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
On The Road Again
Hello, It has been a while, I know. Those of you who are regular visitors may have noticed that it was getting a bit out-dated around these parts over the last few months, but not to worry as everything is back up to date once more. I have had to abbreviate posts slightly and will continue doing so going forth, as I just don’t have the time to offer an accompanying monologue any more. Instead, you’ll get the same photographs but with just the facts and a link to where you can find out even more. The reason behind this lapse in updates is fortunately quite positive. I’ve been busy. Very busy. Back at the end of April I joined some new and some old colleagues at Speedhunters and haven’t looked back since. It’s great being back on the road again. Germany, Austria, Qatar, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Poland have all been visited since I last updated these pages in earnest. Not to mention all those stop-overs in Schiphol. I’m really enjoying the work too and in particular the writing side of things, something I previously struggled with. The break away from the madness has allowed me to come back more focused and better equipped than ever to tackle the world of car culture. The trips abroad have been bridged with the privilege of continuing to work with several prestigious car manufacturers too. You might think of it as still photographing cars, but the approach and required end result is so different that it’s practically a completely different discipline. Being able to bounce between incredibly varied jobs has been a huge blessing too, as it prevents fatigue caused by repeating the same processes again and again. There’s been an increase in personal work too, not to mention a recent foray into […]
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 Editorial Work – HGK Motorsport Nissan PS13
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: July 2015 Location: Rudskogen, Norway. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent Editorial Work – KS Motorsport BMW E90
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: July 2015 Location: Rudskogen, Norway. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent Editorial Work – 2JZ Powered BMW E30
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: June 2015 Location: Mantorp, Sweden. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent Editorial Work – A 2,200HP Nissan GT-R
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: May 2015 Location: Doha, Qatar. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent Editorial Work – Milestone71 Porsche 964
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: May 2015 Location: Wörthersee, Austria. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent Editorial Work – Volkswagen T5
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: May 2015 Location: Wörthersee, Austria. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent Editorial Work – Gepfeffert’s Carbon Volkswagen Golf GTI
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: May 2015 Location: Wörthersee, Austria. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
Recent Editorial Work – Rotiform Audi R8
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: May 2015 Location: Wörthersee, Austria. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
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 Editorial Work – Ford Escort Cosworth V6
Client: Speedhunters Intent: Editorial Date: April 2015 Location: Tipperary, Ireland. Original Feature: http://www.speedhunters.com
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
Moving People, Moving Lives – Volkswagen Caddy Sportline
I guess I can only speak for myself but I would hope that a lot of you can relate to this. No matter the vehicle, I think we will always have a life long attachment with our very first car. It doesn’t matter if it was a good or bad one, there’ll always be a part of us that will have a fondness on some level for the first car we owned. It was that first car that gave us our taste of what true freedom really was. It might have been a banger or it might have been brand new, but the association we retain will be the same. There’s no love like your first love, right? But my first car wasn’t a car. It was a van. And what a van. I remember driving it home for the first time, still wearing the previous owner’s dry cleaning business’ graphics on the side. It was a 2005 Volkswagen Caddy 1.9 TDI, which affectionately became known as ‘Sudsy’. This was entirely due to the graphics staying on the van longer than intended, which would take several hours with a machine polisher to finally remove them. My Caddy taught me a lot of driving craft. With 105HP, I needed to learn how to carry speed and to be as smooth as possible if I wanted to retain any sort of momentum. It was also the van that helped me get on my feet when I went into business as a sole trader. It reliably carried me and my camera equipment all around Ireland and the United Kingdom. I have a lot of fond memories of adventures in it. On the other hand, there were some bitter sweet ones too. It was in my Caddy that I helped move my girlfriend to London, where she could finally start the career […]
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…
Out of the Darkness – Audi A6 Ultra
I’ve never made a secret of this, but I do love a good saloon. Where my friends own and lust after quick coupes and hatches, I’ll always prefer a good more door. It’s quite likely a family thing. My grandfather and my father were always saloon men and that preference has continued for another generation… Late last year, I was commissioned by Audi Ireland to shoot some PR shots of the the face-lifted A6, now with the added suffix of Ultra. With the car in high demand, my time was limited to a couple of days including collection & return from Dublin. With the weather staying consistently in the middle of the scale for a change, I was able to maximise shooting time. Even the night shots were unseasonably mild, but those are only fond memories at this stage… I did get the time to try out some techniques which were new to me, and a couple of ideas that I’ve waited a while to try when all the requested shots were in the proverbial bag. For me, this is when I both learn and enjoy photography the most. Experiment, shoot, learn, repeat. As for the car? Well, it’s very good indeed. But you probably already knew that. www.audi.ie
Rain, Cobbles & The New Škoda Fabia
You have thought that by living in Ireland all my life, at some stage I would have gotten used to the rain. As it turns out I haven’t and I probably never will. However, I’ve always been of the opinion that if it’s going to rain on a shoot day, then it has to rain. I guess I should have been careful what I wished for… When I picked up the new Fabia from the amazing crew at Automotive Team, the skies were threatening but I thought we might just get away with it. As it turned out, I was quite wrong. Exceptionally strong winds brought rain shortly after collection and in turn, completely changed the dynamic of the shoot. Luckily though, I think it actually worked in my favour. When the weather can’t make its mind up and you get showers followed by brief sunshine followed by more showers, you end up with inconsistency in your backgrounds and more often than not, dirty and grungy looking roads with random dry spots. But when the rain comes and decides to stay, it brings out a whole new colour palette from the city’s streets. You get reflections and shine that you don’t get on a dry day. You have consistent soft lighting throughout the day and the benefit of water droplets beading off the paint work. The only issue on this shoot was the strong wind, which kept rocking the tripod and made the task of getting sharp exposures quite difficult, particular when trying to drag the shutter out just a little longer to blur those passers-by. The car itself? Well, pretty much like the rest of the VAG cars, you know it’s going to be a good one before you even drive it. I really liked it. This particular car featured a 1.2 […]
