Motor Bang for your buck 2009

Well I have received the brief.... am I shitting myself?... yes, will I nail it?... Hell YEAH!

Heaps of room for creativity, but all the hard work is already thought out. From what I can see it's an varied range of cars, from everyday commuters right through to ball tearing rip snorters! I can't see how some of these are good bang for your buck when they cost a small fortune.

Cool part is I'll be doing some driving, so a good chance to put some notches in my "hot cars I've driven" belt.

Still need to collate some gear and a few miscellaneous things before Monday but right now I'm pretty excited for it.

Goodbye old friend...

Time has come to sell the 1dsmk2, new 5d2 makes this pretty much obsolete in every fashion, so after been relegated as a backup for the last few shoots it will be put up for sale mid June.

Hardest thing is working out what it's worth... 30604 Actuation's (on this shutter) few dents and scratches but in perfect working order.

It's been the best piece of photographic equipment I've ever had the pleasure of owning, I can really see why people love 1 series bodies but for my line of work the weight is a major negative for rig work.

New Lid

Got a new helmet the other day, One Industries Kombat series. The paint job is awesome.

Also got some New Smith Goggles and Tearoffs ready for racing to begin.




My Kitchen makes a surprisingly good studio.

Good and the Bad

Today was my birthday, usually a day for celebrating and having fun. But not today. I found out a friend of mine was horrifically burnt in a Gas explosion whilst at work.

Sydney Morning Herald Story

Unusual for the newspaper, the story is not hyped up at all, infact both are much worse than the story portrays unfortunately.

Get well soon Todd, My own, my family and friends thoughts are all with you at this difficult time, Pull through mate.

Today was a good day.

Today I got asked if I was interested in shooting Motor Magazines "Bang for your Buck" annual feature in early June for a week. Of course I said yes. On a scale of 1/10 on how stoked I am right now, I would say I am at a 15/10.  

Finally...

Just finished processing a feature car I have spent way too long on, if I added up all the hours it would be some ridiculous amount. Windows media player and Sugar Free Redbull got me through it. My new resolution is no more indoor intricate rig shots, no matter how cool they come out it's just not worth the torture of individually painting pixels (yes it came down to that!)

Time to crack a beer and send the CD off to the editor, I'm taking a break from processing for a while!

Iron Chef

As you might see in some of the other blogs I read to the right, having baller food is part and parcel with everyday life.... not me. Easy, quick and most importantly eye watering delicious is my priority. If it comes from a can it's all good baby. Take this concoction I came up with, 400g Tuna, Capers, Minced Garlic, Peanut Butter and a splash of Lemon Juice, mixed up this was pretty much the best thing I've ever created. I challenge you to try it.

Astra VXR Nurburgring Motor Feature

Just received the tearsheats for this issue of Motor Magazine with the small feature I did on the HSV Astra Nurburgring edition, came out pretty good I think. I find it hilarious that a couple of the images used are taken with a $300 point a shoot camera but.



My goal for this shoot was to follow the brief, but to keep a clean and consistent style that is associated with the images in Motor, I wanted to prove my style isn't all grungy dark flash lit shots, but rather something a bit more commercial and appealing to the masses.


Not everything went to plan for this shoot, as I mentioned previously My camera decided enough was enough and fell off the tripod ripping the thread out of the camera in the process, luckily I caught it just before it hit the ground. Kevin came to save the day with a loaner 5D and I was back in business.


I really enjoyed this shoot, it was challenging to meet the brief given to me. I had never worked to a strict set of guidelines before so it was nice to not have to think of every little thing to cover.


Here you can see a pair of my Boardshorts been used as a makeshift rag to clean the exhaust, unfortunately press cars don't always arrive 100% perfect, this car was filthy!



Setting up the rig for the rear shots, I'll be adding another 2 metres to it soon for some Ultra distance shots.



A huge thanks to Kevin for the loan of the 5D and Simon for assisting me.

Big Boys Toys

If there is one thing I love more than Photography it would have to be riding dirtbikes, the ability to go as fast as you like without fear of getting a speeding fine, exploring new places and just having fun with friends is why I live for riding. So with countless hours researching the new 

2009 450 Enduro bikes from all manufacturers I settled on the 2009 Husqvarna TE450 to replace my 2007 Suzuki DRZ400E.

Whilst Japan is on the cutting edge of technology with every facet of life, when it comes to Enduro models it seems they are a little behind the eight ball. Whilst I'm no racer the Husky comes with standard parts that would cost thousands of dollars extra on a comparative Japanese model, with the inclusion of Electronic Fuel Injection on the Husqvarna it made my decision even easier. 

My favourite thing about the bike is it's sharp looks, white plastics with slimline seating position and very flat seat give it a purposeful racing look, the parts list alone is enough to make any rider weak at the knees, I'm going to have a hard time tricking this bike out because it's pretty much the king of bling already! Parts include:

Arrow GP pipe

R&D Husky Race chip

Brembo's Front and Rear with Oversized Rotors.

Magura Hydraulic Clutch

Cemoto Handgaurds

Marazochi Front Forks, Sachs rear shock

Black Excel Rims

Flex Levers 

First impressions is that this bike is set to kill mode from the factory, power is instant and torque is immense. Keeping the front wheel on the ground is a serious issue as it rockets it's way into a eye watering top end, the brakes are unbelievable, one finger is all that is needed to haul it up, the clutch feel is light and very smooth with an easy pickup point which is very important in tight technical terrain. When cracking the throttle there is a slight hiccup however but this may be the old stale fuel left in the bike from delivery, with riding time I hope this will rectify itself.

I can't wait to have my maiden offroad voyage on it this weekend, Whilst photography is a fun and relaxing hobby, nothing comes close to ripping through the bush on a dirtbike!

CGI the death of Automotive Photography?

Recently on my weekly visit of the  Fstop mag I came across this interesting piece about photographer Darren Rees. I found one part of the article particularly disturbing. 

"The digital revolution is a mixed blessing for automotive photographers.  Never mind the global recession or the turbulent price of gasoline: Photographers working with automotive subjects have a different problem: CGI. “I don’t think traditional car photography will ever be the same again, mainly because the car industry is changing,” he says. “Five out of ten campaigns are CGI because it does save on prep and lugging cars around, which is very expensive. Plus, [the company] can advertise a concept car without actually having to make it, which costs millions.” When asked if car photographers were worried, he replied in the affirmative: “Big time."

Could CGI be the end of Automotive Commercial photography.... seems like it unfortunately. And with Print media slowly declining the need for Automotive photographers drops each day, oh well... time to take up 3D modelling then.