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.

Another RedImages Feature

I checked out one of the stock libraries I sometimes submit images to & came across my 2nd banner feature. I think I posted a topic about the 1st one some time ago. Seeing as it's stock imagery I'm all too happy that they promote me. :)

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...

Back from the dead... almost.

It pains me to have had such a huge gap in my blogging. Months. A whole new year even decided to come around between when I left off & now... it's a tale that makes voilin players appear magically at my side.

In any case, I'm back on the blog wagon. I've got myself setup with one of my clients NeoTel, so I now am connecting wirelessly with my telephone unit thingy that has an aerial. Very cool indeed.

This is just basically a refresher post to introduce a huge amount of updates which will be streaming in over the next couple weeks. This week I'm shooting non-stop till Friday night, so I doubt I'll be getting any time for blogging.

But the weekend shall bring the new images I've been doing since the end of last year... and there are lots! With some awesome stories too.

SeagramPearce.com v2.1

Many people ask me why I keep changing my website. Well, the answer is simple. Like I am with a brief or contract, I will not stop until I am completely satisfied with the end result.

The previous version looked the part, however its functionality was lacking... With some input from several more tech savy friends, I've come up with re-inventing the cogs & wheels of how my gallery works.

So if you havn't seen it already, go check out the new & improved www.seagrampearce.com. Let me know what you think. Drop me a mail.

Animal Anti-Cruelty Awareness

The AACL (Animal Anti-Cruelty League) is a NPO that works for the good of abused, abandoned & neglected animals. A little while ago, I decided that I wanted to do some work for the NPO's & Charity organisations in my area. AACL was one of the first to get back to me & was one of the first to get something done.

A series of posters that will be used at schools & distribution, this one was for awareness of AACL. Statistics need a nice boost & awareness of what an organisation does is crucial. More posters for the AACL to come in the following months...

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:

Dominique Test Shoot

The latest from another test shoot with Base Models, this time a girl.

Model: Dominique
MUA: Kristeen
Stylist: Justin

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

The Ring Leader...

It isn't everyday that one gets to design a ring (from the humble sketches on a napkin), and then see it go all the way through to a finished product. Recently, I had the opportunity to do so.

Designed by myself, made by Wolf Bros (special thanks to them for putting up with my continual checking up on the progress). The photo below is a bit of experimentation as far as jewelry photography goes. Shot without a lightbox, but instead 1 softbox (positioned below the ring), and a series of reflective bouncers all around. I know it's not how you meant to shoot rings specifically, but as mentioned it was some experimentation & I think the final result wasn't bad at all!

Oh and, btw, I am now engaged to my beautiful fiance... :)

Surfer Girl

Sometimes, I am fortunate enough to do a shoot where what I wanted exactly (and more) was met. I have been wanting to do a "Billabong" style shoot for ages now. Something that was bright, funky, vibrant & full of life! Finding a girl who fitted that style was another challenge.

Then I met Jessica. What a girl! She has gone into my books as one of the nicest models to work with to date. It hardly took much to get her into the vibe of where I wanted to go with the shoot & she just took the stage like a pro.

I'm super happy with this shoot. I tend to shy away from doing too many bikini or scantly clad girl shoots, as it's so easy to get labeled. I always try dress my girls/guys up instead of down. I sometimes tend to think that some people try get their models as nekkid as possible, so that the photos will be liked by as many as possible. Because lets face it, sex sells. Proven fact for centuries. It's why I try get away from following the masses & go for super elegant styles.

On the Rocks with Anke

An idea I've had for some time now, as well as specific location. I finally managed to get a girl who fitted the profile: great legs, killer looks, striking eyes, sophisticated, classy. Anke was great in this regard. Really nice girl to work with.

Fayyaz Test Shoot

The first of 2 test shoots with a modeling agency I've started with. Emphasis on highly varied styles of shooting, lighting, styling, mood. It made it rather challenging & interesting at the same time.

Freelancentral Highlight of the Day

I have finally joined a website called Freelancentral. Focused on the guys much like myself, who work for themselves, work for everyone & nobody. Seeing as I have just joined them, I get a spotlight as "Freelancer of the Day". Yay me.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some interesting contracts from being associated with Freelancentral. Perhaps even some things I haven't tried before! I certainly hope so, as I'm constantly trying to find things to shoot that are new for me.

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.