Belgium-based Rudolf van der Ven (@rudolfvanderven) is a pre-eminent automotive photographer and author of “Supercars” with Shmee150. Rudolf started experimenting with light-painting years ago, and has been working with the likes of Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche and Pagani ever since.
His love for cars comes from a deep fascination with their unique lines, something he has been able to highlight with his seemingly straight-forward photography technique. Through the years, he has managed to craft a unique, moody style through minimalism and his trademark side profile shots brings a rare balance of technical precision and expressive artistry to automotive photography.
Known for capturing iconic machines with a clarity that speaks to both engineers and aesthetes, his work ranges from hypercars lit with studio-level control to dawn shoots where reflections dance across wet tarmac. With an instinctive feel for form and light, Rudolf creates images that feel meticulously crafted yet effortlessly alive. As he joins Limited100, we sit down with him to explore the vision and craft behind his distinctive approach.
Background & Origins
How did you first get into photography, and what drew you specifically toward automotive photography?
As a kid I loved cars as early as I can remember, getting RC and toy cars from a really early age. My bedroom was full of posters (I vividly remember a silver 996 Turbo, 360 Modena and Viper GTS-R), I played games like Need For Speed and Gran Turismo 3, and my favourite movie at the time was Gone In 60 Seconds. For reasons I can’t explain, I got into other stuff in my mid teens.
Was there a defining moment (or car) in your childhood that sparked your passion for cars and light?
I got my first proper camera in 2006, but it took a few years to really catch the bug. I started out shooting events and dabbled in portraits, but soon moved to architecture. It was there that I discovered I had a profound fixation on clean symmetry, and for a while I only did very cliché Wes Andersonesque scenes with pastel tones.
In the weekends I had started shooting cars for Jaguar Land Rover (a good friend was doing their PR) and eventually this led me to try out light-painting on a bright orange Range Rover Sport SVR. I was hooked immediately, got a bigger light and soon I was doing pretty much only that.
Did you have a mentor or someone whose work inspired you early on?
I didn’t have any mentors per se, but have always been inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s visual style. When it comes to car photography specifically, I’ve always looked up to Stephan Bauer, Philipp Rupprecht and fellow Limited100 artist Tim Wallace - quite the honour to share the platform with him!
Artistic Style & Technique
Your signature style involves the light-painting photography technique, a signature "dark yet vibrant" aesthetic. Can you explain in simple terms what light-painting is, and how you developed that approach?
The technique of light-painting itself is absurdly simple: you put a camera on a tripod, open the shutter for a few seconds and move a light (typically some form of LED bar) to light your subject. The light is captured as a long streak due to the long exposure, giving soft shadows that resemble an elongated softbox.
Before light-painting I had experimented with flashes, but having to flash from different angles and merging the images felt cumbersome, appeared unrealistic and overly commercial and overall was far from enjoyable.
I don’t fully remember where I got the idea to try light-painting, but my first attempt on that orange Range Rover was enough to get addicted to it. The result was stunning considering the very low effort, and I simply loved the look of it. Of course, years later the approach has become a bit more sophisticated, but the essence is still the same as that first shot.
How does light-painting help you capture the character and lines of a car differently than more conventional lighting styles?
In short: contrast. One look at my work and you’ll notice that my pictures are intentionally darker than most car photographers', with a lot less detail highlighted in full-body shots, especially on the side. There’s a lot of fun in emphasising only the shoulder line of a recognisable and iconic car like a Testarossa, and the 512M (the final evolution of the Testarossa) I did years ago is still one of my personal favourites.
After having done mainly side views of cars, I realised that I’d have to start doing other angles and details as well to create a bit of substance, which do take a bit more practice and physics than a simple side view.
Do you plan your lighting setups very precisely, or is there room for improvisation on a shoot?
My shoot prep typically consists of Googling existing pictures of the car I’ll be shooting, just to find the best angles. The rest is improv; because I don’t shoot in studios, the setting is always a bit of a question mark. I can plan and sketch all I want beforehand, but if a pillar is obstructing my view in one direction it’s back to the drawing board.
Creative Process
What does your process look like from brief (or concept) through to the finished image?
Pretty simple, really. I generally take around 30-40 photos on a typical shoot, of which I then pick the 15 or 16 best ones from. In Photoshop I first clean them up (reflections, accidental footsteps..), and depending on the shoot I’ll either add an environment (usually a studio but I’ve done dunes, lakes, buildings and rugged mountains as well) or improve the existing setting.
When beginning a shoot, how do you visualise the final image? Do you sketch, storyboard, or rely on mental imagery?
As soon as I know I’ll be shooting a certain car, there’s a quick internal brainstorm (usually seconds) on what visual look/setting will work for the end result. Although it doesn’t have a big impact on how I will shoot the car, it does influence the colour temperature of my light: if I’m shooting a white Polestar I’ll probably use a very cool colour temperature because I envision a bit of an arctic polar-ish theme.
If I’m shooting a 250 GTO I’ll probably go for a warmer classical white. Sometimes I’ll add some coloured lights as well, for instance if the car is white or silver. Using coloured lights on a coloured car is a big no-no usually.
In terms of images, I always start with a mental checklist of main images in my head (the usual side, front, rear, three quarter, interior etc.) As soon as that’s checked off, I start my journey of discovering the car in detail.
How do you choose your shooting locations? Is the environment (background, setting) as important to you as the car itself?
There are two scenarios. If the existing setting is to be kept, it’s often because the setting selected by the client already works: a nice showroom, a mancave, or an airplane hangar.
But in most cases the setting will be altered afterwards, and then the location becomes much less important. Overall there are two non-negotiable requirements: I need a bit of space around the car, and most of all: it needs to be as dark as possible with preferably no lights in the distance to avoid unexpected reflections. Sounds easy, but over the years I’ve spent countless hours looking for those spots.
Challenges & Problem-Solving
What are some of the biggest technical or creative challenges you face when photographing cars, and how do you overcome them?
In my case, the biggest recurring hurdle is a setting which is not as dark as I’d like it to be. Clients are always convinced their location is 100% dark, but sometimes there’s that one big screen that can’t be turned off, or a skylight which lets in light from something as silly as a street light next door.
I can’t always overcome them (and sadly I’ve had situations where I couldn’t do anything but drive back home), but most of the time a bit of creativity goes a long way - for example using an ND filter to darken things, or only shooting from one particular angle. It’s definitely more fun to have full darkness though - it’s my happy place.
Reflecting on your career so far: is there a particularly difficult or surprising shoot that taught you something important?
Something I struggled with in the beginning was taking my time. Whenever I had the chance to shoot something special and the owner or client was present, I felt an enormous rush to get things done quick because I was “wasting their time”. It didn’t take long for me to notice that the results of those rushed shoots were always far inferior compared to the ones with all the time in the world.
It was during the first few shoots I was doing for my book that I said to myself: “Come on man, use your head. You’re making a bloody book, and these people are proud to be in it so make sure the photos are as good as they can be”. I think that was a turning point, and since then I don’t feel so bad about actually taking my time and focus on the results rather than my watch.
How do you deal with highly reflective surfaces, especially with diffused lighting - any special tricks?
Ah, don’t get me started. In a perfect world, every car is matte or satin because it lights up just enough without showing reflections.
But the world isn’t perfect, and unfortunately I encounter plenty of black metallic cars which do pose a big challenge. Before I would remove the light reflections entirely, but as I’ve slowly come to to understand the relationship between my movements and the end result, I typically embrace the reflections as much as I can.
Are there any works you’re particularly proud of?
I think my personal favourite that I’m still most proud of is the Mercedes-Benz CLR. It’s a car I loved since I was a teenager, not just because of its wonky history but mostly because of how good it looks, and I had been looking for it for a long time. I later discovered that it had been on display in the Nationales Automuseum in Germany, managed to convince them to let me shoot it and after a lot of logistics (it typically resides very high up in their “car wall”) I was finally alone with it in the dark. To me, the end result is still one of the best I’ve accomplished.
Most people would call me crazy for saying it, but shooting the CLR was more special to me than the most expensive car in the world, the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé.
