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Automotive Photography in Big Sur, CA | Rolls-Royce
This year I had a world class experience on a 4-day automotive photo shoot for Rolls-Royce. This work features the Cullinan SUV, Phantom flagship sedan, and Spectre coupe cars at stunning locations by the California coast in Monterey, Carmel, Felton, and Big Sur. This was a semi-full sized production shoot with a small video crew, drone team, driving team, producer, and location support by Alán Vasquez. We became a tight group that worked cohesively from sunrise to sunset while chasing light, playing music, and enjoying the work.
Case Study Notes About This Project:
- Deliverables included: 1) hard drive with RAW files, 2) proof jpegs processed and culled, 3) web galleries for remote teams.
- Media Placement – Rolls-Royce website and social media accounts
- Visibility – Rolls-Royce North America (800K followers) + Rolls-Royce global account (11 million followers).
- Awards – International Color Awards – Advertising
- Awards – ReFocus Color Awards – Conceptual
- Featured interview about this shoot on the DayBreak Directory interview with Jay Watson
- Gold star wrecking crew: Jonathan Williams (DP), Matthew Lavin + Thom Miller (drone), Alán Vasquez (producer), Lili Gomez (PA), Frosty and Sweeney (drivers).
The purpose of the shoot was to create images predominately for social media campaigns on Rolls-Royce North America, Rolls-Royce Global, but a few gems were added to RR’s home page. After several months the images are finally being posted by the client. A follow up shoot is in the works that includes snow.
📷 To see more images from this shoot, visit my Rolls-Royce North America photo gallery.
4 Things I’ve Learned in Automotive Photography
• Cars Talk. Automotive photography shot lists can be overwhelming. It’s tough to shoot every luxurious interior and exterior detail when working in between video and drone teams. So I learned to shoot first what was working before making big changes. If the car was screaming “shoot me now” – I tried to grab it! Otherwise I’d run out of time, the car would get moved, the light would change, or I’d get pushed aside. Listen to what the car is telling you.
• Speak up for your “five more minutes.” Often those 3 words meant I had to finish quickly. Although I probably wanted 30 more minutes, it wasn’t going to happen without putting us behind schedule. Give up the 5 if you can, but push for an extra 5 when it can save everyone time later.
• Ai isn’t replacing all forms of commercial photography. When it comes to race cars and luxury cars, drivers want to see the exact same thing they’ll be driving. There is no substitute for the real thing.
• The Rolls-Royce “Spirit of Ecstasy” hood ornament has been featured on most RR cars since 1911. It was created by the artist and sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes. Not Glenn Robinson. Not Charles Bronson.
