MODIFIED TOYOTA HILUX PHOTOSHOOT
Prowling the streets in Melbournes toughest HiLux
Late last year Charlene got in touch with me wanting to surprise her husband with a photoshoot of his heavily modified Sixth Generation Toyota Hilux. Justin had built this car over many years and poured countless hours and dollars into getting the car to the stage you see here. The Hilux has graced the covers of local 4WD magazines on numerous occasions however for this shoot Justin wanted to capture the 4WD in an urban setting and not out in the bush or tracks.
Unfortunately after years of being hassled by the overzealous police and receiving numerous unroadworthy tickets, Justin was now going to revert the Hilux back to a legal wheel/tyre size and ride height to stop the attention of the boys in blue. The photos you see here were a way to capture the memories of the car in its finished form. The day after this shoot the car was booked in to the mechanics workshop to bring the suspension and wheel package back to stock. I’m glad we could provide Justin with some everlasting memories of his build.
If you find yourself searching for the perfect gift for that car obsessed special someone in your life Get in touch and lets organise a shoot with their pride and joy.
Alpine A110 - Sacre Blue
I met the owner of this car earlier this year when i was on another shoot, we got chatting about his car which you see here. Simon is an avid landscape photographer and wanted to learn more about automotive photography, so I did what anyone else would do and put his rare blue machine in front of my lens and both snapped away. The Alpine A110 is a very underrated vehicle and a rare sight here on Australian roads. In this day and age of big heavy powerful cars it’s very refreshing to see a proper lightweight drivers car still being manufactured. Think how much fun 290hp must be in a tiny 1100kg mid-engine package. It was a great chance for me to have a look at this mid engined machine up close, the build quality and interior really impressed me and the blue paint just pops, i couldn’t imagine this car in another other colour. On a cold night back in May we braved the rain and wind and came away with some great photos of this French beauty at a local shopping center car park.
Bathurst Winning Jaguar XJ-S & TWR Jaguar XJR-S
Recently had the chance to shoot these two very special Jaguars for a private client. On the left we have the Spa and Bathurst Race Winning Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar XJ-S. This car has a rich race history across the globe and is currently owned, raced and maintained by Jaguar specialist Mike Roddy. On the right is rare hand built 1993 Walkinshaw XJR-S V12 road car in original condition with only 7,400kms on the clock, the car was brought into the country from Japan in 2019. We were fortunate enough to have an hour on track access at Sandown Racetrack to take these shots.
Client - Bespoke Motorcars /Mike Roddy Motors
TWR 1985 Bathurst Race Winning Jaguar XJ-S
1993 Jaguar XJR-S
Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT - Photoshoot with a priceless Race-Car
Getting up close and personal with a very special race car
Recently I had the chance to shoot this Lamborghini, and not just any regular old run of the mill raging bull, this is the Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT GT1 ( Chassis # 5 of only 9 ever made). A purpose built race car built by Reiter Engineering in conjunction with Lamborghini to compere at LeMans. There are only a handful of parts that are shared with the road going supercar. Somehow this example found its way over here to Melbourne, Australia and somehow i had the good fortune to shoot it. This particular example was restored to its former 2004 American Le Mans Series glory by Jordan Roddy from Bespoke Motorcars in record time ( think serval weeks, not several months) and shipped over to the US just in time for its unveiling at the Monterey Car week back in August. Unfortunately this car will live the rest of its life in another country as 2 days after these photos were taken the car was sitting inside a shipping container bound for the US. Many thanks to Jordan and Vito from Polo Bodyworks for the opportunity to shoot this spectacular vehicle.
How were these images captured?
Shooting this scene was quite a challenge, although it's a beautifully presented machine the messy background and dull light/ shadow was not doing any favours in making the car stand out.
Unfortunately being a race car with no ground clearance it could not be moved more than a few meters. The location was the small industrial estate carpark where this Le Mans race-car was restored by @bespokemotorcars. To make the images a little more interesting i wanted to try something different. I took multiple exposures of the car with the Godox AD600 studio flash making sure to highlight certain areas.
The fog and fire looking smoke were produced by a modified insect fogger filled with diesel which created this haze. For the fire look i placed a Godox AD200 flash with a red gel behind the smoke to illuminate the plumes of fog/haze moving slowly from the front to the back of the car. Although it took a long time in post processing to layer all of these exposures to create the following images i'm very happy with the end result. I could not of achieved these images on the day without the help and expert advice from Ben Galli who i cant thank enough.
Interested in getting some timeless photos of your pride and joy or just want to know more about my photo packages? Hit the link below to get in touch
Meguiar's MotorEx 2019
MotorEx is Australia’s largest and most one of its prestigious car show. I headed down to the Melbourne Showgrounds back in May for a look at this special event. On display was everything from 6 second drag cars, half million dollar show cars, JDM classics, rusty hot rods, American and Australian muscle and a sprinkling of drift pigs in action. With over 400 cars on display and hundreds of exhibitors it was quite the spectacle.
It’s always tough work trying to get any decent photos at a car show as there are so many people and distractions in front of the cars so i didn’t really bother. I did manage to snap a few shots on the day, below you can view my favourites.
Johns 1957 Chevrolet Sport Coupe
Photoshoot with this concours fully restored 1957 Chevrolet Sport Coupe
Theres really no words needed to describe this car other than its one of the best restorations i’ve ever seen. I struggle to believe the car came from the factory looking this good.
Click any image to enlarge
Have you spent countless time and money building your dream ride? Ever considered rewarding all your hard work with a professional photoshoot so you can show it off to the world ?
My magazine quality automotive photoshoots will beautifully and faithfully capture your build and your own rides uniqueness. Each photo session is tailored to your car and personality and budget. Get in touch for more info and availability.
1967 Chevrolet Camaro Photoshoot
Dean’s 1967 Chev Camaro 454 ‘Big Block’
Deans 1967 Camaro has been a labour of love. He has owned the car for 10 years and has slowly turned it into the beast it now is. A stroked out 454 cubic inch big block that looks as clean as it runs. Make no mistake this is a pure street car that gets driven regularly and is no show pony, This Camaro has so much torque on tap i’ve never experienced a proper big block before and was not disappointed. Once the fat rear tyres stop spinning and find some traction it just rocket-ships down the road at an alarming rate. Its just a mental, angry, brutish and loud car and i absolutely love it.
We started the shoot in the late afternoon to get some of that beautiful golden hour lighting in the backstreets. After that we headed back to a location for some light painting images to really make the car pop. Total shoot time was around 5 hours with a further 8+ hours spent on post processing
Are you chasing some shots for your car? If you have spent countless hours and money building your latest project have consider getting some professional photographs to show off all of your hard work? Send me a message to get in touch and discuss further.
In the Studio
Outdoor On Location
The Pink Panther- A Classic Citroen DS21
The 1967 Citroen DS21 "Goddess"
Last night i headed out to the docklands to take some shots of this classic car. I got told off by security near the docks for blocking the road so didn't get any shots in front of the container ships or cranes so had to scout for some other places to shoot. One thing i learnt was that shooting multiple exposures on a Citroen DS is hard and needs some planning. As the car slowly sinks back down on it's suspension once it loses hydraulic pressure some of my frames were not aligned. Lesson learnt. This was a bit of a challenging shoot but i'm still happy with the way the final images turned out.
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