In last week’s Instagram roundup we saw shots of American hot rods in Sweden next to vintage race days in the UK on top of Le Mans legends in the USA as well as a faux Monaco shrunken down to slot-car size—in other words, a mixed bag. The level and ease of access to the world of photography provided by these social platforms might turn some into desensitized viewers of all this great content, and while it’s still true that nobody wants to see your vacation selfies, I think it’s an accurate assumption to say that Instagram and the like have upped the quality of the photos that we do want to see. It seems like the basic laws of competition would apply, and though it’s hard to stand out against all the established talents, those of us on the scrolling end certainly reap the rewards. Here are a few examples:
I don’t know much about Auto Illustrated besides the fact it’s the work of a guy named Glen. I also wouldn’t know where to begin if someone told me to recreate a Ruf CTR on my computer screen, but Glen would. He has an obvious inclination toward Porsche and Porsche-based products, and he knows his way around a modeling program or two, and the results of that talent applied to that interest are these beautifully clean digital renditions of 911s, 914s, 934s, RSRs, Turbos, etc. The bodies look proportionally perfect and if I knew the process I’m sure I’d only be more impressed, but the really extensive detail work can be found in the various flat-sixes he’s recreated down to the heat vanes and bolt heads.
Seeing as we’re officially into Formula 1 season now, Mark J Timms is someone worth following if you want to see the action look a bit more dramatic than it usually is from the fans’ perspective. It’s too cliche now to call modern F1 boring, I know, and regardless of how many passes are made in the pits or how much we’d like to see our old heroes in some halo-less cockpits again, there’s no denying the draw of the excessive hours of R&D that manifests as these odd-looking cars. They will always be compelling on the basis of their budgets at the very least, and Timms does an excellent job of capturing the machines in two distinct states: at speed as blurs of color, and at rest as masterpieces of mechanical engineering.
Many of the images posted to the Staud Studios Instagram page are more Photoshop than photograph, and though there are plenty of the latter it’s not a portfolio that you’d call documentary. Based in Germany, the production agency mainly works on campaigns and promotional media for the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and they seem to have a deeper focus on the histories of theses brands than other agencies of their caliber. Their shoots are always very thematic, and each is distinct in terms of both location and the general mood being conveyed—no plug and play Adobe settings here. They do race track rolling shots, your typical moody galleries amidst rusted corrugation and other markings of industrial blight, but my favorites are the more playful and less grounded shoots like the one they did for BMW’s Art Cars pictured above.
Kevin Morales shoots a lot in Los Angeles, and through some skilled editing he manages to turn the typically dry and dusty streets into a decidedly darker and more radiant version that looks like it’s taken a tiny step toward the wetness of Blade Runner. His shots have clearly spent some time in post-processing programs, and while that’s true it’s not meant to detract from the style he’s achieved in doing so. He shoots shows in parking lots under noonday sun as well as specific subjects organized under proper light, though his best work seems to happen right around dusk.
Our aim with each of these roundups is to introduce you to other people who appreciate the beauty of vintage cars, but it’s also heavily focused on the aesthetic aspect of photography in general, and so we like to put someone at the end of these weekly lists whose portfolio isn’t only automotive. Sandro Katalina is this week’s “fifth spot” then, and his work is some of the most cinematic I’ve seen. That description gets tossed around quite often, but what I mean is that Katalina’s frames are all expertly composed, they convey emotions (mostly melancholic ones in this case), and most importantly, they lend a deeper sense of purpose to the often mundane subjects in frame. His nighttime photography is probably what he makes his living on, but I prefer the daytime alternative because it seems much harder to get the same moodiness across without neon lights and reflections.
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Also, the Petrolicious Marketplace is always good for a few choice shots to accompany the cars for sale.
