Recent PR Work – 2015 Opel Astra
Client: Opel Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media. Date: November 2015. Location: Dublin, Ireland. Further Information: www.opel.ie
RECENT PR WORK – 2015 SEAT ALHAMBRA
Client: SEAT Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media. Date: November 2015. Location: Waterford, Ireland. Further Information: www.seat.ie
Recent Editorial Work – Volkswagen Jetta VR6
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: November 2015 Location: Waterford, Ireland. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent Editorial Work – Toyota Starlet EP70
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: October 2015 Location: Waterford, Ireland. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent PR Work – 2015 SEAT Ibiza FR
Client: SEAT Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media. Date: October 2015. Location: Waterford, Ireland. Further Information: www.seat.ie
Recent PR Work – 2015 KIA Cee’d GT Line
Client: KIA Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media. Date: October 2015. Location: Wicklow, Ireland. Further Information: www.kia.ie
Recent PR Work – 2015 Opel Karl
Client: Opel Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media Date: September 2015 Location: Dublin, Ireland. Further Information: http://www.opel.ie
Recent PR Work – 2015 Audi Q7
Client: Audi Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media Date: August 2015 Location: Wicklow & Dublin, Ireland. Further Information: http://www.audi.ie
Recent PR Work – 2015 Audi A1
Client: Audi Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media Date: April 2015 Location: Dublin & Wicklow, Ireland. Further Information: http://www.audi.ie
Recent PR Work – 2015 Audi Q3
Client: Audi Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media Date: April 2015 Location: Wicklow, Ireland. Further Information: http://www.audi.ie
Recent PR Work – 2015 Volkswagen Polo GT
Client: Volkswagen Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media Date: March 2015 Location: Tipperary, Ireland. Further Information: http://www.volkswagen.ie
Recent PR Work – Swift Ultravox & Verge Sport Clothing
Client: Lucca Sports Ireland Intent: PR Date: March 2015 Location: Tipperary, Ireland. Further Information: http://www.luccasports.com
Recent Editorial Work – 1UZ-FE Toyota Corolla
Client: Japanese Performance Magazine Intent: Editorial Date: March 2015 Location: Wicklow, Ireland. Further Information: http://www.japaneseperformancemag.co.uk
Recent PR Work – 2015 Kia Sorento
Client: KIA Ireland Intent: PR & Social Media. Date: March 2015. Location: Wicklow, Ireland. Further Information: www.kia.ie
Recent PR Work – 2015 Volkswagen Cross Caddy
Client: Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Ireland. Intent: PR & Social Media. Date: February 2015. Location: Co. Waterford, Ireland. Further Information: www.volkswagenvans.ie
Recent PR Work – 2015 Skoda Fabia Combi
Client: Škoda Ireland. Intent: PR & Social Media. Date: February 2015. Location: Waterford City & County, Ireland. Further Information: www.skoda.ie
Front Drive Is The Right Drive – Opel Astra OPC
Client: General Motors Ireland Ltd. Intent: PR Date: January 2015 Location: West Waterford & South Tipperary, Ireland Further Information: www.opel.ie For many years, the horsepower war in the hot hatch sector was arguably an unnecessary one. FWD cars with ~250HP which struggled to put their power down left a sour taste with enthusiasts. It was often to the detriment of the car that manufacturers concentrated on increasing power figures, rather than figuring out how to best transfer the power to the road. Time has been good to the hot hatch though, and the latest generation are enjoying the results of years – and a few euros in investment – of the advances in differential and chassis evolution. Opel’s latest venture into this sector, comes in the shape of the new Astra OPC (or VXR in the UK market). With 280PS and 400Nm, some will still approach the car hesitantly, but their preconceptions and fears will be wiped away after their first spirited drive. With a mechanical limited slip differential and HiPerStrut front suspension, you would be forgiven if you first thought that the Astra shares the same 4WD platform as its larger Insignia OPC brethren. It’s certainly a car that needs a race track to exploit its full potential. To even attempt so on the road, will see the driver run out of talent – or courage – long before the car does. What further enhances the appeal of the OPC, for me at least, is the exquisite selection of parts attached to the car. With brakes by Brembo and the superb OPC branded seats have been created with the help of Recaro, it just adds to the experience of the Astra OPC. And what an experience it is…
Ready For Anything – Seat Leon X-Perience
Standing at the crossroads at the top of Sally Gap allows an almost unrivalled view of the surrounding countryside. It was late January, and a particular cold spell had gripped the country. The roads up at this altitude were precarious enough, with snow decorating the edge of the road and some sly ice patches which concealed themselves in the shade. With a limited amount of time and quickly fading light, this made the task of navigating the Wicklow Mountains at a brisk pace more challenging than I would have liked. Luckily, the Leon X-Perience’s 4Drive provided a reassuring solid grasp of the road all day, and the awesome dual clutch gearbox – with steering wheel mounted paddles – allowed me to focus on keeping the Seat pointing in the right direction. However, as the last of the light dropped behind the mountains, a darkness began to creep across the country from the east. Taking this as my cue to head to the relative safety of lower grounds, I begun the decent towards Blessington. I was maybe five minutes on the road before the darkness released a light flurry, which quickly evolving into a full on snow blizzard. I still had a lot of ground to cover with limited visibility and on summer tyres. Wicklow County Council didn’t have the foresight to prepare the roads either, so it really was a case of the Leon against the world. With its all LED headlights piercing the weather, visibility was reduced to around 20 feet at this point, the car never really felt as if it was uncomfortable with the conditions. Traction was no issue, but with unprepared roads, stopping distances were greatly increased. With this consideration allowed for, the Leon made exceptional progress down the mountain and back into relative civilisation. With soft roaders and lesser […]
Future Now – The Volkswagen XL1
Every now and again, a job pops up that you literally have no choice but to drop everything and go do it. When Volkswagen Ireland contacted me at short notice to ask me to come to Dublin for the day to shoot something ‘special’, my interest piqued. When I was told that they planned on driving the ultra-rare XL1 on Dublin’s streets, I knew I had no choice but to drop everything haul myself up the M9. The XL1 is a limited run production car, which showcases Volkswagen’s abilities in one neat and very futuristic package. It’s powered by a small diesel engine and an electric motor, allowing it to achieve almost unbelievable levels of fuel efficiency. Pictured below is the car’s OBC after driving around Dublin city all morning, 0.8L/100KM which equates to approximately 353.1MPG. You didn’t read that wrong. The most impressive thing about the XL1 for me, is not the efficiency, but rather just how incredibly striking it is. I’ve had the pleasure of shooting lots of cars but I honestly can’t think of another which could spark such universal attention. And all of it positive, where your typical supercar may polarise people. People wanted to know more about the car and weren’t afraid to approach and chat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many camera phones brandished so quickly either. This is the sort of car I was promised as a kid, raised on a diet of Back to the Future and The Jetsons. Please manufacturers, can we have more of this sort of thing? Photographed exclusively for Volkswagen Ireland
Making Things Work – 2000 Honda S2000
Whilst I’ve been shooting a lot of manufacturer PR & commercial work as of late, I still get the biggest thrill whilst shooting editorial commissions. Because budgets are low, everything is nearly always shot in a run and gun sort of manner. It’s exciting though and ensures that no two shoots are alike. After being – literally – run out of the first location, we took to the streets to try and recover the time lost. It’s always tricky in these situations as you need to find a suitable location but also one that’s quiet enough to shoot in comfort and without background distractions. When your dealing with the streets in a capital city, these two requirements are quite often mutually exclusive. Through the sheer brilliance of social media, we were able to get suggestions from people within the locality. Within maybe half an hour of being ejected from the first location, we were back shooting on a street less than kilometre away. For me, one location is rarely enough and I’ll always try to get another in if at all possible. This time though, instead of social media, we relied upon the local knowledge of a taxi driver who advised us of not only another location, but where there was also a break in the bollards where we could get the S2000 through. You just cannot beat local knowledge. Photographed for Japanese Performance Magazine (UK)
Catching Up With Friends and a Mazda RX8
Every now and again, we need to set time aside to catch up with the good people in our lives. Similarly, we also need to set aside time to do what we love. The second of these can be especially tricky, if you happen to make a living from what you love doing… Waking up every day, with a smile on your face before work, does come with a risk. It’s a risk that by doing what you love everyday, there’s a chance that your love for your work may begin to fade. That for me is my biggest fear. The fear that one morning I’ll wake up, and dread getting in my car to go to a shoot. I don’t ever want that day to come. If it does, that’ll be the day I walk away from the industry. Life is too short to do be doing something that you really don’t want to do. It’s not something that’s exclusive to photography either. My friend, Flip, is chasing his dream too. By building and working on cars that he loves. Although our trades are practically incomparable, there’s a link between the two that we can both appreciate and understand. That is, of course, our love for cars. Flip’s RX8 isn’t even close to being his first neat project car. I photographed his amazing EK9 Type R back in the day, a car which would still blow people away today. He told me that his EK9 was refused several features because the rear was stripped out, and didn’t feature an overweight stereo install… Tastes change, style is permanent. His RX8 is testament to this. Subtle modifications, purposeful wheel fitment and finished in immaculate Lamborghini Grigio Telesto paint. A perfect and individual daily driver, built with passion and love. Regardless if […]
Pure – The 2014 Toyota Yaris
Making a living as a car photographer is honestly not even half as glamorous as some would believe. Yes, there are amazing perks and if you happen to love cars, it never really feels like work. You get to drive a vast range of cars from complete opposite ends of the spectrum. On the other hand, there are the early mornings, the cold nights and the wet days when you have no other choice but to get things done. Shooting the Yaris was a perfect example of my little hypothesis… There’s something quite pure about the new Yaris that I like. Whilst it retains most of the features you would expect in a new car (air conditioning, bluetooth, iPod integration etc.) and some that you wouldn’t (reversing camera for instance), it presents everything in quite a simple and direct way. All of your multimedia needs are taken care of via a touchscreen head unit, there are the usual heater controls beneath this and in front of you, you have your speed-and-tach-ometers. And that’s pretty much it. There’s nothing complicated, all the controls can be learned at a glance and you never find yourself reaching around blindly looking for something. The particular model I photographed was the Sol version, which adds some nice features for not much more over base RRP. The one litre engine was perfect around town and even proved its worth on the motorway whilst remaining frugal. A refill with unleaded cost me less than €50. I though the pump was broke such was my surprise. With a light foot, your €50 should see you easily past 600KMs and probably past 700KMs. It’s hard to argue with that. Toyota afforded me quite a lot of time, almost two weeks, to shoot the Yaris. It was a good thing […]
Welcome to Quattro Country – The 2014 Audi S1 Quattro
At the time of writing, I’ve been working freelance longer this year than I had been as a contractor. It’s only a small amount of time, but I’ve learned that it has been important to enjoy every victory that comes my way. Other victories that I welcome are invoices that are paid on time and messages from Audi Ireland to come and collect another ‘S’ series car… The S1 quattro is the latest new ‘S’ car to be introduced to the Irish market. Whilst it shares its name with the iconic Group B car, the similarities between the two are limited. As the top tier A1 model, the S1 features some impressive numbers and statistics: 230hp, 370Nm, 0-100 in 5.8s and an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h. All of which is transferred to the road via its quattro four wheel drive system. The model I had the pleasure of shooting was the Sportback variant, featuring an extra two doors over the three door hatch. Perfect for loading camera equipment into then. If you’re reading this from outside of Ireland, you might not be aware that – for a change – we’ve been enjoying a rather spectacular summer here. The downside to the great weather is that the rest of the population has the notions of going outside and visiting scenic venues dotted around the country. This makes finding a location quite difficult indeed… I collected the car on Friday morning before heading straight back to Waterford. With a harsh sun shining on the south east, I took this time to clean and prepare the car for an evening shoot. With any car, I’m always careful to ensure the paint is kept in its best possible condition and even more so with a brand new car. This means using cleaning methods that are […]
Type R Déjà Vu
Although I’ve been shooting for quite a while, and I’ve certainly lost track of the amount of cars that I’ve been fortunate enough to shoot, I can’t remember shooting the same car twice. There’s a whole heap of situations where this could have occurred. For example if multiple publications wanted images or if the owner decided to tear apart a perfectly good car and rebuild it into something even better. Neil Thompson’s Civic Type R is a case of the latter. It was actually only back in May when I found myself meeting Neil at a services on the M1 motorway, north of Dublin. With summer having belatedly arrived in Ireland, it was still too bright after 6PM to shoot the dark colour Honda in the harsh sunlight. I tried a couple of frames and positions at the back of traditional Irish pub, before we scouted around for a couple of different locations. With the sun starting to turn the countryside a nice shade of gold, we returned to the same pub’s car park and got to work. When shooting editorial, you not only need to ensure that you grab everything required, but also to try and vary compositions as much as possible. This allows the designer more freedom when laying out the spreads. A happy designer, means a better feature and the potential for more work in the future. Since turning freelance, I’ve personally felt that a lot of pressure to perform has lifted from my shoulders. I feel more comfortable and have begun to produce much better work than I have done previously. In my opinion at least. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some great editors, who all have encouraged me to shoot how I want. That is, in as much of a LoFi style as […]
This Time It’s War.
My relationship with drifting goes right back to the beginning of my photography career. I guess it would be pretty fair to say that if it wasn’t for drifting, I likely wouldn’t have had a lot of the opportunities I’ve had so far. Even in saying this, my love for the sport has waned progressively over the years. I’m not going to go into the reasons for this now – it’s covered pretty well in my article on Drifted, linked below – but rather I’d like to take a few moments to appreciate just how much the sport has resurrected itself over the last few years. In Ireland, anyways. Drifting very much so remains a budget motorsport in Ireland. The cost to entry is quite low, but as you examine the top of the professional class standings, it’s evident that a lot of money is required to stay competitive. As it is with any motorsport. 700 plus horsepower isn’t unheard of, nor is destroying a brand new pair of super soft and just about road legal tyres every couple of laps. Some will bemoan this, but it’s exactly what is required for the sport to evolve to a level where the drivers can concentrate all of their energy and time on driving. Whilst only in its second season, the newly formed Irish Drift Championship has been doing everything in its power to bring back the glory days of Irish drifting. For the third round of the 2014 championship, aptly named ‘Global Warfare’, they invited some internationally acclaimed drivers to compete on Irish soil. No non-Irish driver has ever been victorious in Ireland, a record which has so far stood for 10 years. This was the focus of the event projected globally on a high quality web stream, could the Irish […]
The 2014 Kia Soul
With the official launch of the 2014 Kia Soul having taken place earlier this week in Dublin, I can finally share some of the images from the shoot earlier this month. Working closely with Kia Motors Ireland has been great. They’re a company with energy, vibrance and they know what they want. These images were to be used for the press packets at the official launch so the brief was simple, clean imagery. Kia had sorted the primary location for the shoot in advance, the main courtyard at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. We would start by shooting two cars together before I took one of the cars into the heart of Dublin for extra locations. I needed to focus primarily on the exterior of the car but also captured some details, inside and out. Once I was shooting in the city centre, I needed to run and gun to a certain extent. To remove the distraction of passers-by, I used an ND filter so as to drag the shutter speed out to around ten seconds or so. The Soul itself is further evidence of how far Kia’s cars have come. It’s both comfortable, easy to drive and even the base model is very well specced. It’ll be a left field choice for a lot of conservative car buyers, but I promise you that it’s worth test driving one if you’re in the market. Kia Motors Ireland Read the review on CompleteCar.ie
The 2014 Kia Optima
Last month I was commissioned by Kia Motors Ireland to shoot some quick images for PR purposes of their new 2014 Kia Optima. The car was located in a dealership in Tipperary and I only had a couple of hours to get the images photographed. Thanks to modern technology, I was able to scout out viable locations on Google Maps using street view. Whilst the first two locations weren’t up to scratch, a third location turned out to be perfect. Located on Lough Derg and just outside Nenagh, Dromineer is your a-typical picturesque Irish village. As this shoot took place on a week day, the area was nice and quiet which allowed for a hassle free shoot. With a certain amount of urgency involved, I made a shot list in advance which I could easily reference as I was shooting so as to keep track of everything. With two strobes off camera to provide some fill, I stuck to a choice of three lenses on a Canon 5D MKIII – 24-105 F4 L IS, 70-200 F2.8 L IS & a 35 F1.4 L IS. The images were delivered to the client next day, although the examples below have been since edited further to give them a more stylised look and to remove the registration plate (neither of which were required at the time). I’ll have more work with Kia that I can share shortly. Kia Motors Ireland
A New Direction & Meeting the 2014 Mercedes GLA
I’m sure some of you are aware, but I recently parted ways with Speedhunters. This isn’t a bad thing or indeed due to any sort of falling out, rather I believe it to be necessary to further my career. My time with Speedhunters was both happy and of huge benefit to myself but it has come to a stage where I wanted to take my career to the next level and to progress as both a person and photographer. I’m proud to have worked with an amazing bunch of people and will be forever indebted to them. Who knows, I might make a guest appearance or two in the future… Since the beginning of April, I’ve begun work on pursuing a new career path within the automotive industry. Where previously my work was 99.9% editorial with a focus on the aftermarket scene, I’m now aiming to work closer with manufacturers and agencies to document new cars either for PR or commercial purposes. Although on the surface it might not seem that much different – I am still taking pictures of cars – it is a completely different ball game. I have a lot to learn but can’t wait to really immerse myself in the work. My first shoot was courtesy of the great people at CompleteCar.ie. Over the years, the Irish motoring media industry has always disappointed me to a certain extent. An over reliance on stock manufacturer photographer or worse, Irish road tests with cars on UK registration plates. Having met Shane O’Donoghue, editor at CompleteCar, earlier this year, I immediately knew that these guys carried the same passion towards improving the standard within Ireland. As journalists, photographers, marketeers etc. I believe we have an obligation to do the best job possible and to show that the Irish industry is […]
Anne & Joe, December 2013
I’ve stood feet from death on many occasions at race circuits, but nothing scares me quite like shooting a wedding. Especially when said wedding is that of two close friends. The responsibility of shooting two people’s most important day is something that I’ll never take lightly. There are no reshoots, no second chances and no opportunities for mistakes. With that said, it’s a challenge to relish. Although the day is long, time flies by so quickly as you move from one place to the next trying to stay on top of the story of the whole day. There’s so much more to any wedding than just the ceremony and the afters, and it’s finding these little details is the part I enjoy the most. From the preparations to behind the scenes to documenting the people involved. Every moment is worth capturing. Who knows, there might be more of these on the horizon… Anne and Joe, I hope you both live a long and happy life together. I’ll try make it to Bathurst Brisbane someday.
Two Weeks, Two Skodas.
As I alluded to in my recent 2013 round up, I’ve become determined to carry out more personal work in the coming months. When you’re working week in and week out photographing all sorts, you can easily go into autopilot mode, doing whatever it takes to get things done. This can lead to staleness in the workflow, as you go through the motions to make sure deadlines are met. These situations can become a sort of vicious cycle, which can drain you of creativity and motivation. A dangerous combination. This thought has been nagging away at me for quite some time. Last month, I got in touch with the very nice people at Skoda Ireland who rather kindly donated two cars for me to photograph at my leisure. With no deadlines, no brief and most importantly, no pressure, I set about shooting each car over the course of two weeks during whatever spare time I could free up. With Ireland in the winter being Ireland in the winter, it was a challenge in shooting outdoors at the best of times. One second it would be wet, overcast and windy whilst the next the sun would be parting the clouds casting some much deserved sunshine on our little green island. My aim for both shoots was to create something a little more polished than I usually would. Maybe not quite commercial quality, but something approaching it. Quality over quantity as the saying goes. First up was the Octavia Combi Elegance 4×4 TDI. Skoda’s reputation of old is long since gone. However, it’s one thing to acknowledge this fact and quite another to experience it. The vehicle’s specification was overflowing with more than enough gadgets to keep me entertained during my week of ownership. In particular what I liked (and was fitted to both […]