Aston Martin DB5. 007’s favorite car A silver-birch version is known for appearing in a number of James Bond movies including Goldfinger, Thunderball, Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough. Every car from Aston Martin is handmade.
One photo shoot especially stands out for me, from all my most fascinating photo shoots during 30+ years as a commercial photographer – a shoot in 1994 for a wealthy classic car collector. He had a large, private collection of extremely valuable cars; most valued at six figures and some at more than a million.
Many of these autos held extra value for being the first one to roll off a production line or for capturing first place in a race. All these dazzling cars sat contentedly in the collector’s stunning personal showroom, on a grand floor of imported Italian marble, designed to match the Ferrari showroom in Maranello, Italy.
While exploring the showroom days before the photo session, I noticed these cars would be challenging to light and shoot. I would need an extremely large source of diffused light. So I constructed one. After purchasing 15 yards of translucent fabric, I used it to create a large, floor-to-ceiling softbox, “an enclosure designed to fit around an artificial light source, to resemble the softer light one might find streaming through a window” (BHphotovideo.com). I used every strobe light and power pack in my arsenal.
See the sketch I made in my planning.
When shooting a large item such as a car, lots of planning and measuring is needed to have success. Here is my sketch from 1994 to plan for lighting cars using every strobe light I owned, plus large sheets of translucent cloth as a light diffuser. That squiggly thing at the bottom represents the view camera I would be using.
What really stands out from this shoot is the beauty of these cars. Enjoy the photos below, and read a little about their significance.
1969 Chevrolet Yenko Camaro In the late 60s, Don Yenko contracted with Chevrolet to provide Camaros with higher horsepower engines and power options. This is one of only 201 Yenko Camaros produced in 1969 — a rare bird indeed. In recent years, Yenko Camaros have sold in the $350,000 range.
1967 Ferrari 275 GTB4 Simply beautiful! “The 275 GTB/4 was named number seven on Sports Car International’s 2004 list of Top Sports Cars of the 1960s.” –Wikipedia. The GTB4 sells for $2- 2.5 million.
1958 Impala 1958 was the very first year GM introduced the Impala. And it proved to be a very popular model for the next 50 years. 2020 is the final year for Impala, as GM plans to end production.
1946 Dodge Power Wagon “The Power Wagon was mechanically based on Dodge’s 3/4-ton WC series of World War II military trucks. The Power Wagon was the first mass-produced 4×4 medium duty truck, and represents a significant predecessor to the many modern four wheel drive trucks in use today.” –Wikipedia
1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS “The Carrera RS models, valued by collectors, are considered by many to be the greatest classic 911s of all-time. RS stands for Rennsport in German, meaning “racing sport.” –Wikipedia
Look for my next photo blog coming soon with more photos of classicsfrom this shoot.
Nice work Dan. I hope you had fun.