With being an automotive photographer in the Netherlands comes dealing with our weather. Our country isn’t exactly known for it’s great weather, except when you actually prefer featureless grey skies, rain and cold. Beyond late spring and summer, the weather often results in post poning shoots or taking the car indoors. With shooting this BMW i8 I decided to weather the storm though.
The US based forged wheel manufacturer HRE Performance Wheels introduced a new wheel series last week. This S2H Series now offers their 3-piece wheels with the assembly bolts hidden on the inside of the flange. My local HRE distributor and much appreciated returning client, Baan Velgen, sold one of these sets of wheels ahead of the launch. The wheels were installed on a BMW i8 and HRE wanted me to shoot the car, so it could be included in the official launch of the product. With a deadline set, I knew I was going to run into difficulties with the weather during the photoshoot.
On the day of the job, the weather was as Dutch as it comes. It was just a few degrees above freezing and the weather report forecasted sunny periods together with strong winds, heavy rain and possibly hail. I sure hoped I would miraculously just get the sun, but I knew better than that being Dutch. I picked up the car at a BMW dealership, where a rainshower had already past the car after they cleaned it. When I got the car to location, the rooftop of a 6 story parking lot, I decided I was going to try and shoot it there despite the weather. It was a challenge. I had to stop shooting multiple times to quickly get the car under cover for freak hailstorms. The cold wind and rain streamed almost horizontally over the parking deck at times. At one time I had no choice but to drive the car down one floor, sheltering for the weather and pulling off a shot there.
In the end though, the combination of rain and sunshine alternating rapidly resulted in an atmosphere I hadn’t captured before. The blue fencing of the structure matched perfectly with the details and wheels on this BMW i8. Usually shooting with multiple exposures during changing weather conditions means being irritated as it will be more difficult to bring it all together afterwards. This time it meant capturing some unique moments as the rain came in or stopped suddenly, sometimes with still heavy run off of water while the sun was already piercing through. In the end, I think it was worth it getting chilled to the bone and having the new camera all wet on it’s first automotive asignment. Please feel free to contact me if you’re interested in my services or if you have questions for me.
Photo gallery BMW i8 on HRE Wheels:
