Overdue…
I’ve finally been able to go through some of my Wörthersee pictures. One of the reasons for putting of going through them, apart from being really busy lately, is that I really suck at this kind of photography. Usually I do recognize a good photo opportunity when I see it, but when I’m at at show I enjoy being there to much so I forget about taking pictures… So with that being said, here they are, more holiday snapshots than award winning pictures.
But take them for what they are and I hope you enjoy them.
Top Of The World
Yesterday may not have made me feel quite on top of the world, but I was close, and I felt it made a good title for the first picture in this post.
See, yesterday I did several things I rarely do. First of all I gave my car a thorough clean and a fresh coat of some quality Swissvax products which made it really nice and shiny. Furthermore, the weather was nice, I’d almost gotten the stance dialed in to match my new ROTIFORM BLQ’s and the camera was in the back of the car. So I decided to shoot some quick pictures of my own car. I did them just outside the my friends garage where we did the detailing of the car so the location could have been more exciting. But I like the pictures nevertheless, they’re sort of like my car, clean and simple :p
There are some more pictures up on KLUTCH, so head on over there to see them if you are curious. Also, don’t be shy to stop over by ROTIFORM’S site to see some more of their awesome wheels.
Hello Mini
Pewh! I’ve gotta tell ya, since returning from Austria I’ve been swamped in work. But between editing shots for several editorials, writing articles, doing “real” work and having a fire at my apartment I found time to shoot this nice little Mini Cooper S.
The car belongs to Nina Marie, which you might remember from this post and is, although not dressed in a very masculine color, a really nice piece of machinery. Equipped with a supercharged 1,6 litre engine the car is quite fast, and you just gotta love the sound of the supercharger when you accelerate. And even with stock suspension and those powder coated stock 17″ rims the car handles surprisingly well also!
I’m really pleased with these shots. I’ve been wanting to to the high key thing for some time now and think I pulled it of nicely. The car was consequently lit with 3 canon flashes triggered with the Elinchrome Skyports.
Unfortunately I had no time to do any interior shots, which is a shame, because the interior is just as good looking as the exterior. But I shot these pictures all the for the guys out there which might not like the Hello Kitty inspired exterior color ;)
I don’t really feel the last two pictures suit the set, and would have loved to shoot them on the first location to tie them closer to the others. But I hope you enjoy them anyway.
A couple of extra shots can be found in this set over at flickr. You can also access the full size shots directly by clicking on them and choosing “all sizes” .
Location: Wolfsburg
Just a quick post from the hotel in Wolfsburg, Germany. Left Oslo, Norway at 05:30 this morning and arrived here sometime around 19:00. Had to stop by the Volkswagen HQ and snap a quick pic of the car we’re driving.
A quick beer now before we hit the bunks and get up early tomorrow to go to Wörthersee. Stay tuned.
Audi A4 Allroad – Road Test for Treffpunkt Magazine
I know I should have put these pictures up earlier, but I’ve been swamped lately and haven’t gotten around to it before now.
Anyways, in addition to taking pictures, I sometimes write articles as well. Earlier this year I had the pleassure of having the Audi A4 Allroad for a week or so to do a road test for Norwegian VW- Audi Magazine Treffpunkt. As always, I had planned the location for the pictures in advance and everything was looking to go down smoothly. But again, the weather managed to put sticks in my wheels and the day of the shoot clouds rolled in and made everything into one dull gray mass. Shooting in the snow is hard as it is, add the boring clouds and the way they make everything really flat and dull looking and you’ve got yourself a real challenge. Still I feel I pulled the pictures off nicely.
Most of the pictures were lit with 2-3 Canon flashes placed of camera and triggered with my skyports.
The article ran as a 4 page spread which I’m pleased with. Even made washing the car 5 times in a weekend worthwhile :p
There are a couple of more shots in this set on flickr
First Signs of Spring
At this time of year everything once again begins its tilt towards the Sun. The changing of the season is easily observed everywhere. Some find joy in the awakening flowers, the birds returning back from their southern refugees ,or just seeing people outdoors once again. I for one find joy in the snow melting and the roads slowly, but surely drying up. For me and thousand of other car enthusiasts this means it’s time for taking our cars back out from winter storage and enjoying driving them again.
Ida is one of these enthusiasts and today she took her ’59 Volkswagen Beetle out for a spin. With brand new BRM wheels on the car we did a quick shoot with it. Far from my best work, the pictures are more snapshots than real photo shoot pictures. But hey, take them for what they are. For me they are a sure sign that both the spring and the car season is finally here!
The rolling pictures were of course taken with natural light only and the still just got a little fill flash from a camera mounted 430 EX.
Audi A5 featured in Treffpunkt
You’ve seen this car on my blog before, but I’m finally able, and pretty proud, to post the full set from the shoot last September. I was sitting on these until they were published in Treffpunkt Magazine this week. (Ok, so I might have posted them at a photography site last year to get some feedback on them, but don’t tell anyone… ) As before, the car is a Caractere kitted Audi A5 3.0 Tdi S-line. I think the owner checked all the options on the list and then some. With the Caractere kit and rolling on a set of staggered 20″ Petrol Traviata rims the result is awesome!
Treffpunkt is a quarterly magazine published by VW-Audi Club Norwegen and distributed to around 6000 members of the club. Treffpunkt has recently received a big change layout-wise, and I’m actually stoked about getting these images in the first issue with the new layout. Mag looks really professional now! Even made the cover, yay! Make sure to visit Red Rabbits, the design company behind the new layout to see some of their other awesome stuff!
But I digress, back to the shoot…
I’m usually not to happy about my own work, but these I like. Sure, there is a ton of stuff that can be improved, but I really feel they work well together as a set, and the location suits the car. Seeing them on print in the 4 page article in Treffpunkt made me like them even more, even though they had to be cropped a bit to suit the layout. I might even go as far as to say they are my best work to date…
Also, I’ve gotta give a huge thanks to Andreas, the owner who was extremely patient and put up with all my directions and swearing during the shoot. Here’s a bonus shot just for you!
Hope you all liked the pictures, check them out on flickr to view them larger by clicking on them.
Ice Racing in Sweden
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I’ve been super busy editing photos for 4 upcoming features that had deadline this past week and just finished the pictures below.
I went to Sweden last weekend for some pretty nifty ice racing action. The place was Funäsdalen, a quiet valley which got invaded by Volkswagen Audi Club Norwegen members as their annual winter meet was held. Varying from old Volkswagen Golfs to brand new Audi RS4′s the cars gave it a go at a 3,6 km long track on a frozen lake.
Shooting conditions varied as well, from blue skies to completely overcast, which made taking pictures challenging but I managed to take some 1500-2000 exposures during Saturday. The best ones are to be printed in Treffpunkt, Volkswagen Audi Club Norwegen’s own magazine, but I’ve uploaded some of the outtakes that can be viewed here.
Here are some of the shots as well, hope you enjoy them.
Jeg har hatt enorm pågang fra deltagere på treffet som vil ha bilder. Jeg kan dessverre ikke sende bilder til alle da det rett og slett blir for mye jobb. Men, er du virkelig interessert kan bildene kjøpes i full størrelse og bedre kvalitet for 300 kr pr stk. Du får da bildet tilsendt på mail. Ønsker du plakat eller annen utskrift ordner jeg det også. Ta kontakt på mail joachim@naess.net for bestilling eller priser på print.
Swiss Alps
…is where this picture was taken…
Digging through the archives today to make myself a portfolio book I found this shot from when we we headed down to the Worthersee Show in Austria last year. I must have missed it when I reviewed the shots from the trip, because I really feel this needs to be shared :)
I’ll try to do some photos of the portfolio book and post up some day as well.
Blown Out of Proportions…
This summer I was approached by the good guys behind Australian magazine AutoSalon and asked if I could do some shoots for them. The first car up is this white Subaru Impreza Wrx built and owned by A nice chap named Bjørnar here in Norway. Being an ex-Petter Solberg company car Bjørnar sure didn’t put the cars racing pedigree to shame as he took it from a nice weekend track car to the full out race car you see here.
I met up with Bjørnar at his buddy Auduns workplace where we were to shoot the car early in September. The location was really awesome and even had an indoor train…
The car was consequently lit with three canon flashes triggered by Skyports and fired through either umbrellas or diffusers. For the most part I used two of the flashes to light the side of the car and one on either the front or rear depending on what angle I shot from. On this shot though, One was placed inside the car and the two others on either side of the car.
Never tried to shoot this car without modifiers on the flashes, but I may have avoided some of the umbrella reflections you see here had I tried.
As I said before, this car has evolved to a full blown race car over a short periode of time. This might not be all that obvious from the outside, but this picture with the rear door out of the way shows what I’m talking about…
I’m really pleased on how the pictures came out, and it looks like AutoSalon was to, as they ran several of them in a 8 page article in their December issue.
The pictures ran with little or none postprocessing in the magazine, but I gave them a quick edit each before I uploaded them to flickr today. You can check out the pictures on flickr by clicking them, and I you do happen to live in Australia you can probably pick up a copy of the magazine at your local newsagents.
I’ll try to get a link to the cars project thread from the owner and post it here later, so be sure to check back in here if you’re a Scooby fan.
Happy Holidays
Ideally I would have posted up a snowy picture to suit the season and wish all of you a merry christmas, but I couldn’t find one, so you’ll have to make do with this old shot from when I was new to photography back in 2008.
The car in the picture was my third Volkswagen Mk1 and looked nothing like this when I bought it. The plan was to give it a new coat of paint and some new parts and then use it as a daily, but things got a bit out of hand and it ended up way to nice for being used on a daily basis. The wheels are Custom painted BBS RM’s with Porsche Grand Prix White and the car is lowered on FK-Coilovers.
Check out the picture on flickr by clicking on it if you want to view a larger version.
Red Rabbit
More snow here today so I went through some more shots from when I did Cato’s incredible VW Mk1 Golf, or Rabbit as it is called stateside. The car started out as a 1,5 LS in 1978 but now has a carbed 16v engine in it. So the little thing both moves and looks great!
All these shots are taken with Canon’s 24-70 L lens on my Canon 50D and are lit by three flashes. More info on that on flickr. You can get there by clicking the photos.
I have several other decent shots from this shoot, but I feel they don’t really work together as a set because of the difference in ambient lighting. Just take a look at the picture below. It’s taken just 30 minutes before the two shots above and no more than 20 meters away. Despite being lit the exact same way with flashes it really has a lot harsher lighting to it. I did exaggerate it a bit in the post processing, but still…
I might post up some of the other shots later, until then these are available on flickr in higher resolution if you want to take a closer look.
Passing time
Just passing some time editing one of the A5 shots from earlier this year and thought I’d share it here.
The photo is taken with the Canon 50D and a Canon 10-22 lens. Car is lit with two Canon 430EX’s on the rear and the sun on the side. Click the photo to view it larger on flickr.
Classic Beauty
Some time ago I wrote a short post titled Trespassing and promised I’d get back with more details and pictures. And behold, I’m back… In the previous post I showed you a picture of a wheel and a front wing that could only belong to a classic british roadster. And true enough, the car in question was a brand new Morgan Roadster sporting the optional 72 spoke wire wheels.
The Morgan Roadster is the latest model produced by the Morgan Motor Company. It was introduced in 2004 replacing the Morgan Plus 8. The car is identical to its predecessor except for new modern Ford V6 mechanicals. The new engine develops 220 hp (164 kW) and is slightly lighter than the Rover V8 it replaces giving the car increased performance and better fuel economy.
Although the photoshoot was done within 2 hrs from the journalist called me to schedule I had the time to put some thought into the location. Call it a cliché, but a car like this deserves not to be shot in your average urban location. It deserves something old and classic. I decided to shoot the car at Akershus fortress, a 700 year old castle that was built to protect the City of Oslo from attackers. Still being used by the military I called them up and made arrangements to do the shoot there… Got the permit and was bummed as hell when the guard at the gate turned us away saying the permit wasn’t valid. We decided to go ahead with shoot anyway and managed to do so in a more remote area, hence the title on the last post.
Being a quick shoot it turned out quite good and several of the pictures ran with the newspapers article. All pictures was taken using natural light and the trusty Canon L 70-200 2.8 lens. Check out the link for these pictures and some rolling shots. Also make sure to visit my flickr photostream to view the pictures in this post in higher resolution. Just click the pictures and you’ll get there ;)
Detailed
Berhard who’s great looking Passat I shot some time ago is as I mentioned a professional detailer and does all sorts of cool cars. He called me up last week and had a small assignment for me. He was detailing a B5 Audi RS4 and wanted some pictures taken of it with it’s owner. Having the owner in the shot might sound peculiar, but take a look at the pictures below and you’ll probably figure out why ;)
The RS4 in question was black and I had an idea of lighting it bouncing the light of the roof in the workshop, but that didn’t work out so the car is basically lit the same way you would light a non black car. Worked out better than I had imagined actually.
I had a hard time doing detail-shots as I had not brought my 24-70L and the 50mm prime I had inteded for the detailshots was busted after my backpack dropped from a height the other week. That left me with the 70-200 or the 10-22. Beeing confined in the garage limited the use of the 70-200 and the 10-22 really isn’t ideal for those kind of shots. Here are two taken with the 70-200 though.
Now for the owner shots Bernhard wanted… This car shots with people in them is really new to me, but Nina Marie was a great sport and really fun to work with so she made my work easy. Great practice and great fun :)
As I told you in my last post, the snow has started falling here in Norway so outdoor shots are kinda limited at the time, you can see why below. But Nina Marie and I agreed to do a new shoot with the RS4 come spring, and I think we’ll shoot her pink (!) Mini Cooper as well, so stay tuned.
All pictures opens on flickr when clicked where they and several other from the shoot can be viewed in higher resolution.
The snow doesn’t give a soft white damn who it touches
I’m sure American poet E.E. Cummings didn’t really think about automotive photographers when he stated the above, but it sure is fitting. Today the first snow fell and with that put an definite end to this years shooting of cars. I’ve got some indoor shoots planned and also scheduled, but fresh automotive pictures will be scarce until the spring sets in again.
So what to do? Well I started digging through the archives and did some editing. I’ve really gotten a thing for high key-ish and low contrast pictures lately and had to give it a try. The picture was shot at VW Audi Club Norwegen’s annual fall meet at Rudskogen Racetrack in August using a following vehicle for those interested. This was one of my first times using the Canon 24-70 2.8 L, a lens that since then has gotten a decent amount of use ;)
Visit my flickr photostream by clicking the picture to view a higher resolution version of the picture
Cato’s 1978 Golf LS
Today I had the pleasure of shooting this extremely clean 1978 Mk1 Golf for the calendar I wrote about a couple days ago.
We went to a total of three locations and this shot is from the last one. Just wanted to share ;)
The photo can be viewed larger on flickr by clicking the image and choosing all sizes.
For the strobists out there, lighting information can also be found on flickr.
Chevy Again
Just a quick post to say hello and tell you I’ve been super busy and show you another picture of the Classic ’55 210 Chevy I shot last month.
I wish I had my Skyports for that shoot, because everything is so much easier with them. My lighting improved the moment I started using them, and together with some new studio gear that I bought the other day lighting cars is suddenly “easy”. Looking forward to showing you some more shots with taken with the Skyports and stuff, but I have to wait until the pictures are published first.
Anyways, the client picked up his Chevy shots today and was really pleased, and I hope you liked them too.
Cheers.
They See Me Rolling…
Or should I say they see me hanging out the back of the car in front of them.
This weekend saw the last official Volkswagen Audi Club Norwegen show of the season. Held at Rudskogen Raceway we had a great time with both Show & Shine and two full days of track action.
I was asked to do some rolling shots at the end of Saturday, and seeing as how I do need the practice I jumped in the back of a Golf MkV Wagon and started shooting. Done in a hurry with 7 cars to shoot in less than an hour I did manage to catch a few good frames.
I’ve got some more pictures uploaded on flickr, so head on over there if you want to see some more :)
White Scirocco
Did a quick photoshoot with this beautiful Candywhite Scirocco tonight. With just a handful tastefully selected modifications this car now looks insane. The front looks so aggressive you just want to pull over and let it pass instantly when you look at in the rear view mirror like I did on our way to the location of the shoot. Now, I’ve seen this car on several occasions since it belongs to a friend of mine, but when we arrived I still had to take a minute to admire it.
Having finally sorted out some parts problems and fitted the huge Porsche Cayenne brakes behind those exquisite Porsche 997 19″ wheels the car has reached a new level and is by my standards Norway’s best looking Scirocco.
Check the pictures out in higher resolution on flickr and judge for yourself.
1955 Chevy 210
Had a nice Friday afternoon outside shooting this really good looking 1955 Chevy 210 with a client today. Had to move some concrete barricades to get to the location, so we were clearly trespassing (again). But security was cool about it when they found out and let us stay there and finish the shoot without having to rush.
Anyways, here are two of the pictures so far:
Also, the owner of the car was kind enough to supply me with a “behind the scenes” shot. I’m posting it here as I do get a lot of questions on the flashes I use. Three flashes was used in both shots above. The picture, where I graciously kneel and pray to the photography Gods to let me make the shot, is the setup used for the rear shot of the Chevy.
You might notice the blog plug on the pictures. I really do not want it there, but I’ve had a lot the images I’ve posted here and on flickr pop up all sort of places without my knowing.
Now, I don’t mind my pictures being hotlinked and ending up in a thread on a forum or two. But when they start popping up in advertisements and whatnot without my permission I suddenly mind. I’m glad people enjoy my images, but please, do not use them without my permission. And if you can’t be bothered with asking me, at least link back here when you post them elsewhere.
With the above in mind, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but both images are available in higher resolution on flickr. Just a click away…
Vintage Volkswagen Buses
I’ve just gotta share these with you. The pictures are from Bugrun at Mantorp Park in June and think I never shared them here.
I kinda excited about them as the PP was minimal. I found some great Photoshop actions over at Totally Rad Actions that worked like a charm and suited these pictures really well. Check the actions out, some are free, some are available for purchase.
Also, check out Nick Grant who has put the actions to great use and directed me to the Totally Rad Actions webpage :)
A world first?
Whoa, what a night! Been out shooting for the better part of five hours with no less then four Volkswagen Sciroccos. I’ve climbed railroad carts, hung out the back of my car, jumped barefoot into a stream to get a better angle and generally had a blast. And if it isn’t the first shooting in the world with that number of modified examples of the third generation Scirocco, Im sure it’s a first here in Norway. I have tons of pictures to edit, several which actually came out good as well. But I’m going to a wedding tomorrow so the pic’s will have to wait for a while.
Big shout out to the owners of the cars who must be the most patient people in the world coping with me and my directions…
A larger version of the picture can be found on flickr by clicking it :)
That Old Benz again…
Well, not old exactly. Here are some more shots from yesterdays shoot with the Mercedes Benz McLaren SLR that I like.
Because of the weather and time constraints I really had no time at all to stage any of the photos and had to take absolutely all of them on the fly inbetween the driving that was done.
This picture here I feel may have to much of the sky visible. But as long as I managed to get some detail in the clouds I think the picture works.
As for this one below I think I may have overprocessed the picture a bit. But at least it gives you an impression of just how wet it was yesterday.
Again, the pictures are avalible in higher resolution on flickr. Please let me know if you want to make use of the pictures for any purpose.