This photoshoot of Leigh Fallon's 9 second XW ute is the first photoshoot for a magazine that I was commissioned to do - everything i'd had published prior to this had simply been an incredible stroke of luck!
Anyway, I turned up to Leigh's workshop (Fallon Fabrications) with absolutely no idea how I was going to shoot this thing. Leigh had his workshop at my disposal, so I envisioned a series of photos that drew influence from some of my favourite photographers - look up Easton Chang and Chris Thorogood's work, and check out their shots taken in dark alleyways and sheds.
Full of confidence, I whipped out a couple of umbrella's, my speedlites, and set up my tripod.
FLASH!
Bugger...not enough light. Move flashes...bump up power.
FLASH!
Still not enough light...remove umbrellas.
FLASH!
Still not working...light is way too uneven...need more power. Shit!
After scratching my head for a solid 20 minutes, and realising that my original plan was not going to work with the equipment that I had, I decided to take my chances simply shooting with available light, and setting longer exposures on my tripod. There were some interesting colour casts being thrown around from the combination of the workshop lighting and the limited light coming through the skylights, but with a bit of tweaking in Photoshop I managed to put together a set of photos that were consistent.
Every time I shoot a car I learn a little more about how light works, and I gain an even greater appreciation for the guys and girls that do it so much better than I do. Understanding how light works really is the key to photography, and its something that you will never stop learning about for as long as you are a photographer.
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