The question of what makes a good photo is a very frequent one, and a very old one, and as far as I am concerned there is no clear answer. Yes, we have many ways of “objectively” evaluating an image. Is it framed correctly? Are the rules of composition being applied correctly? Is it exposed properly? Is the subject lit properly? Does the colour scheme work well? Is there an overall harmony in the image? Does it appeal to the viewer? That last question, as well as that sneaky word in the first line of this paragraph, “objective”, are what make us fall short of concretely being able to determine ..read more

Anyone following my work will have seen a couple of months ago a few images of a rather sexy, rather red Alfa Romeo 8C Spider and a rather wide, rather menacing Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series. Those cars were shot for the auction house RM Sotheby’s, and today I bring you another car shot for them: A rather old, rather classy 1938 BMW 328 Roadster. I’ve a shot a fair amount of classics in my life, having worked for many years with Classic Car Africa, as well as having daily driven a classic BMW 2002 for several years. This, however, was a different level of classic. I cannot recall having ..read more

The Polestar 2 BST 230 is a rather great car in my view. It looks pretty damn good, goes like stink, and the build quality is second to none. But this isn’t meant to be a two bit car review. I’m here to talk about something else. Angles, focal lengths and perspectives. You see, I shot this car in a completely different setting to the one you see in these photographs. I had got up really early, headed to the location I knew I was going to use, and braved the horrendously cold 3 degree pre-sunrise morning. Using my strobes (flashes), I lit up the car, all while doing my best to avoid losing my f ..read more

A few weeks ago, Porsche celebrated a milestone here in Austria. It has been 60 years since the now iconic 911 hit the Austrian market, and to commemorate this occasion, Porsche Austria decided to do something rather special. All eight generations of 911 (from 901 to 992) were pulled out of the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart and cautiously couriered over to Salzburg for a driving experience that a select group of journalists were sure to cherish for the rest of their lives. 8 Glorious Generations The proceedings began at Porsche Alpenstraße in Salzburg, with the journalists checking themselves i ..read more

Disclaimer: None of the images used here are mine. They were all generated by Midjourney. AI has been on just about everyone’s lips for the longest while now. Not only has it been on everyone’s lips, but it has now also found its way onto just about everyone’s smartphone / computer/ workstation. Not a single person I speak to about this has not started integrating AI into their workflow in some way, shape or form, even if it is just as simple as using ChatGPT to help formulate emails. I am also one of those people. As a photographer, I would be lying if I said that my initial reaction to thin ..read more

I’m writing this a few days after they’ve just launched the “much awaited” 3.0 CSL. I say “much awaited” in quotes, because at €750 000.00 a piece with a limited run of only 50, there are not many people who are going to get their hands on one of these, and probably even less people in the automotive industry who will get to drive or photograph one of these rarities. So, this is a car that will be kept quite far away from mere commoners like myself, hence not many people to get all too worked up over its launch. Excuse the digression. There is a roundabout point I am going to get to, and my me ..read more

This model, this car, this styling. These are the elements that came together oh-so-beautifully in order to make this shoot happen. And man, am I chuffed. If you had asked me a few years ago if I would ever be shooting models, you would have gotten a resounding “no” from me. But things have changed somewhat. Let’s go back. Waaaay back. Back to the days of my photography degree, and the decision that led me down the path of automotive photography, and why it’s so “surprising” that I am shooting models. Back in 2004 I enrolled in the Tshwane University of Technology’s Photography course. It was ..read more

In a previous blogpost, I had written about my invitation to an ALPINA drive event, that introduced me for the first time, in real world terms, to the beautiful brand that is ALPINA. Once the drive was over, and we were back at the BMW dealer, I thought to myself that I must make the most of this opportunity, and shoot these ALPINAs while I still can. The entire fleet was due to be loaded on to a truck early the following week, to continue the ALPINA “roadshow”, so I needed to act quickly. I spoke to Jackie at BMW Wien Heiligenstadt and asked if there was a chance they might let me shoot these ..read more

Mountains. They are rather large, they have rather steep roads, and they look rather charming in the right light. I grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, which means not a lot of topography surrounding me. Don’t get me wrong, JoBurg is plenty hilly, but mountainous it is not. There is enough up and down to make the average cycle journey a rather difficult experience, but there is nowhere near enough elevation to speak of anything as mountainous. Maybe that is the reason I am so enamoured by mountains. It may also be my affinity to cars, and the obvious connection that mountains tend to give u ..read more

Since arriving in Austria towards the end of 2020, things have been tough. There was the global pandemic, that we’ve all been living through, there was the fact that I was separated from my wife for 7 months before she joined me here, and there was the fact that I was now going to try to get my photography business off the ground in a brand-new market with next to no network. As any photographer knows, your network is your everything. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don’t have the people around you to help you realise your potential, you’ve got yourself a really tough r ..read more