Clque started on February 27, 2023. There's no big launch story to it — I just decided that was the day I'd stop calling it a hobby.
For a while before that I'd been bringing a camera to car meets around Cavite — Imus, Dasmariñas, SM Bacoor parking lots, the small Saturday-night meets that happen wherever there's enough open lot for people to park up. Half the time I was just there for the cars, taking phone photos like everyone else. Then I started bringing an actual camera. Then I started editing the shots properly. Then people in the chat asked if they could repost.
That's the pattern that pushed me over the line. Not a business plan, not a clever name (clque is the misspelling of "clique" — the word fit because the car scene here is exactly that, small overlapping cliques of people who know each other). Just enough people asking for photos that it felt dishonest to keep treating it like a side thing.
What I wanted to do differently
The honest reason I started was that I'd seen a lot of car photos in PH that I didn't think were great. Phone shots, midday harsh light, cluttered backgrounds. Or the opposite — over-edited HDR sun-flare nonsense that didn't look like the actual car.
I wanted to shoot cars the way they actually look when you're standing next to them at the meet. Lower angles. Real light. The car as the subject, not the editing. That's still the brief I work to.
What I had
The kit was as modest as it gets. A Nikon D3000 — entry-level DSLR, kit lens, that's it — and a head full of references I'd been collecting from Speedhunters, Stance Nation, and Japanese tuning mags. I'd done shoots before, just not consistently. The first few months of clque were me showing up to every meet I could reach in Cavite and shooting on that D3000.
The gear has changed a lot since — the current kit (Fujifilm X-S20, Sigma 18-55, Viltrox 85, Osmo Pocket 3, RS3 Mini) is on the about page — but the approach hasn't. Show up, shoot honest light, let the car be the subject.
Cavite first, always
I'm from here and I'm not pretending otherwise. The brand is built around Cavite car culture first, with coverage across Metro Manila and the long stretches between. That's not a marketing positioning, it's just where I live and where the meets are.
If you're reading this years after I posted it — yes, the studio is still running. Same one-person operation, same garage, same approach. If you've got a build that deserves a story, send the brief.