cars, transportation and landscape photography + motion May 2018

Andy Mahr is a Texas-based photographer specialising in auto, industrial, sports and tourism photography. Andy's work has regularly been featured in the Communication Arts Photo Annual, PDN and One Eyeland, and he has been nominated as one of Archive Magazine's '200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide' several times.

Andy began his career as an art director. Coming from the advertising world he has a unique understanding of the creative process and a real appreciation of what creatives go through to bring their ideas to light.

His clients include Alpha Romeo, Harley Davidson, Gates International, RAM Trucks, Nike, Reebok, Timberland Pro Series, Lowes Home Improvement, Pavecon, Bayer, PG&E, Barrick Gold, Phytogen, and the United States Marine Corp., to name just a few.

Anton Watts is one of 11 of the world’s leading photographers chosen to shoot Aston Martin’s most iconic cars for 'Aston Martin - The Book'. Anton shot the DB7 in Joshua Tree National Park, creating an edgy and sophisticated story which showcases the car's performance and design. Other contributors include Nick Knight, Jason Bell, Chen Man, Darren Heath, Bryan Adams, Kristian Schuller, Anton Corbijn, Greg White, Ellen von Unwerth and Rankin.

See the launch film and Anton’s spot below, for the full behind the scenes experience.

Follow Anton on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Anton is represented in London by Catherine Collins. Follow Catherine on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Arnaud Taquet is a 25 year-old automotive commercial photographer and test driver. "I'm a true petrolhead, either driving or shooting when I’m not day-dreaming. I enjoy travelling across Europe and the world for my clients as well as for my passion for discovering deserts and wild areas."

Clients include Renault, Mercedes-Benz, McLaren, Honda, Smart, Lexus, Audi, Seat, BMW-ALPINA, Pagani, TeamOne Los Angeles, Publicis (Prodigious), BMW MINI, and more.

Benjamin Pichelmann was born in the north of Germany in 1976. Based in Hamburg, he is at his happiest when travelling the world.

Benjamin has been represented by Schierke Artists since 2013 and works for national and international car brands. He is also focused on portrait and people photography.

Born and raised in southern California, Brian Konoske grew up with a love of the outdoors. It's that love of nature and the world around him that informs the authentic feel of his photography, and his dedication to creating real moments that are never overly manufactured is a hallmark of his pictures.

From an adventurous and spontaneous approach to life to an inspired palette for his imagery, Brian looks to the natural world for everything he creates, as well as a global world-view shaped by travelling the world from a very young age. From cars to candid human moments to a quiet landscape, Brian's ability to see beauty in real moments and in real time is a source of constant inspiration for crafting a look of distinction.

In addition to focusing on capturing a moment, Brian enjoys creating a fun vibe on set so people feel free to enjoy themselves; thus making the work feel warm, approachable, and fresh.

Clients include Toyota, Acura, Subaru, Chevrolet, Honda, Chrysler, VW, Vans, the California Avocado Commission, K2 Sports, Salomon, Imperial Barber Products and RESQ CO. His editorial work has been seen in Metro Dot Pop, Racer, Zoom Zoom, Automobile, and Indy Car magazines.

Clément Dague is a Paris-based car photographer who's eye for detail is only surpassed by his passion for his four-wheeled subjects. He is very comfortable both in a studio setting as well as in the real world, and always knows which approach best suits the shoot.

Be it vintage 'analogue' models or modern 'digital' machines, Clément approaches the job unbiased and focuses on bringing out the best of each vehicle. With an excellent sense of composition inherited from 15 years of experience as a graphic designer, his photos are an invitation to drive and travel.

Clément works domestically as well as internationally and is available wherever the destination takes him.

Feel free to contact him directly next time you need a car brought to life.

Clément Lazzaro is a Paris-based photographer specialising in automotive and motorcycle photography. He loves to play with light and shadows to create emotion. He equally likes to shoot on location or in studio.

Clément travels across Europe to meet petrol-heads and to work on new projects and share his passion with them.

Clients include KIA, Modification Motorcycles, Kerozin, SW-Motech and ATR.

Follow Clément on Instagram.

David Ryle is an award-winning photographer and director based in London. He is interested in storytelling, fusing a cinematic sensibility with intriguing observations about people, places and automobiles. Together, his distinctive colour palette and dynamic use of scale celebrate the beauty of the everyday.

Recently he has worked for Spark 44, shooting the Jaguar E-Pace in and around London, and for Elvis Communications David shot the Honda CR-V in Austria. He has also worked with CGI artists Circle Media on a Ford test and shot McLaren in Sweden.

David has just been filming and photographing a personal project about Kendo fighters, which will be released in the summer, whilst also shooting campaigns for Emirates and Visit Wales and editorial for Rapha Cycles.

David is represented worldwide by Peter Bailey Productions.

Garry Simpson has a long-standing career in advertising photography, producing distinctive images for clients such as Land Rover and British Airways and recent work for E.On and Volkswagen. Garry describes himself as a storyteller, using each element of the image to form a narrative, resulting in stunning photographs which remain in the mind’s eye long after they have been seen.

Garry’s work is classic with a contemporary perspective. He often works in car and landscape genres, and sometimes a combination of both, to produce visuals which are epic in scope and scale.

Garry enjoys shooting both stills and moving imagery, having a creative input and contributing to the work at hand to produce beautifully realised imagery which retains an authentic feel.

Based in London, photographer Graham Thorp studied art and photography in his early twenties at art college, but it was a birthday present of a camera from his parents that changed everything.

Having a critical eye for detail, light and composition, he found the camera suited his desire to produce images quickly.

Super patient, very cool headed under pressure and an easy-going nature with an aim to please, all combined with a sharp eye for detail make him a real pleasure to have on set.

He works in close collaboration with client, agency, production and post production teams, refining the process to deliver the most aesthetically pleasing final images. 

Truly capturing the moment and narrative, Graham's images are evocative, clean, graphic and dynamic with a little occasional drama characterising his work.

He also loves a good fresh coffee and throws a mean Frisbee!

"We have had a great 2018 so far, working with terrific teams of people in great locations, and we're looking forward to more exciting projects. This Spotlight features Ford Mustang, one of a series of Pan-European press ads for the Ford SUV range, Land Rover Discovery in Namibia, Rolls Royce ‘Great Phantoms’ finalist in Creative Review Photography Annual 2017, Rolls-Royce Ghost, Jaguar Panasonic Racing I-Type and Jaguar I-Pace electric cars (award winner in OneEyeland Photographic awards) and Lamborghini.

Stay tuned for new work launching soon, including the new Rolls Royce Cullinan SUV, Black Badge Dawn and Wraith, Land Rover Ambassadors and a motorcycle brand stills and film project.

Get an insight behind the scenes on the regular blog and follow Harniman on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter."

The last days of 2017 found Jeff Ludes and his team shooting a highly-confidential vehicle in southern California, the new Ram 1500. Careful planning was needed to stay out of the public eye, as they worked from downtown to mountain tops, shooting non-stop.

The social media launch of the new Lincoln Nautilus was a bit different, shooting over night on the roof of the glitzy Dream Hollywood hotel. The car was lifted 12 floors up by crane, and the whole venue reimagined by a team of set decorators, creating a surreal environment for the launch party of the vehicle.

But the wildest shoot of the bunch was with Subaru and the new Ascent. With a full cast of kids on set each day, Jeff was kept on his toes continuously to capture all the action.

Based in Los Angeles, Jeff has been shooting cars around the world for over a decade.

Jonathan Schule is based in Stuttgart and focuses on transportation, CGI, people, sports and landscapes. He studied Photo-Design in Germany and graduated with honors in 2007, and after eight years as a freelance assistant for some well-known photographers, he started his own business in 2015.

Jonathan's strength is his absolute perfection. He is always in a good mood on set, and it makes no difference to him whether it is a 'real' shoot or a CGI project.

He is always open to any creative influence and has the natural ability to raise a project to a higher level. His clients include Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Adelholzener, Konecranes, MasterCard, New York Life-Insurance, Nike, Porsche, Relentless and Stuttgart Marketing.

Justin Leighton is a UK-based photographer with a background in photojournalism and a passion for all things automotive. He shoots and films beautiful cars for a wealth of prestigious clients in breath-taking locations across the world.

A busy few months have seen some really exciting work, kicking off with an awfully big adventure into the Arctic Circle with an amazing classic car (story soon to feature in Octane), and then hitting the road with the Mercedes-AMG S 63s Coupe and Mercedes-AMG GLC 63s. "It was a privilege to spend some quality time in the company of the classic 1952 Rolls Royce Silver Dawn and the homage Bespoke “1952" Dawn."

From Silver Dawns to super-moons with the Mercedes CLS, and finishing up with a fast-paced shoot with the Porsche GT3 RS family on the Isle of Man. "With all that dashing around in the open air, it was good to get into the studio to pay some attention to the seriously sleek Mercedes AMG GT4 63s, in a pre-Geneva rendez-vous that featured in Top Gear, Car and Evo magazines."

Follow Justin's adventures on Instagram and twitter.

Lee Brimble is a serious petrol head, and his passion has been turned into a successful career as a respected car photographer. He recently shot the new Aston Martin Vantage on the road in Morocco for Top Gear Magazine. His global campaign for the Honda NSX supercar was shot on location between San Francisco and Las Vegas and took around two weeks to complete.

Lee combines his photographic knowledge and skills to shoot both moving image and stills for car clients all over the world. He works both in the studio and out on location anywhere in the world to capture cars in an exciting and fresh direction.

He has photographed campaigns for some of the world’s iconic car brands such as Honda, Jaguar, BMW, Suzuki, Range Rover and Chevrolet, as well as campaigns and moving image for super-car brands McLaren and Ferrari.

Photography has always been one of Lisa Linke’s passions - together with her love for cars and racing, it has brought her to many different places around the globe.

Capturing unique moments with her camera is what Lisa loves about her job. A German native, she currently resides in Los Angeles where she finds the right light for advertising and editorial productions. Her natural approach to automotive photography is quite unique and she enjoys working with other creatives in order to get the perfect shot.

Since leaving her home country it has been an exciting journey for Lisa, and she is eagerly awaiting the road ahead.

When she isn’t photographing for automotive clients, you can find her at the race track where she enjoys capturing moments of racing history with her camera.

Clients include Lexus, Acura, Toyota, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and many others.

Lisa is represented by Picture Matters in North America.

Markus Heimbach was born near Cologne in 1960 and lived in Amman, Jordan for the first seven years of his life. This region fascinates him up to present with its light, solitude and aridity.

His customers include major industry and automobile corporations, ship owning and general aviation companies as well as magazines, agencies and media publishing houses.

His latest shots were in Lapland, England, Germany and Austria.

Markus lives in Dubai.

Winter and spring have kept Nate Hassler busy working on a number of projects in Los Angeles and Detroit. At the end of last year, Nate spent a couple of days in the studio in LA with the new Avalon, followed by a shoot on location in Detroit with additional trims, models and colorways. Avalon was unveiled (and well received) at the Detroit NAIAS auto show in January.

Nate would find himself back in Detroit shortly thereafter to shoot the mid-model facelift unveil for Chevrolet Camaro; the aggressive new front end and rear lights give a fresh update to an already great looking muscle car! This project included the SS hero model and convertible RS model.

Right now, Nate is gearing up for his annual pilgrimage to Germany’s famous Nürburgring to photograph and experience the legendary 24 Hour Race for his fifth year in a row. Because race car.

Paul Barshon and his crew have been working on a variety of stills and film shoots that covered everything automotive.

A main highlight included shooting the entire Triumph Motorcycle range and creating brand and genre films that crossed the USA, from New York to Colorado - and running away from Hurricane Ira whilst shooting in Miami!

Other projects include the new VW Tiguan, Ford Mustang, Genesis G90, drone operating for Jaguar Land Rover, and then to Spain for Renault.

Sydney-based automotive lifestyle and conceptual advertising photographer and director, PK - Petros Ktenas, brings an awesome advertising production powerhouse team via MFJ Productions. Working with amazingly talented people everyday to fit almost any brief, with a strong team behind him locally and abroad, anything is achievable!

His 10 years of agency experience as a senior content producer comes into play on every stills and motion production - meaning he gets it, has been there and done that. He understands what a producer goes through behind the scenes, what an art director will question on the day, and what creative directors will launch as a curve ball in post-production. This level of production experience only comes from years of experiencing all levels and types of ad campaigns.

Petros is a gun producer of conceptual visual advertising content. Over the last few years, he has worked with great creative talents on campaigns for MG, Audi, Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Hyundai, Renault, Fiat, Mercedes-Benz, Four Seasons Hotels, Sony, SBS World Movies, Burnaid, Heart Foundation, Centenary Institute and Greenpeace.

On location is where John Roe calls home. He has been to about every part of the world to capture stunning imagery for many of the major automakers. New Zealand, Iceland and Thailand are his latest adventures.

Latest work includes the 2019 launch of the Ford Ranger, the new GMC lineups, Ram Truck, Mustang, Ford GT, Ferrari 812 Superfast and Corvette ZR1.

The diversity in John’s approach to his photography has made him a client favourite.

His latest work can be found on his website.

Roman Lavrov is a car photographer and creative retoucher from Russia. He has five years' experience shooting cars on location and on the race track, and has worked on numerous CGI projects.

Most of Roman's projects include shooting motor sports (FIA WEC, Blacpain GT Series, Russian Drift Series, etc.). For the last three years, he has been cooperating on a permanent basis as a photographer, assistant photographer, retoucher, post-production supervisor and art director as part of the team of Sergei Krestov - Cross Production.

As a retoucher, Roman has worked on marketing projects for brands including Volkswagen, Honda, BMW, Alpina, Renault, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Dutsun and Toyota.

Los Angeles-based automotive and lifestyle photographer Tim Sutton brings stability and tranquility to his productions, emphasizing the reality of life and the connections the elements at hand lend to one another.

Well-versed in automotive photography and videography and working for some of the best brands in the business, Tim's recent jobs include Nissan Corporate for all brands, as well as Indian Motorcycles, Sherwin Williams, Nitto Tire, and Valspar Refinish.

He uses his down time to constantly shoot and explore his boundaries as a shooter.

Since the start of the year, Tom Cunningham has been busy working on a number of marketing and advertising projects for Renault Trucks UK & Ireland and their wholly owned dealer network.

Working with Renault’s UK advertising agency Stream Ltd., Tom produced images for both print and online campaigns including the ‘Cold Mountain’ series, conceived to give the appeal of space in their high internal volume, flat floor long distance T High range of truck cabs. The images were shot at Junction Eleven Studios in Banbury and on location in Snowdonia, with the final CGI elements and post-production completed by Floss Creatives.

With two whole spreads, the Transportation-Pros of WE! shoot it - Michael Compensis and Thomas von Salomon - don’t have to hide in the new Spotlight Cars!

For Hyundai, the pair recently staged the all new compact SUV Kona Electric in CGI. Backplates and HDR-Domes were shot in Frankfurt and Lisbon, and completed with material from their huge CGI archive. In CGI, they were supported by NPIXO, who also took care of post-production. They thank Jörn, Arthur, Igor, Jojo and Alex for their great 3D and 2D work!

Just a few weeks prior to this, the creative-duo went to sunny Turin in Italy to shoot the new Audi Q2 in powerful 'Korallorange' for a portfolio spread. For post-production they trusted the team at Wagnerchic in Stuttgart, who gave the spread not only the last cut but also the perfect look.

Will Pearson is a 360 photographer, specialising in car interiors. The images in this gallery are 360º spherical (equirectangular) images, shot in a studio at around 22k. To explore in 360 they need to be seen in a viewer - visit Will’s site for full interactive versions.

Will shoots a wide variety of 360 images, with cars and jets as a particular interest. He also creates HDRi backplates for car interiors and CGI, ensuring continuity across a project.

The videos featured in this Spotlight are low res versions (4k). Visit the website to view in high resolution.