Wiel Mag: OPC vs Reno

Some time ago, I did a shoot for Wiel Magazine. We did a shoot-out between the Opel OPC & Reno (something). (You can see I'm no Reno fan :P )

I'm not the biggest fan of doing car parkade shoots, as it is a location that is SO over-used in the whole automotive sector in general. But it was a special request from the art director, so off we went.

I have to admit, doing motion shots in an undercover area is so much easier! There is no need for ND filters, etc. So we went to town on those. I think we ended up doing 5 or 6 of them in total... probably a record for me in 1 shoot.

Other than that, we had fun scooting around the parkade. As usual we had the local 'friendly' security guards come checkup what we were up to...
"yeah, quick, hide that bomb we planting on the car while we driving it..." :P

This DPS also won an internal RamseyMedia award for best layout & photography a couple months later.

Private Beemer 325Ci Sports

This definitely falls into the 'older' category of work I've been doing. Even though I've never blogged about it.

Well, the story of this one is that this beemer belongs to a friend of mine who is probably one of the biggest BMW fans I know. Really, this guy can tell you the history & minute by minute details of BMW. He also takes the prize for most careful car owner I've ever met. I think this beemer even has it's own blanket for when it gets parked at night. :P Ok, maybe not that bad...

Anyways, we took this shoot out to Stellenbosch area & it's really one of the best places to shoot. Purely because you can chose if you want to be in between the mountains or forest drives... Superb location I still use often.

There was a deal that we were going to do a part-2 of this shoot in a city scape, but to be honest, its never happened just yet. I very very seldom have 'free time' & the times I do, the car owner is busy. So we like trains passing in the night. Maybe I'll get round to it someday...

Catching Up On Posts

I actually don't know how I will go about catching up on the huge amount of stuff I've done since the end of last year where I was cut off from my blogging-bliss. I'll try my best to post some 'older' stuff every now & then. Just bear with me if it's an older image which you have seen before. I'll tell a bit of a story with it to make it interesting. :)

For now, I'll start off with 1 image that I've retouched. It's a bit of an older image, but still had huge potential to be retouched better. With a trip to the Northern Cape (that story later), I had some breathtaking mountain ranges to shoot & use as comp backgrounds. Thats where this one comes from, somewhere between Cape Town & Poffadder. Yes, I in fact found this place. A 1 donkey town really... and 1 resturant that can't spell to save their donkey. But that's another story.

So here is the image I've retouched. You will immediately notice it from a while ago. The GWM 4x2 Steed which I had for the day for a shoot. Hope you enjoy...

Run for Cover!

This time last month, I found myself on the unfinished bridge in Cape Town, it was before sunrise, I had only managed to get half a cup of coffee down before having to start shooting. Before me I had 3 of the hottest cars around... Aston Martin DBS, Ferrari Scuderia & Mercedes SL63.

This was one of the TopCar cover options for Sept 08 issue. The supercars issue! We hardly had to do much to make this trio look good together. I was very happy with how the shot came out, even though the the final image never made cover, as another story came through just before cut-off date, I'm told. No matter, I loved the shot & is definitely one I'll be keeping for a while!

I then shot a short suppliment with the Aston DBS, as a small feature for one of the supercars of the lot. A couple from there:

Lambo Superleggera & Audi R8

The second installment of "rain shooting aka The Flood™". After the first session I was alot more willing to go get myself, my assistant, everything soaking wet again.

A gorgeous couple of cars this time too, Lambo Superleggera & Audi R8. Requested that the focus be put on the Lambo alot more than the R8. Lets hope I get to have a nice session with the R8 at some point... maybe even get an exclusive scoop on shooting the new V12 R8!

Again, I'll post the tear sheets in a seperate post, I have to still scan them in, etc.

Aston Martin Vantage

I was tempted to give up on doing any further shoots in the pouring rain, but after I had gotten home & taken a look at these shots, I quickly changed my mind. A little bit of sacrifice for a large difference in atmosphere & feel in a shoot.

This was done for Wiel over a month ago, it has been a long wait to show these! Right now I am a bit too busy to still scan in the tear sheets, I'll do so asap in another post. Overall I loved how these came out, and driving home soaking wet didn't seem such a biggie in retrospect. However at the time.... hehe

Tear: TopCar Aug 08 (Camaro)

I'm going to break my general '3 images per blog post' here, as I want to just add that bit extra. I'm very happy to finally have the issue of TopCar come out that had my Camaro shoot in it.

I won't go on too much about the car itself or the shoot (as you hear about it in so many other posts), but I rather just want to make a special note of the layout of this article: I love it! I absolutely love how this one was lay out. It was big almost double page spread flowing moving images, minimal text... ah, I just was very happy when I saw it. (There are a few more pages to the article, but I'm not going to post them all. You can go check out the mag yourself!)

This is the first of lots of stuff happening for TopCar magazine. I'm glad to find myself back once again, walking the corridors & offices again of Media24, with the great guys that bring us all these fantastic mags every single month.

I think one of the reasons why I love shooting mag work so much, is the people I get to work with. It's not people that hate their job, come to work with long faces, or you have to poke with a needle to get a response out of them. This applies for all the publishing houses I work with, not just TopCar. I am honored to get the privilege to work with these guys & girls.

Tear: Wiel Aug 08 (SEAT vs Mazda 5)

This shoot was a bit of a "soccer mom's" car shoot-out. Or at least the Mazda 5 looked the part. I'm no motoring journalist on any scale, so that's just my opinion. The Mazda 5 did have these very cool remote slide doors! I was rather fascinated with those. To get a proper run down on these cars, I would suggest picking up the new issue of Wiel rather.

Just a note on the opening DPS, it was another style driven by the "Advertisement" type of image. I rather liked how it came out. Now to just get both SEAT & Mazda to let me do their commercial work. :)

Tear: Wiel Aug 08 (Merc)

Mercedes SL63... Not much to say, except this was an amazing car to shoot! I put a lot of personal extra effort into location, which I think paid off very well! Special thanks to the house owners for putting up with us for a few hours.


And then one more which I personally liked, but wasn't used in the mag feature:

Oh the Prizes...!

I have several things to post for my published work for July/August mags. I want to first mention a rather nice surprise I got a few days ago. A while back I had submitted a photo to PiX Magazine, and then as all things go, forgot about it.

I got a surprise email telling me I had won the Readers Pic of the months July/August. With that bit of news came a brand new Tamrac Camera Bag. I recieved it this morning via courier and have only had a few minutes to check it out. Looks very neat! When I have a bit more time (before I shoot again on Friday morning at sparrows fart) I'll transfer all my gear & get it all nice.

For those of you who follow my work, you will notice it's a pic you have seen before. One of my favourite from the Eleanor shoot.

Aston Martin DB6

Last week I got the chance to shoot this amazing classic! An Aston Martin DB6. Pristine condition, really looked after, as all classics should.

At the time, I did the shoot, not with any particular idea in mind. I did a couple shots that I was very happy with. Then this morning, I wanted to see what an advert looked like, back in the 1950's (roughly) of this car. Wading through several sites of non-relevance, I came across this tiny image. It was beautiful. I take my hat off to photographers back in the 50's when it was film. And not all the bells & whistles we have today on our camera's.

I then decided to have a bit of fun & make one of my shots, look similar to the advert I found. Luckily I had a shot that was almost the same (not exactly of course). So here is my retro recreation! Even as an old lady, this car purrs & roars with the best of them. My shot cannot compare to the absolute classic style of photography, but I'm not disappointed with my attempt either. :)

Wiel July 08

This was one of those shoots that was just made extra nice, by doing it in one of the nicest possible locations. None other than the Stellenbosch mountain roads. Perfect lighting, late afternoon, the breaze gently blowing the already autum leaves... really picturesque!

This was finally published in the July issue of Wiel Magazine. So I can finally show it off. Yay. It was one of my more favourite shoots, as I felt alot more relaxed doing it. Maybe it was the surrounds. Maybe I was having a good day. Either way, I really enjoyed just shooting on this evening. And I think the results speak for themselves.

The first 2 images are scanned in tear sheets, and the third was one that I really liked personally, yet wasn't used as a nice large double spread. There were so many great shots that weren't able to be used due to space constraints. Unfortunately.

Oh Eleanor! '67 Shelby GT500

There is something that I absolutely love about doing personal shoots. It's oddly more satisfying than doing any magazine shoot, or editorial. There is the almost uncountable amount of planning & effort that builds up to this crescendo climax of orchestrated photography beauty that falls into place.

For myself personally, I allow myself to slip into a zone of experimentation that I would normally not do so freely on a commissioned shoot. It's amazing to experience. It's rewarding. It knows no limits, no boundaries, no rules, no objections. It happens.

Months went into planning this shoot. What did change however, is the day I laid eyes on Eleanor. Originally intended to do a Lamborghini shoot (which I STILL haven't done yet!), things changed when 41 years of rock solid motoring history stood before me. Lines that draw your eye into a near perfect shape.

Another facet which I added rather soon before shooting was a human element. Immediately there is the cliche that jumps out which is "car & girl". I wasn't going to do cliche. The '67 Shelby GT500 Mustang has a raw power which can overwhelm the senses. Yet, it also carries a very deep sensuality in its form and flow. The human element had to convey the same sensuality I saw in Eleanor.

I'll leave you with these 3 shots from the shoot. I think they convey the absolute essence of one of my favourite pieces of automotive machinery ever masterly crafted.




Credits:

Photographer: Seagram Pearce (myself)
1st Assistant: Drystan Hallas
2nd Assistant: Daniel Atkinson
Car: 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang "Eleanor"
Model: Robyn Hobson
MUA: Ellie Du Toit
Driver: Mac Gotyana

Special Thanks:

Tim from FutureExotics - Supplying the car
Jo-Anne from GCS - Top Secret Location

Supercars of the World Series

Seeing as I ultimately want to become one of the authority figures in automotive photography in SA, let me post some more automotive photography I have done. I intend on winning the 2008 Automotive Photographer of the year award, as well as place in the FujiFilm Professional Photographic Competition for 2008, for the Automotive category. I'll keep working towards that, and if I do indeed win any awards, I'll be sure to let everyone know about it. :D

Right, this post is for a personal series called "Supercars of the World". It comprises of a interior shot done in similar style, but only of an exotic car. Below is the interior of an Audi R8, Ferrari 599GTB, & Maserati.

The original idea was to create something which had a very advertorial feel to it. Something you would see for a motoring manufacturer advert. Its also ultimately my goal to shoot for car manufacturers, this is a future prospect when I have refined my work a lot more.

WIEL Tearsheets

Some tearsheets from the April 2008 issue of WIEL Magazine. Its their 30th Anniversary issue, so it was a really nice issue to start shooting with Ramsay, Son & Parker (RS&P) Magazine House

There are 2 shoots I did, seperate articles. The one was a article on Diesel being in SA for x amount of years. The other, being for Ford.

The shoot that involved the girl, the criteria given were very specific. They wanted a vintage, 60's look, which still had a little bit of an edge on sexy.

2 More Tears

So last week I bought 2 bags of motoring mags from a friend of mine, and I came across some mags which had my work in it (that I hadn't gotten hold of prior). So here is a couple more tear sheets from published work. :)

Mag Cover

Another magazine cover. March 2008

Astra Turbo Hotness

Feature car in March issue of CapeRush magazine.

Custard Dreams

They call it "Custard Dreams". I'm imagining its due to the colour & not taste.

Spring Tour Calendar 2008

I think every photographer at some point wants to make a calendar of their work. Its a great way to advertise their talent. I can't say I've ever wanted to do it (purely as I haven't had the time), but this year it actually just happened from a job I did.

Don't worry, next year I'll be releasing a calendar of my work. So 2009 is a year to look out for.

The MUA Cape Spring Tour 2008