Inspirations: Matthew Everingham – Automotive Photographer
Inspirational Photographer: Matthew Everingham
Website:www.mattheweveringham.com/
Location: Sydney, Australia
Genre: Automotive
(Photograph by Matthew Everingham for Street Machine Magazine)
Matthew Everingham is an up-and-coming photographer in Sydney, who has personally mentored me over the years with important photography tips and tricks. It has been invaluable information to receive and is fantastic to see his suggested skills be implemented in his photographs.
Outside of his day job, Everingham spends his time running his business and passion of automotive photography, whether its a private shoot, social event, or motorsport event he will usually be there in his Mitsubishi Evo shooting as many cars as he can see.
(Matthew’s self portrait of his Mitsubishi Evolution)
He has recently reached some important goals for his success from being published in Street Machine and 9TRO (automotive magazine in Malaysia and Singapore). He states about the Australian auto-culture:
“It’s a great compliment not just to my work but to the whole Australian Automotive Scene! Sure a lot of our recipes for success are based on imported platforms like Nissans, Toyotas and even Mercs and BMW’s but one thing that’s noticeable across the scene when you step back and compare internationally is that Australians have a unique style and our own brand of ingenuity that gets applied to Aussie modded vehicles.”
It is a great achievement to being published internationally and is something I personally dream of achieving one day myself. To know that your work is appealing to an audience around the world is something that must give a sense of satisfaction.
Everingham uses a range of lighting techniques for his automotive photographs. These include studio lights, reflectors and also light-painting (my favourite). His images can incorporate a wide-variety of these lighting techniques in one shot which is followed by some Photoshop manipulation to create some stunning photographs.
I have personally gained some big tips from Everingham about my own work and in-particular helping me learn much better light-painting skills, which took from to a completely different level or lighting skill-something I am very thankful for.
(Photo Matthew Everingham took for 9TRO magazine of a R34 Skyline)
Everingham has extensive experience with shooting motorsport events, something I have never done personally (but hope to) his work captures some amazing images that surprise me how good they are. His images are astounding, especially considering these are event photographs, yet somehow the lighting and quality of these images seem near-studio quality. Personally, Everingham has set the bar for motorsport photography.
(Motorsport Photo by Matthew Everingham)
Matthew Everingham is an amazing photographer and growing bigger by the day. Social media is spreading his work around the world at an incredibly fast rate gaining him ever-growing renown. His work to me is very inspiring and and it much appreciated the tips and advice he has given me over the years.
References:
Matthew Everingham’s website:
www.mattheweveringham.com/
Matthew Everingham’s Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/mattheweveringhamphotography
Inspirations: Easton Chang – Automotive Photographer
Inspirational Photographer: Easton Chang
Website: http://www.eastonchang.com/
Location: Australia
Genre: Automotive / Commercial
Photographs by Easton Chang 2012
Easton Chang is in my opinion the definitive commercial automotive photographer. Chang is in such demand now that he no longer shoots ‘private cars’ and works strictly on a commercial level shooting for automotive magazines internationally and has access to shooting the dream cars such as Lamborghini’s and other super-car vehicles. This is a dream I hope to achieve myself one day.
Chang doesn’t just create a pretty picture that the specific driver would appreciate; he actually creates a photo that has universal appeal and appreciation. Each image captures a mood and creates a real sense of spirit of what each specific car was built for.
Chang uses digital format cameras and performs the majority of his photos inside a studio or using an on-location studio set-up. This gives Chang many creative possibilities; he also uses a ‘rig’ (an extension arm that attaches to a car and captures vehicles with motion blur but keeps vehicle perfectly sharp). This creates the feeling of speed, and gives these images extra excitement.
Easton Chang is a self taught photographer, who in an interview with speedhunters.com said, “I started out on online photography communities and forums where I could anonymously post my work and receive real world feedback.” This idea is a very smart one, being able to take criticism is tough and by posting work up anonymously will lead to more raw and harsh comments; which are vital tools for learning.
Criticism of automotive photography is hard as each client has a vision of their ‘dream photo’ of their car. Each client may have a radically different style-request than what you are used to doing or were planning to do prior to arriving at the shoot. Some may want light streaks on their car, some don’t and some want a totally different location.
What is tough is gaining your confidence and professionalism, Chang states in the same interview that, “I literally had to be pushed by a photographer I had met on a forum and coached me into being confident enough to send my work to magazines.”
At university a photography student must endure a lot of ‘wanky nonsense’ related to their work in their photographic series. Therefore it is such a relief to shoot something simple such as cars, or anything commercial that does not need to have a story or message. However, Chang states, “I learnt that you can’t conceive images on an individual basis, but as an entire set or story layout,” which I found fascinating to hear. A professional photographer of his calibre, Easton is still imagining the story behind the series he is shooting. He does this amazingly with the mood he captures in his images, which follow through in each particular series.
Magazine briefs is something Chang discusses in his interview informing readers of the editorial briefs that detail the clients requirements for the photo shoot. He suggests that the conflict between following the brief and on-location decisions is an issue. And how even small things such as a magazines colour scheme may change decisions of photo shoot.
In a Youtube video on Easton Chang’s account he shows some behind the scenes videos. Showing the size of his assistant crew, some of the methods of how the feature cars are transported and covered between shots, and the incredible size of his rig shot stretching meters into the air. This is all very impressive and serves as a great source to find inspiration and motivation.
Easton Chang is in my opinion the greatest automotive photographer of our time. It would be an amazing feat to personally achieve work to his standard, and is something I personally dream of reaching as I continue the endless path of learning new photography skills with each click of the shutter.
Easton has a great online identity as he started promoting himself through online forums that spread his name across the different auto-culture groups. His website launched in 2006 and now has a booming Facebook page. Chang even likes to entertain his followers by creating his own photography related memes that he regularly posts. With use of online forums and social media Easton’s name is regularly popping up all over peoples networks.
Go check it out his amazing work on his website:
http://www.eastonchang.com/
References:
Links to mentioned articles and websites:
Easton Chang’s Images:
http://www.eastonchang.com/random/rotate.php
Easton Chang’s Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/eastonchangphotography
Speedhunters interview:
http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/01/photographer_blog_gt_gt_easton_changb/
Easton Chang’s behind the scenes video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ927f0h0S0
The Film Experiment 2: ‘Historic Glory’
Following on from my previous film experiment I have continued to use the Mamimya 7 – medium format film
camera to photograph another series, this one titled: ‘Historic Glory’
Due to being closed down and refurbished as a functioning station once again Healsville and Yarra Glenn stations and its historic trains that have become quite the tourist attraction will be demolished in place of a functioning station after decades of barely any use.
This series photographs these trains, their carriages and their train yard in an attempt to memorise what these trains once were and to imagine what they would have looked like in their glory days. I would argue they now look even more glorified as a rustic feature in a town that always draws the tourists.
I also completed a digital photography series on this same idea for university which may be published at a later date.
This series was photographed on ISO 400 film, and developed and printed in a darkroom by myself. These photos have been scanned to be shown on my website, the quality has been lost in these scans.
Thank You for reading
‘Historic Glory’ – By Ben Cadwallader all images are copyrighted.
The Film Experiment: ‘The War You Don’t See’
So I have finally found some time to update the website with some new content. And I have decided to post up some
experiences I have had using various film cameras over the last year or so.
Today’s series involved taking a Mamiya 7- Medium Format film camera and walking around the Victorian suburb of Footscray.
After walking for a few hours, I discovered what I was going to show in my series of photos. And my first photo – showing the remnants of a poster for John Pilger’s documentary: ‘The War You Don’t See’ – gave me my title and goal.
As with all series’ I wont explain into detail, except this: The series explores the corners of Footscray and discovers what is hidden just off from the footpaths or major roads in the suburb, by looking a bit deeper reveals a darker history to the suburb.
Trip to 2011’s Avalon Air Show in Melbourne – Photographs
I made a trip with a few friends to visit the Avalon Air Show 2011, in Melbourne on Friday 4th of March. Sadly, upon waking up we all saw the dreaded grey clouds covering the entire sky. The forecast was terrible: rain, black clouds, general unpleasantness but we all manned up and soldiered on and drove the long drive to Western Melbourne to the Air Show…
Upon reflection, coming on the worst day of the week (weather wise) was a fantastic idea, as there was essentially no effort to get to the front of the run way to get a great view of the live air action. When we looked at other peoples photo’s from that weekend we were shocked to see how much more busy it was. If you’re going for the spectacle of the live air show and acrobatics then definitely go on the potentially wettest day of the week. Perhaps if you would have preferred spending your day browsing through the show tents and displays among the large show grounds, it might be more ideal for one of the nicer days. Either way, just remember to bring a jacket because it got so cold.
Journey to the Flooded Lands
As many of you are aware, there was immense flooding all over Victoria a few weeks ago shortly after the tragic Queensland floods.
The heavy rain in Victoria sadly caused half my house to get a very damp floor, so I was unable to launch out from my house with camera in hand. So sadly I missed out on photographing some potentially great scenes in the local area… (more…)
Cad Photography 