon Z6 with a 24/70 F4, 50mm 1.8, 14-30 F4, extra batteries, extra memory cards, tripod, lens cleaner kit, and a redbull.

ST: Describe your lighting when and if you decide to use it.

VL: I’ve been slowplaying on using lighting, but for now its just using natural light and artificial light from the location if needed for the vision.

ST: Describe somethings when you are at a show that makes a truck standout to you.

VL: I love custom colors, wild setups, minimalistic designs but packed with details, and backyard builds for sure. Stuff that makes you get lost in catching details, or has some history is cool to hear as well. It’s a MAJOR plus if they’re spaced evenly to where I can get good angles.

ST: Do you have a favorite shoot you have done? Describe it.

VL: One of my favorites was probably my first shoot in Mexico, just because it opened a lot of doors for me, and it was a dream come true to shoot in the motherland. I drove 3 hours to shoot with a homie I met online, and it was a blast to shoot in a town packed with history that he showed me around in, and just bliss to shoot and share it with the world.

ST: What are your thoughts on the current and future state of the industry?

VL: It’s definitely different, there’s a new surge in popularity that has been great for the culture, that comes from social media and vloggers. There’s a comeback with old school styles and graphics, where even ground effects are coming around. EV is something that’s major too, with performance and electrical setups aiming to be better than ever.

ST: What advice would you give to new photographers?

VL: Learn the basics, it’ll help so much to get you where you want to be. You don’t need expensive gear to put out quality work, start off easy, before you go hard with pricey equipment. Stay in your lane, and don’t worry about what others do in their journey. Find your own style and make it work for you.

ST: Last minute thoughts you would like to give to the Street Trucks community.

VL: Keep the good vibes coming and the sick rides rolling.