A Work of Art
Mind you the title does not reflect the pictures I took of this car, but the car itself. The Ferrari 360 that replaced the Ferrari F355 and featured a entirely new all-aluminum space-frame chassis a new Pininfarina body styling that broke ranks with the Ferrari models of last decade’s sharp angles and flip-up headlights, replacing them with a rounded appearance that harkened to the 1960s can only be described as just that. A work of art. Now, I’ve never had much of a relationship with Ferrari’s, as the are rarely seen here in Norway, but I guess I have to admit that they’ve been subject to more than one automotive fantasy of mine.
So, when my friend Bernhard over at Brynildsen Autospa got this 360 Modena in for a thorough detailing I just had to stop by. Now, as I said, the pictures I took of this car can’t be described as anywhere near work of art, but then again I don’t think any pictures really does this Ferrari justice. The precence it gives, from the delicate lines and from it’s sheer size isn’t easy to capture on camera. Neither is the incredible sound of the 3.6 litre V8 displayed under a glass the glass hood. It doesn’t even have to pass halfway through its 10 000 rpm range before it gives you goosebumps. Absolutely amazing!
Now, I promised you guys a full shoot on the car some time ago, but unfortunately I had to do another last minute shoot with a Jaguar that day, and by the time I got to the Ferrari it was all most midnight and we were loosing light rapidly. In addition to the fact that shooting a black car at night isn’t easy I had to go home and pack for my vacation to Spain. So you’ll have to to with these three images… sorry…
Oh yeah, while you are at it. Check out Bernhards thread on the detailing over at Detailers Club Norway to see another work of art. The text there is in norwegian, but the pictures he put up shows that work he did on the car can be described as a work of art in itself.
Audi Urquattro – Feature
Earlier this year I had the chance to shoot this beautiful Audi Urquattro just outside of Oslo. Having production number 296 out of 898 produced in total the car is rare it self, but what’s rarer is the condition it is in.
Fully rebuilt with OEM parts, most parts under the car powder coated and the exterior paint wet sanded twice the car is absolutely immaculate. Sitting on H&R springs and Bilsteins shocks and rolling on 16X9 Schmidt Revolutions the car has maintained it’s rally heritage. Also, the 1994 Audi RS2 engine swap doesn’t hurt neither the heritage or perfomance. Beeing a most trustfull guy the owner gave us the keys, told us to have fun and left us with the car for hours. I won’t tell you how fast we went in it, but let’s just say it wasn’t the car that chickened out and let of.
This set was shot for Treffpunkt magazine and got both the cover (with the most cheesy composite sky ever) and a 4 page spread. All exterior pictures are shot with natural light and the Canon 70-200 2.8 IS and the interior and engine ones are lit with 2-3 Canon flashes. I hope you enjoy. And do browse to the bottom, there’s a bonus picture for you guys there ;)
There are some more pictures on flickr, you get there by clicking either image. Larger ones can also be viewed there. Hope you enjoy them
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” .
Home from Wörthersee
Ahh, just got back from one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. Got tons of pictures to go through before they’ll be posted here or on www.klutchonline.com.
Just wanted to chime in and share this picture I shot of this brand new Norwegian MkIV Golf R that had driven a breathtaking 2500 kilometers just to be at Wörthersee! Talk about dedication!
Make sure you stop by the blog over the next week or so for more pictures from Wörthersee!!!
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
Trackday.no at Rudskogen Motorpark
Yet another tell true sign of spring is the raceways opening for the public and trackdays being held again. Today the good folks behind www.trackday.no held their first event of the season at Rudskogen Motorpark. I was there and managed to bag several hundred decent shots.
If you were there, theres more than fair chance that I’ve got some shots of your car, so don’t hesitate to contact me. Send me an email with either the number the organizers assigned you, your cars registration or just car make, model and color and I’ll see what I’ve got.
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.
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.
Playing an old tune
With the snow falling outside I can’t help myself longing for the summer. seeing as it’s only december and the snow won’t disappear until say March/April this might just be a long winter…
Anyway. I keep going back to the photos I took of the silver A5 that I’ve posted several shots from here already. This was my first time shooting into the sun and some of the shots came out really good. And some not so good of course. This one I initially rejected, but I’ve developed a taste for shots like this lately and sat down with it today. There isn’t much editing done to it really. I just bumped the contrast on the car a bit, the rest is the result of pointing Canon’s 70-200 2.8L lens into the sun. Not to sure about how I like it so I’d be happy if you guys left a comment on what you think.
Check out the photo in 1280X853 on flickr by clicking the picture.
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
Dub Wagon, Rolling On Dubs
First of all, sorry for the recent lack of updates. been really busy moving houses and swamped with work so I’ve had almost no time for shoots and other fun stuff.
This weekend things calmed down a bit and seeing as I had talked to Bernhard about a shooting his car for a while we made some hasty arrangements to do a shoot.
As you can see, Bernhard rolls around in a family friendly Passat Wagon which fits both his kids and girlfriend. How they feel about the not so family friendly 20″ TSW Holstens I’m not sure about. What I am sure about though is that the wheels really sets Bernhards 1.8t Passat apart from the crowd. Paired with a millimeter perfect lowering and subtle modifications this sure is a nice ride.
Oh , also one can’t miss just how shiny this car is, which is because Bernhard passes his spare time doing detailing jobs on cars. I don’t know how many coats of wax this car has received during the season, but it might just be more than other cars sees in a lifetime ;)
Enjoy the pictures. Check them out in higher resolution on flickr by clicking them or visit my photostream to see even more ;)
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…
Holey Moley!
If there was one phrase that was repeated more often from the speaker on this years SCC than “Racers needed in the Line up” it must have been “Holey Moley” And Holey Moley, what an event!
After seeing only a small amount of racing before the rain rolled in and decided to ruin the day yesterday, the weather turned around and made today ideal for some great drag racing action.
With the 800+ bhp powered bug seeing a record breaking 9.01 quarter mile time today being the highlight other racers also got at it and made sure there was plenty of great burnouts, high wheelies, close races and generally a great day at the strip.
Unfortunately this notch is here pictured seconds before slamming into the armco at 100+ mph and bursting into flames. Luckily the driver walked away without injury
Pictures can be viewed large on flickr as always :)
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 :)
The perfect photoshoot ?
Today was the day everything was going to go down well. The shoot I did with the Audi A5 Cabriolet today was scheduled booked in in good time, the weather forecast had been consistent in showing a slight overcast with the sun promising to peek out from behind the clouds. I had scouted the location way ahead of time and checked all my gear before I went to bed last night. I had even sketched some of the frames I wanted on paper including lighting diagrammes. What could go wrong? Nothing, right?
Well for starters, (and I know I should have learned by now) the weather forecast can’t be trusted. Sure enough, the slight overcast had transformed into rain and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately the location was an abandoned parking garage so I decided to go ahead with the shoot seeing as we could stay inside. I told the client to stop by the car wash adjacent to the parking garage and packed some microfiber cloths and some detailing supplies before I headed out there.
I arrived on scene ahead of schedule and started setting up my lighting gear only to find out I had forgotten the batteries for my main camera… A bit bummed out about that, but really happy I had brought a backup camera I decided that the old 400D would have to do. Apart from this the shoot went down pretty good, and when I opened up the pictures on the computer some 4 hours later I was delighted to see that the 400D indeed had performed well. Seeing as how the shot below is one of the outtakes from the shoot you might agree ;)
Strobist information can, for those interested, be found on flickr by clicking the picture. You’ll also find a larger version of it there :)
A friend stopped by with his Mk3 Golf when I was shooting the A5 and I couldn’t resist snapping this shot when we walked down from the above parking level where we had wrapped up the A5 shoot. I think it really shows of the cars insanely good looking stance with it’s FK Coilovers and Porsche D90′s. 7 and 9 inces wide front and rear respectively.
Some flash work was involved, details of which can be viewed by clicking the picture and accessing it on flickr. Wallpaper sized version is also avalible there for those die-hard Mk3 fans out there.
Firestarter
No smoke without fire, right? Well actually you can have smoke without fire. Enter the incense-stick.
Took a break from editing wedding shots from last weekend and had a go at the classic smoke against black background shot yesterday. I’ve seen this on numerous blogs and several great photos of it around the web and thought I’d give it a go. The setup is simple; incense stick, snooted strobe and a black backdrop. Then all you have to do is sit around waiting for the smoke to make some interesting abstract shapes.
I spent about 15 minutes on this as it was getting late, but spending a bit more time is probably wise as you can experiment a bit more with composition. Also, the smoke is quite unpredicatble so you might get some pretty amazing shapes there. I love the spirally thing in this image, but I’m not content with the top part of the image.
This image was shot with Canons cheapo 50mm prime and I urge you to check out the picture in 1280×800 on flickr to see some great details in the smoke. The sharpeness in this lens is amazing.
The slight blue/green hue in the smoke is courtesy of Lightrooms split toning tool but I’m sure you could accompllish something similar with gels on your flash.
I also did an inverted version of this which gives you a great image against white background, but i went a bit overboard with some color overlays on it so I basically ruined it :p