There’s something about cars and architecture. Well designed cars and good architecture both stir something in me that is hard to explain. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not posting this in support of the auto industry so they can carry on as they did for the last 100 years, I’d love to get my hands on an electric Mini (or should I win the lottery, a Tesla). When it comes to fossil fuels, my opinion is in fact pretty much in line with Bobby Llewellyn’s (watch his not-so-worksafe but still totally worth it rant on YouTube).
Having that said, there is something about cars and architecture, especially when they together form something greater than the sum of the individual parts. And when it comes to cars and car photography, I consider myself blessed to live in Germany, where some of the major car manufacturers and their plants and museums are pretty much around the corner. Mercedes-Benz is a good example (see the concept race car photography special), and Porsche isn’t far either.
So over the weekend we paid a visit to the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Volkswagen’s big “car city” – a mixture between museum, exhibition and architectural playground. Same as in the Mercedes-Benz museum, they don’t mind photograpy. In fact they are pretty supportive in that respect and it seems they have learned the most important lesson: make it easy for people to photograph or shoot video and your message will be carried into the world. Free advertising. Oh well…
What’s great about this place is that they have done an excellent job with lighting both, the architecture as well as the exhibits. And that’s not just to create a nice display for the visitors, it’s clearly also targeted at the photographers and those who do videography. So from that point of view, the whole Autostadt all of a sudden turns into a learning experience. It’s in fact one really great place to learn about lighting. Place a shiny object (say a car) inside a huge soft box (say a white room with the whole ceiling being one big light source) and see what it does to how the car looks. Take a picture. In fact take many pictures.
Or how about the entirely opposite approach? Place a super shiny Sterling Silver coated Bugatti Veyron – no, we’re not talking about fossil fuel consumption (ermm.. okay, .. 5 mpg) – and no, we’re not talking about price (erm, alright alright, it’s just $1.1 million) – back to the story, so we place it on a slanted surface made of mirrors inside a black room with one white ellipse-shaped light strip above it and you’ll get a different picture compared to the soft box room. Very different. Take more pictures. Fill up another memory card.
The big issue mainly lies ahead back home now. How to sort the excellent pictures from the good ones? Well, take your time, let the workflow features of Lightroom or Aperture help you with the decision-making, but do make a decision and select the few that you think are in your mind outstanding enough to present to the public.
See more photographs from the weekend: Chris’ pictures, Monika’s pictures.
