Bringing a new car to the market is no small feat. Even if you skip to the point where the first car has already left the assembly line (basically the hardest bits), there is still so much to be done before the first owner can take delivery. Country-specific logistics, legalisation, compliance and, of course, marketing material. By the time that we at TarmacLife get our paws on a newly released model, so much work has been done, and so many people have contributed to the journey. Gosh, I love cars, but I also love the car industry and all its moving parts.
You might know that I am the resident camera operator here at TL, be it for our TV show or most of our reviews. But I’ve been playing around with cameras for long before I joined the team, and over the years I have met people doing amazing things in some of these ancillary deliverables of the car world. And recently, a connection made years ago led me to take a different part in car content creation, this time taking part in marketing photos and even a video commercial. And I don’t mean shooting it!
In a way, it felt like I was finally stepping into another side of the process, not documenting cars for enthusiasts and buyers, but actively shaping how a brand wants to present itself to the world. Instead of reacting to a product that already exists, this was about helping define its first impression, all of that while trying to not look weird.
This opportunity came to be via Journey Pictures, who have been producing incredible marketing material for many brands here in New Zealand and the whole APAC region. I bumped into the founder many years ago, way before I ever became a part of TarmacLife, and an Instagram message got us in touch and arranged for me to tick this box. The car in question was the Dongfeng 007, their new EV sedan due to hit showrooms soon.
For me, that alone was already interesting. Dongfeng is still a relatively unknown name in our market, and this was one of those moments where you can almost feel a brand trying to introduce itself and define its identity from scratch. And marketing material is a strong tool to help drive the product’s unique selling propositions, so it has to match the “vibe” that product is trying to project. In the case of the Dongfeng, it is about young, urban professionals seeking something stylish, technological, but that also has the performance to back up those looks. So it just felt like the perfect opportunity for me to take out my wedding suit!
It was also refreshing to be on the other side of the lens. Usually I’m the one worrying about framing, light, composition and whether the cars are parked at the right angle. This time, my job was simply to exist in the scene and let other people do what they do best. It is amazing to see professionals at work, especially at a competency that I am passionate about. How they think, how they compose shots, work with the light… I have so much to learn! And, of course, the gear!
Being embedded in a proper commercial shoot really highlights how different this world is from what we usually do at TL. There is more structure, more planning, more people involved, and a very clear end goal in mind for every single shot.
We started as soon as Golden Light started to hit the evening, with some stills that conveyed the purpose of the car. The next step was to get rolling shots, which involved driving around the CBD and the North Shore, in my first time being around a car-mounted rig. Trusting a swivelling arm to hold such a hefty camera behind a moving car is a photographer’s leap of faith.
There’s something slightly surreal about seeing a car suddenly treated like a movie prop, followed by another one with suction mounts, and a small convoy moving through traffic just to capture a few seconds of footage.
Auckland being Auckland, we of course had to accommodate for the ever changing weather and slot in a tunnel run to get the final shots, and that always reminds me that I must get photos of my own car there. The relentless rain eventually gave out at some point, and we then made it back to the office to finish shooting the video commercial. At that point, it really hit me how much patience and adaptability these shoots require. You can plan every detail, but at the mercy of light, traffic and weather, a lot of it still comes down to problem solving on the fly.
I do most of my work by myself, so I find a place, park the car, and work the camera. Photographing cars is much easier: you park them, and unless you’ve done something very wrong, it will stay there and not move until you’re done.
Being part of a larger crew and working with humans as talent made me appreciate just how many moving parts are involved in a commercial production, from logistics and safety, to timing, communication and creative direction. It is an incredible amount of work, as I know too well that putting the camera away after filming/shooting is just one part of the job.
From editing and colour grading to client feedback and final delivery, the shoot itself is only the visible tip of the iceberg. And now, seeing the finished product, I will be sure to have even more appreciation for the content we see when we attend press launches for new models. Funnily enough, I’ve been invited to the launch of the 007, so I guess it will certainly be interesting to be there and see my ugly mug on the commercial. Thanks, Journey Pictures, for the incredible opportunity, and thank you for reading this far!
