When clque started in February 2023, the bookings were almost entirely meet coverage and personal car shoots. Two and a half years in, that's still a core part of the work, but the mix has broadened. A larger share now is dealership inventory and custom build documentation, and I want to be transparent about why that is and what it means for the kind of work I'm taking on.
What changed on the dealership side
A pattern I'd seen for a long time: most dealership inventory listings in the Philippines were being shot on phones in harsh midday light, against cluttered backgrounds, by whoever happened to be free. Even at the higher-end dealers. I wrote about this in more detail in the dealership photos post, but the short version is — the gap between "phone photo in a parking lot" and "properly lit walk-round" is enormous, and the cost of professional photos is not large when you scope it against the cost of a slow-moving listing.
I started taking more of this work because dealers started asking. The pitch I make to dealerships is simple: consistent professional inventory photos build trust over time, separate your listings from the 80% that look the same, and they're a one-time fixed cost per car instead of a marketing spend that disappears the moment the budget runs out.
What changed on the build side
Custom build documentation is a different conversation. Build owners want their car treated like the subject of a feature, not like a Marketplace listing. That means more time on location, more detail coverage, more deliberate angles. I've leaned harder into this work because, frankly, it's some of the most rewarding photography I do. The owner cares, I care, the gallery comes out clean.
Builds also tend to surface the most interesting cars in the local scene — JDM imports with real provenance, ground-up rebuilds, restomods, owner-built one-offs. Documenting those properly matters because nobody else will. If the photos don't exist, the car's story doesn't exist outside the owner's garage.
What stays the same
I'm still based in Cavite. I still cover meets — they're the heartbeat of how clque started and I'm not stepping away from them. The kit hasn't ballooned. There's no team. Same one-photographer operation, same approach to color and light.
What's different is just that I'm more deliberate about the work mix now. Dealership retainers and build documentation alongside the event coverage and personal shoots.
If you're a dealer or a builder
For dealerships in Cavite and Metro Manila, retainer arrangements for ongoing inventory shoots make more sense than per-car bookings. The math gets better when the schedule is predictable and the workflow is established.
For build owners, the brief conversation matters more than the booking. I want to know what you're proud of, what references you have, what the photos are actually for. That's what makes a build shoot deliver something you'd want hanging on the wall instead of just sitting in a folder.
Either way — the brief form is here, and the pricing and packages live on the pricing page. Email goes direct to mcmirafuente@gmail.com if you'd rather skip the form.