BLOG 2020

CASE STUDY: RM SOTHEBY'S CAR AUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY

15/04/2020
RM Sotheby's, incorporated in 1991, is a classic car auction company which maintains offices in Canada, the United States, UK, and Germany. The company's headquarters are located in Blenheim, Ontario. The company also does restoration, private treaty sales, auctions, estate planning and financial services. Over the years I have covered car photography for their forthcoming auctions which have taken place all over the World, the location for these has been in the UK over various seasons and settings.

From the montage you can see some of the most iconic cars ever designed and extremely sought after, the Ferrari 250 Lusso was a particular favourite, and I also got the chance to drive the Ferrari F40 and one of my favourite ever cars, the Porsche 356 roadster, when i say drive it was purely to manoeuvre the vehicles for different interior and exterior shots so revers and first gear was the order of the day, but its still driving it, just! I remember the 356 roadster very well, situated in Hertfordshire on a rural farm which had storage for classic cars, the snow had been in freewill a week before and the setting couldn't have been more idyllic. I didn't have the right footwear on so my feet were blocks of ice after the shoot.

In the Summer of 2017 I photographed the Ford Mustang GT350 and Ferrari F40 back to back, two different locations, one a farmyard next to the owners home of the GT350 and although limited the F40 against the container and woodlands made the red paintwork pop in the final photos, no power steering and a pretty poor turning circle really put my manoeuvring skills to the east as the space was very limited, I remember pushing the black rubber starter button, the roar of that 2.9 litre V8 engine on start up was something else.

As ever the Profoto lighting was used on all of the photos, with the exception of the rolling Lusso image. Love using the Profoto lighting gear as its so compact and with the trio that I use they pack enough power to light up the cars interior and exteriors perfectly. I've got a lot of car photography sessions to book in for various magazines post lockdown and can't wait to get back out on the road again.