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Automotive Photography in Big Sur, CA | Rolls-Royce
I had a world class experience on a 4-day automotive photography shoot for Rolls-Royce this past summer. This work features the Cullinan SUV, Phantom saloon, and Spectre coupe cars at stunning locations by the California coast in Monterey, Carmel, Felton, and Big Sur. This was a full production shoot with a small video crew, drone team, producer, and location support by Alán Vasquez.
The purpose of the shoot was to create images predominately for social media campaigns on the Rolls-Royce North America account with (800K followers), but also the Rolls-Royce global account (10 million followers). After several months the images are finally being posted by the client. To see more images from this shoot, visit my Rolls-Royce North America photo gallery – it’s a work-in-progress with more images being added in the future.
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.
