Lotus Exige 410 Sport - 20th Anniversary Special Edition

A series of ads created to mark the 20th anniversary of the Lotus Exige and the launch of the 410 Sport Special Edition.

“The Exige Sport 410 20th Anniversary builds on the Exige’s unrivaled levels of handling and performance. This special edition of one of our most acclaimed sports cars ever will continue the Lotus ethos of being born for the track and bred for the road.”

More examples from the shoot can be found here. More information on the car can be found here.

Client : Lotus Cars. Art Director : Julian Calverley / Rhys Grant. Graphics : Rhys Grant

Apennine Passes for Road Rat Magazine

Back in September I got a call from Rupert Gale at The Road Rat.. “how did I fancy shooting another series of mountain passes, but this time in Italy, in the Dolomites”

The mountain passes of the Dolomites are truly breathtaking, so as with the previous Road Rat assignment in the French Alps, I wanted to avoid using a single super wide cropped shot, so I opted to shoot panoramics using the ALPA 12 STC, ALPA HR Alpagon 4.0/40mm SB17 and a nodal rail. This gave a far more natural feel and perspective to the images and importantly avoided the ‘pull’ of a super wide lens, which is something I’m not keen on.

The scenes before us were so vast that some of them required up to 12 stitched frames, which were later put together using Photomerge in Photoshop. The largest PSB file ended up at just over 30 GB!

You can see a small selection of the work we made below, with more examples of the evolving ‘Great Mountain Passes’ project here.

“Exquisitely printed on a mix of heavy gloss and matt art papers, Issue Six of The Road Rat is a beautiful thing. 244 pages (it weighs around 1 kilo) The sixth Edition of The Road Rat is something of a diversion as it features a theme — Italy. We wanted to something to recognise the suffering, way back at the start of all this, of a nation that, as enthusiasts, is something of a Promised Land. So prepare to learn the psycho-geography of Turin, the dining habits of Enzo Ferrari, the sheer brilliance of small Italian cars and a look inside the astonishing mind and archive of Giovanni Michelotti.”

For The Road Rat magazine subscription information, head over here.

The opening spread.

The opening spread.

Passo Rolle. Highest point: 1984m. Number of turns: 44.

Passo Rolle. Highest point: 1984m. Number of turns: 44.

Passo de Giau. Highest point: 2236m. Number of turns: 55.

Passo de Giau. Highest point: 2236m. Number of turns: 55.

Passo Gavia. Highest point: 2621m. Number of turns: 23.

Passo Gavia. Highest point: 2621m. Number of turns: 23.

Passo de Giau. Highest point: 2236m. Number of turns: 55.

Passo de Giau. Highest point: 2236m. Number of turns: 55.

Range Rover - From Calgary to Kananaskis

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Range Rover and so my thoughts turned to a commission I received in the autumn of 2019..

Building on a previous commission for Land Rover, from the good folk at Spark44 New York, this road trip involved travelling to Canada to shoot the Range Rover Sport SVR.

The iconic route chosen took us through the mountains of Alberta, driving over 200 miles from Calgary to Kananaskis, with an elevation gain of nearly 2000 metres, taking in the Highwood Pass, the highest paved road in Canada.

The resulting imagery helping to create a beautifully produced coffee table style book called ‘Elevated Drives’ It includes the use of special papers, inks, embossing, die cutting and hand drawn maps of the carefully curated and iconic routes that we drove. A truly crafted piece and further proof that print is not dead!

A quote from the book sums things up perfectly.. “Driving from a low elevation to a considerably higher one can be profound. From the physical impact a shift in altitude can have on your body, to the dramatic scenery and weather changes, these journeys can be epic experiences”

Below is just a small selection of the work that we made, with many more examples to be found here.

Client : Land Rover. Agency : Spark44. AD : Peter Cooper. 1st Assistant : Julya Hajnoczky. Producer : Reilly Saso.

Lotus Cars - 2020

2020 started off well, with a lovely studio commission for Lotus Cars.

Ten days shooting eight iconic sports cars for their 2020 model year range, in a car studio close to Lotus Cars HQ.

This shoot built on a previous commission which we shot in late 2018, which I blogged about here, where we composited studio lit cars, with various back plates of locations from around the world.

Below is a small selection of the work we made, with more (larger) versions available to view here.

Client : Lotus Cars. Art Director : Julian Calverley / Rhys Grant.

Range Rover - Elevated Drives

21 days on the road with 4 Range Rovers, driving across 4 US states. Shooting from dawn ‘til dusk, we travelled through California, Oregon, Colorado and Maine, witnessing the stunning and varied American landscape.

This was a commission from the good folk at Spark44 in New York, for Land Rover. The resulting imagery creating a beautifully produced coffee table style book called ‘Elevated Drives’ which includes the use of special papers, inks, embossing, die cutting and hand drawn maps of the carefully curated and iconic routes that we drove. A truly crafted piece and further proof that print is not dead!

A quote from the book sums things up perfectly.. “Driving from a low elevation to a considerably higher one can be profound. From the physical impact a shift in altitude can have on your body, to the dramatic scenery and weather changes, these journeys can be epic experiences”

Below is just a small selection of the work that we made, with many more examples to be found here.

A big thank you to the fantastic creative, production and support team who made the whole project both possible and immensely enjoyable. By the end of our time together on the road, we felt like family.

Client : Land Rover. Agency : Spark44 New York. AD : Peter Cooper. Brit Jackson : Associate Director of Production. Sr. Art Producer : Deb Grisham. Producer : Tim Willis, Lockbox. Production Assistant : Gina Wilk. 1st Assistant : Caleb Thal. Writers : Michael Hurley & Bec Couche. Valet : Steve Chavdarian. Drivers : Greg Nikolas & Chad Lourie.

Tim and Caleb executing precision tripod placement in Death Valley.

Tim and Caleb executing precision tripod placement in Death Valley.

New Work For Lotus Cars

New studio work for Lotus Cars.

Ten long days shooting six iconic sports cars in a coved studio in Norwich, close to Lotus Cars HQ.

Client : Lotus Cars. Art Director : Julian Calverley. Lighting Assistant : Steve Thomas. Assistant : Brian Cottam.

Below is a tiny selection of the work we made.. Pick a colour!

Behind the scenes.. note my trusty Inovativ cart keeping things organised and mobile..

Lotus Cars - From Norwich to Nevada

Tight timings and impossible logistics often mean we have to be smart when producing images to a brief. This commission for Lotus Cars being a perfect example.

The project involved shooting six iconic sports cars over ten long days in a coved studio in Norwich, close to the Lotus HQ, and then compositing them with various back plates of locations from around the world. Careful attention was paid to match the lighting of each car to the background that each would inhabit, with CGI rendered reflections, studio shot wheel spins and virtual rig motion blur adding the touches of realism that would ensure that each car felt embedded in to it’s chosen environment.

A big thank you to the good folk at ThirdEye Studio in London, for their CGI and post production expertise and to assistants Brian and Steve for their hard work in the studio.

Client : Lotus Cars.    CGI & Post production : ThirdEye Studio.    ADs : Julian Calverley & Matt Haysom.

Below is a small selection of the work produced, with more available to view here.

The cropped imagery below hints at the level of detail achieved when shooting with the high end medium format digital back..

World Land Rover Day - April 30th

World Land Rover Day is celebrated on April the 30th every year, to mark the global premiere of the original Land Rover at the Amsterdam Motor Show on this day in 1948.

Below are some views from my trusty Land Rover, shot on my iPhone.. While stationary I might add!

Alpine Passes for The Road Rat magazine

I got a call from my old friend Mikey Harvey.. how did I fancy shooting a series of Alpine passes for a new premium automotive magazine called The Road Rat? Of course I said yes.

With three locations chosen, a couple of Michelin maps in the glove box and hotel and Eurotunnel reservations made, we hit the road.. After 5 long days, 146 caffè lattes, numerous marmot encounters and with 1987 miles behind us.. we were back.

The mountain passes were truly breathtaking and recording them was not a straight forward task. Instead of cropping a single super wide shot, I decided to shoot panoramics using the ALPA 12 STC, ALPA HR Alpagon 4.0/40mm SB17 and a nodal rail. The scenes before us were so vast that some of them required 12 stitched frames.

You can see a small selection of the work we made below, with more examples of the larger project here.

“Exquisitely printed on a mix of heavy gloss and matt art papers, Issue One of The Road Rat is a beautiful thing. 244 pages (it weighs around 1 kilo) it is at once absolutely of the moment - Lewis Hamilton, the Aston Martin Valkyrie - yet simultaneously timeless as we dwell on the making of the modern Ferrari and the decline of the Mercedes SL. It’s not a place for hot takes but long-form, writing every bit as considered as our photography, illustration and design.”

For The Road Rat magazine subscription information, head over here.

The opening spread.

The opening spread.

The Col d’ Izoard. Highest point: 2360m. Number of turns: 49.

The Col d’ Izoard. Highest point: 2360m. Number of turns: 49.

The Col du Galibier. Highest point: 2645m. Number of turns: 44.

The Col du Galibier. Highest point: 2645m. Number of turns: 44.

The Col de la Bonette. Highest point: 2715m. Number of turns: 63.

The Col de la Bonette. Highest point: 2715m. Number of turns: 63.

Aston Martin Rapide AMR

I was recently commissioned by Aston Martin to photograph the stunning new limited edition Rapide AMR for it's timely launch..

"As Aston Martin returns to Le Mans to defend its 2017 victory at the iconic 24-hour race, so the latest car in the exciting new AMR stable has been unveiled. Following hot on the heels of the DB11 AMR, Aston Martin has revealed the limited edition Rapide AMR. This production version of the concept shown at Geneva last year is limited to just 210 cars."

As is often the way when photographing a sought after production vehicle, you have to achieve a lot in a short period of time, so a big thank you to my 'pit crew' for their hard work and focus during a long studio day.

Below is a selection of the work, with larger versions available here.

Aston Martin DB4 G.T. Continuation

They're building cars in Newport Pagnell again!

I was recently commissioned to photograph the stunning DB4 G.T. Continuation for Aston Martin Works Service. I spent a day at the original Aston Martin facility in Newport Pagnell, recording the final stage of the build taking place, followed by a test and set up day at Millbrook Proving ground.

"Ahead of its time – and more often than not the opposition – the DB4 G.T. was a new breed of competition car. In modern parlance it was a homologation special, highly evolved from the series production DB4 on which it was based. Blessed with intensified performance and enhanced agility, the DB4 G.T. stole a march on both Jaguar and Ferrari, cementing Aston Martin's position as makers of world-beating GT cars.

Now, Aston Martin Works are making history by celebrating one of Aston Martins greatest cars with a special series of 25 Continuation cars."

I love everything about this stunning car.. the look, the sound and yes.. the smell. 

Client : Aston Martin Works Service.     Agency : Freestone.

Chasing Shadows For Land Rover On The Isle of Skye

Back in January I spent a week on the Isle of Skye, and the reason I was there was to shoot the all new Land Rover Discovery 5.

We had a week of suitably wet and wild weather, which of course added realism and drama to the imagery, with the added bonus that the Discovery’s colour, Namib Orange, perfectly complemented the brooding grey skies and rich warm colours of the Scottish winter landscape.

Much of what I shot has appeared in Land Rover’s OneLife magazine, in a 12 page article entitled ‘Chasing Shadows’ which tells the story of my time with the car, and also my thoughts on landscape photography and equipment, it also documents a part of my journey around the island that I’ve come to know and love so well.

Client : Land Rover.    Agency : Spark44.    AD : Dan Delaney.

Below is a selection of spreads from the OneLife article, with larger versions of the images here.

Land Rover Reborn

I was recently commissioned to shoot a story for Land Rover’s Onelife magazine, on the Reborn project.

Spending two days in Land Rover’s Solihull manufacturing site, surrounded by history and witnessing first hand the amazing restoration work that the Reborn team are undertaking, was a real honour. 

For anyone who has a passion for Land Rovers, seeing these beautiful Series 1 vehicles up close, and understanding exactly where the Land Rover story started, is highly recommended, and you can do just that on a Land Rover Reborn Tour. You can also find more information on the Land Rover Reborn project here.

Client : Land Rover.    Agency : Spark44.    AD : Dan Delaney.