Astars 2013

The Alpinestars catalogues for 2013 are published, and for the first time use Oli's pictures in black & white, which is quite a departure for the client and gives a much more edgy feel. We like!

Power!

McLaren Automotive have just confirmed production of their most powerful version of their beautiful MP4-12C super car, the 12C GT Can-Am Edition. A GT race car, to be made in limited numbers, it can produce a whopping 630bhp, and is constructed largely of carbon fibre making it the ultimate track car. Oli shot the car in the studio, with a view to compositing with a track shot shot separately. All necessary as there is only one car in existence at the moment, and it's a bit too precious to thrash round Silverstone when it should be at Pebble Beach Concours

Sport Evolution

Oli recently was commissioned to shoot a pair of the rarest incarnations of BMW's iconic M3. To the uninitiated they may be fairly regular looking, albeit with a bit of a retro vibe. They are in fact the pinnacle of the first generation M cars. They only came in red or black, there were very few made, and these will now set you  back a cool £160,000 the pair.

Bullitt Mustang

Oli recently re-created the famous jump of Steve McQueen's '68 Mustang from the film Bullitt, in the studio. The car is an exact replica of the film car, right down to deleted badges and matt black painted rear valance (to avoid reflections of chasing camera car). Th car was jacked up in the studio and, all four wheels spinning, leapt towards the camera...

Classic (2) Wheels Project

Oli has been asked to document, and create a folio from a wonderful collection of classic bikes belonging to a well known businessman in the automotive industry. With pretty much a free rein he's got the ball rolling with an iconic Moto Guzzi Le Mans, a 'hard mans' superbike from the mid-seventies. The finished collection of images will eventually be on sale as limited edition prints.

What a blast...

Oli was tasked with recording a blast test on an armoured Land Rover recently. The vehicle having already been shot to pieces was then subjected to a simulated attack with grenades from underneath. Any incursion by shrapnel fragments would have meant failure of the project. The problem being that being close enough to get a shot also meant being rather peppered with said shrapnel. The solution was to set the camera up inside a metal box (shown bottom right of middle picture) shooting into a front silvered mirror at 45 degrees. (a normal mirror would produce a double image). Oli stood at the top of a building and fired his cameras on long electronic cable releases, judging when to press the button on the countdown of the firing officer. Curiously a standard video shot at the same time didn't show the orange blast at all!  Case of getting the right 1000th of a second. The test was carried out at The Cranfield Ordnance Test and Evaluation Centre (COTEC)