Whimsical Portraits of People and Their Cars

When Ryan Schude was attending art school in San Francisco in 2001, he came up with a photo project in which he'd document people with their vanity license plates. It turned out however, that the most interesting plates Schude found were often on boring vehicles. A decade later, he came up with an even simpler concept: have people pose with their cars.

In a series titled “Them and Theirs,” Schude, now based in Los Angeles, photographs friends, friends of friends, and the occasional stranger in front of their personal vehicles. With a playful approach to each shot and a sharp eye for color, the images appear as stunning portraits of each person, the cars as an extension of their owners.