Filming in the US with Tim Wallace and Kelby Training

This week Tim and the crew started shooting a series of new training video’s in the US for Kelby Training. The crew are out in Washington and Florida for just over two weeks and its an exciting programme schedule with 3 brand new classes being completed to compliment the 4 that AmbientLife and Tim already have available with Kelby Training as well as two new in-depth face to face interviews with Tim talking through his life and what inspires him as well as a separate master class on business and how to redefine your view of your industry and your position within it.

Tim - “It’s been a really manic first week out here in the US and currently we are shooting down in Florida with pretty long days to make sure we try to stay on our production schedule, that said its been absolutely fantastic and it’s always a real pleasure to work with the crews from Kelby with some days on set and location where we do really enjoy ourselves and have a damn good laugh even though we are working flat out, true professionalism and a great team I think. I have been working with Kelby for abut 2 years now and this new series of classes were pretty much born from the successes of the first 4 that we recored. The CEO of Kelby Training, Scott Kelby, asked me a few months back to come up with a series of additional classes that would complement what we already had out there with Kelby. During this visit into the US we are recording 3 classes, Lighting a Car with just one light!, squarely aimed at those who may only have 1 speed light. We also have done a class on shooting Motorbikes, this was a really big shoot with lots of Pro lighting gear not to mention a one off customised Harley Davidson from New York and a whole heap of scaffolding! Lastly we looked at shooting Car Interiors, and this was a personal class with Scott himself, again using Pro lighting equipment and looking at just what you can achieve in camera. We have also been filming some interviews, business and personal which have had a great reception so far from those that were on set and in the control room on the days of filming so I personally am hoping that these really inspire people.
It’s been a great first week and I guess we are well on our way to completing the filming on time so thats good news indeed and even before we are ‘all set’, we have already had talking with Kelby and another series of additional classes has already been planned for 2014.”

While Tim is in the US he is also filming several interviews and appearances from Kelby’s ‘The Grid’ to other spots that will appear over the next few months. Below is a recording of his recent appearance on ‘The Grid’ earlier this week in the US were he talks in general about his work but also discusses the benefits to finding your ‘niche’ within your photography commercially.

Kelby Training Special Offer

Over the last few years we have recorded a series of online video training classes in the US featuring commercial car photographer Tim Wallace for Kelby Training. These online classes have proven to be a huge success and are accessed through a annual subscription system to Kelby Training where not only Tim’s work and classes can be accessed but also that of group of respected photographers from around the World such as Joe McNally.
For a limited time Kelby Training are offering 72 hour access to individuals who may wish to rent a series of training courses.

This offer is only available for a limited time at a cost of $6.99

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

As 2012 grows to a near and Christmas approaches we would like to take the opportunity to wish all our clients and our colleagues a very merry Christmas and a peaceful and fruitful New Year.
2012 has been a very eventful year for Ambientlife and has seen our company complete projects and commercial shoots around the globe as well as Tim continuing his work in delivering seminars in the UK, Europe and the US. We have seen great success from the training video’s that Tim recorded in the US earlier this year as a guest of Scott Kelby and Kelby Training and there are plans to return to the US in early 2013 to record some further classes to add to the catalogue of work available online for people to view. 2012 also saw Tim continue his work with some of our long established clients such as Aston and Jaguar as we strove forward to support these clients with their media requirements such as the exciting new ‘Aston Legend’ book that Tim is currently working on and is expected to be published world wide in 2013, and work for Jaguar to support their needs at international trade shows and motor events.

Tim - “Its been an amazing year that all started off really in the US with the launch of the video work we recored for Kelby, never one to be completely comfortable in front of a camera and more at home behind it I think, but this work has received great reviews across the globe and I am very touched and pleased that so many people have written to me since their release in February to say that these classes have really helped them understand light and look at photography in a different and new way, very well worth while and satisfying.
Its been a busy year with our automotive car work as always and we have had the addition of some pretty big projects that have stretched us at times but its all been a great learning curve in life and one that has lead us to meet some amazing people and visit some remarkable locations and places around the globe. Probably one of my biggest challenges this year has been to start work on the ‘Aston Legends’ book. I remember the first production meeting for this at Aston and at the time it was described to me as like ‘eating an elephant’ one mouth full at a time…lol
There is a huge amount of work to do as you simply don’t realise just what goes into filling a 400 page book until you actually sit down and start to plan it out but I am glad to say that we estimate that we are over 50% of the way through now and its very exciting indeed and I look forward greatly to see the completed book available and on the book store shelves, personally this is a life time goal for me and one thats been very satisfying indeed.
The year ended commercially for us in California shooting various work throughout the area and visiting some truly amazing locations such as Death Valley, LA, and Yosemite National Park. Throughout all our work it would not be possible to achieve the work that I do without the support of those that we work with and most of all my life and business partner Jess who simply is the most supportive and amazing person in her own right with her brilliant behind the scenes work on logistics and locations as well as bring the glue behind the scenes that helps keep everything together and me on the straight and narrow.
The year end is almost here and myself and Jess have taken some time out to be at our home in Switzerland to enjoy this festive period with friends and family not to mention catch up some skiing in the Alps where I hope to survive another year…!
I would like to personally wish all the people that we have met this year a very merry Christmas and a very peaceful and happy New Year as we look forward to many more adventures and challenges ahead of us.”

The legend that is the Shelby GT500

Their are many cars that seem to live on forever and still hold our imagination years after leaving production, this can be said for the legend that is the Shelby GT500. The GT500 is one of the best known from the Shelby stable and is very evocative of the era in which it became a working class hero.
We have some recent new work with the Shelby using the mountains of Switzerland as our backdrop for this extraordinary car that still lives on today and is admired by so many people the World over.
A fitting tribute in many ways following the recent death of Carroll Shelby, a passionate man that changed the face of muscle car history.

In 1964, Carroll Shelby was asked to enhance the performance of the new Ford Mustang, and the legendary GT350 was born. Initially just for racing, the 1965 GT350 R Model began its dominance on American racing circuits and making a name for itself by winning the SCCA B production championship in 1965, 1966 and 1967.

Ford wanted to put a version on the street known as the GT350 The GT350 was essentially a de-tuned and reworked R Model and it catapulted Mustang into the world of high performance. It became one of the most popular and recognizable brands in the automotive industry. The performance evolution continued with the famed king of the road, the GT500.

Shelby Limited Edition Image Released

The man who retired from racing and built the Cobra, then went on to work with Mustang
A sad loss, a great man who will always be remembered.

Carroll Shelby, the colourful American racing driver and engineer who shared the winning Aston Martin with Britain’s Roy Salvadori in the 1959 Le Mans 24-hour sports car classic, and who later gave his name to the iconic Shelby American Cobra high-performance sports car, has died at the age of 89.

The genial Texan’s trademark was his distinctive striped, bib-style racing overalls, which gave him a swashbuckling, Casey Jones-like appearance throughout a distinguished racing career that included eight world championship grand prix outings driving a private Maserati 250F, and latterly for the ill-starred Aston Martin Formula One team.

Born in Leesburg, Texas, the son of the town’s postmaster, Shelby was a child when his family moved to Dallas. Despite being diagnosed with a slight heart murmur at the age of 10, he served as a flight instructor with the US air force during the second world war. He went on to work in the truck business, before turning his hand to chicken farming, unsuccessfully, in the late 1940s.

Meanwhile, Shelby had started to dabble in sports car racing, and by 1952 had gained a degree of recognition after some promising outings at the wheel of a Jaguar XK120, before switching to a fearsome, Cadillac-powered Allard the following year. In 1954, spurred on by the offer of a cup from Kleenex heir Jim Kimberly – one of the great US racing philanthropists of the time – for the best performance by an amateur driver, Shelby entered the Allard in the Buenos Aires 1,000km sports car race, co-driving with airline pilot Dale Duncan, who was a useful contact when it came to air freighting the car to Argentina.

This first competitive appearance outside the US for Shelby was memorable: he and Duncan finished 10th, despite a carburettor fire during a pit stop, which had to be extinguished by the simple expedient of Duncan urinating on the engine. More significantly, Aston Martin driver Peter Collins introduced Shelby to his team manager, John Wyer, who had been impressed with the Texan’s handling of the wild and woolly Allard. Shelby now had his foot in the door at Aston Martin, which would lead to a place in their works team – and that memorable victory at Le Mans five years later.

Like most of those who drove for Aston Martin in the 1950s, Shelby loved the team’s ambience, and he never seriously considered any of the fleeting, and possibly empty, offers to join Maserati or Ferrari. His Texan penchant for straight talking occasionally made David Brown, the Aston Martin company’s owner, wince: telling the boss one of his cars handled like “10 pounds of shit in a five-pound bag” was pretty strong stuff from a hired hand in the mid-1950s. Shelby recalled Brown’s reaction: “He got pissed off at that, turned round and walked away.”

Along with Salvadori, Shelby also took up the F1 Aston Martin DBR4s during the 1959 season. But these front-engined museum pieces were obsolete even before they raced for the first time, a new generation of mid-engined cars from Cooper dashing their hopes of success. At the start of 1960, Shelby suffered bad chest pains that alerted him to a now-serious heart condition. Despite attempting to control the situation by driving with nitroglycerin pills under his tongue, Shelby decided to retire from racing at the end of that year.

One of Shelby’s dreams had been the manufacture of a high-performance American sports car, so when he heard in 1961 that supplies of Bristol engines had dried up for the British AC company, he brokered a deal that saw AC switch to using a 4.7-litre Ford V8, and the famous Cobra was born. Ford backed Shelby’s efforts on the race track, and the Shelby Cobras were duly homologated as GT cars by the start of the 1963 international sports car racing calendar, when they were pitched against the Ferrari GTOs. In 1965, the Shelby Cobras won the FIA GT championship, wresting this prestigious title from their Ferrari opposition.

By 1970, Shelby was diversifying into other businesses outside motor racing, but in 1982 Chrysler boss Lee Iaccoca, an old friend, offered him the opportunity to serve as a performance consultant to the automotive giant, bringing him back into the motor racing orbit.

He is survived by his wife, Cleo, his two sons, Patrick and Michael, his daughter, Sharon, and his sister, Anne.

• Carroll Shelby, racing driver and engineer, born 11 January 1923; died 10 May 2012.

3rd video class with Tim Wallace is launched in the US by Kelby

This week saw the 3rd video released in the US by Photography Giant Kelby Training featuring a look at the behind the scenes work of Commercial Car Photographer Tim Wallace. The video is part of a series of 4 that were recorded on location in the US late last year and they have been receiving excellent feedback as photographers and keen amateurs around the World follow the series on Kelby Training.

Kelby Training – Inspired Light with Tim Wallace Checkout our exciting classes online here

The class features photographer Tim Wallace as he demonstrates how to both approach and work with shooting car using nothing more than one camera, one lens and just making use of the available light around us inside a warehouse setting in Tampa Florida. The class has received great reviews already and is the 3rd of 4 that will be presented by Kelby over the coming months with the first class already starting to receive rave reviews all over the Internet communities.

Just some of the feedback being received in the first day from relaese

Renier Welgemoed – Austrailia

“Hi Tim,
I love your classes on Kelby Training and your work on your web site, you make it look so easy, but I guess with lots of practice everything gets a little bit easier.”

T. Quinn – US

“My word…another winner Mr. Wallace. Minimal equipment with maximum output. For the car nut like me this is so great to learn and think about seeing in the camera rather than in Photoshop. With that being said, cannot wait for the 4th class on photoshop to see what you can do”

M. Azzahrani – Dubai

“Dear Lord! This guy is TOO good. I took photos with my dusty old “Suzuki Swift” following these instructors with only one soft box and it turned out amazing, mean and monster looking ride!”

J. Mold – US

“I just wanted to say that I have been following Tim’s awesome work for sometime. I’m trying to break into commercial photography and couldn’t believe my luck when I saw that Tim was featuring as one of your pro instructors. The timing couldn’t have been better as I have a commercial shoot for a luxury car dealership in a few weeks. I am fairly comfortable with off camera lighting, but Tim’s attention to detail, the way he teaches and makes you feel like you’re having a 1-2-1 session on location with him s fantastic. I’ve learnt so much from this series that I know I’ll be taking my vehicle photography to the next level. I have learnt so much from the first 3 courses he has done that I really look forward to seeing more of him on Kelby Training.”

W. Jones – England

“To the folks at Kelby Training and Tim Wallace, thanks so much! I have enjoyed and learned so much from Tim’s series so far. I am a car enthusiast and have always wanted to learn how to improve my photographs of cars. This course has helped significantly.
Tim thanks so much for taking the time, I really enjoy your approach to photography and find your creativity very inspirational! Keep it up.”

J. Santiago – Spain

“Wallace did it again!!!! His simple approach yet powerful results just amazes me. What I liked best was the simple setup and equipment to obtain quality results. Really like it…”

The Wallace Classes Available on Kelby

The four classes that are online with Kelby Training from AmbientLife are;

1. How to light a car using multiple lights
2. Lighting a car and shooting detail with just one light
3. Shooting cars with only available light
4. Photoshop techniques for Car Photographers.

Behind the scenes during the US filming

All of the filming took place in Ybor near Tampa Florida at a location known as ‘The Trolley Barn’, a location made famous in its use during the filming of ‘The Punisher’ a few years ago. October in Florida is still pretty hot and during our first week the weather was indeed very humid with the whole team really feeling that heat inside the barn. Our choice of cars over the term of the shooting was a Ford Mustang V6, a Dodge Challenger, and a Cadillac CTS.

Scott Kelby gets Inspired as US videos receive great reviews

Over the last few months the Kelby Group have been releasing two of the four video classes that commercial car photographer Tim Wallace recorded in the US recently. The video classes have been receiving some great reviews and are currently among the most watched class on the Kelby Worldwide Group. This week even saw the president of NAPP Scott Kelby get inspired himself to get out there with his own camera and try some of the techniques for himself…

A selection of some of the reviews and comment from Kelby Training

“I found Tim on the Internet a few years back and i’ve liked his style ever since. He has a great eye, and he lights the cars in both a very pleasing and interesting way.
I work as a automotive photographer as well and i sometimes find inspiration from Tim’s work since i like his style.”

“Watched the car one already and loved it. Vital information for me as I try to move into this segment. I am sure the close up video is as good and I can’t wait to watch”

“Thanks Scott for giving us the opportunity to further feed on Tim incredible talent, his images are terrific!!”

“Outstanding classes from Tim! I am the least ‘car guy’ there could possibly be (possibly because I do body repairs on them every day?) and I soooo want to get my gear out and do this! I’m hoping to give it a shot this week some time. Not like I have a lack of subjects in the shop….. “

“Tim Wallace is great… I have watched both of his classes 3 times each and catch something new each time… thank you guys so much for having him teach these classes… One of my co-workers just bought a top of the line Z06 Corvette and agreed to let me shot the car as practice… maybe I will post the pics to the next Grid Critique. Thanks again!!!”

“Wow, Tim Wallace is awesome. It struck me that he has the finished photo already in his head, that is creative thinking I don’t have. HA, still using film camera sound for his high end digital. Great stuff!”

“Both classes are terrific. Even if you don’t like to shoot cars, you’ll get something out of these classes. Great job, Tim!”

Kelby Training – Inspired Light with Tim Wallace Checkout our four exciting classes online here

2nd Video Class Launches in US with Kelby

This week saw the second of four video classes launch in the US through the Worldwide and well respected photography resource site Kelby Training. The one hour class features Ambient Life photographer Tim Wallace as he demonstrates how to both approach and work with shooting car detail using nothing more than one camera, one light and one lens inside a warehouse setting in Tampa Florida. The class has received great reviews already and is the second of 4 that will be presented by Kelby over the coming months with the first class already starting to receive rave reviews all over the Internet communities.
Kelby Training – Inspired Light with Tim Wallace Checkout our exciting classes online here

The four classes that are online with Kelby Training from AmbientLife are;

1. How to light a car using multiple lights
2. Lighting a car and shooting detail with just one light
3. Shooting cars with only available light
4. Photoshop techniques for Car Photographers.

All of the filming took place in Ybor near Tampa Florida at a location known as ‘The Trolley Barn’, a location made famous in its use during the filming of ‘The Punisher’ a few years ago. October in Florida is still pretty hot and during our first week the weather was indeed very humid with the whole team really feeling that heat inside the barn. Our choice of cars over the term of the shooting was a Ford Mustang V6, a Dodge Challenger, and a Cadillac CTS.

If you would like to watch how we worked with these cars and made the best use of our lighting then please join us online at Kelby Training where you can review and enjoy all 4 video classes, each of which is around 45 minutes to 1 hour in duration.

Kelby Training – Inspired Light with Tim Wallace Checkout our four exciting classes online here

43 Inspired Seconds…

A new media presentation of the work of automotive commercial car photographer Tim Wallace was made live today. The ‘burst’ media presentation shows just some of the work that we have produced in recent months and demonstrates a cross section of skills within the field of professional commercial photography.

First Kelby Video Class launches in the US

Today saw the first of four video classes launch in the US through the Worldwide and well respected photography resource site Kelby Training. The one hour class features Ambient Life photographer Tim Wallace as he demonstrates how to both approach and build a complex lighting set up shooting a car inside a warehouse setting at Tampa in the US. The class has received great reviews already and is the first of 4 that will be presented by Kelby over the coming months.

Kelby Training – Inspired Light with Tim Wallace Checkout the first of our four exciting classes online here

The four classes that are online with Kelby Training from AmbientLife are;

1. How to light a car using multiple lights
2. Lighting a car and shooting detail with just one light
3. Shooting cars with only available light
4. Photoshop techniques for Car Photographers.

Behind the scenes during the US filming

All of the filming took place in Ybor near Tampa Florida at a location known as ‘The Trolley Barn’, a location made famous in its use during the filming of ‘The Punisher’ a few years ago. October in Florida is still pretty hot and during our first week the weather was indeed very humid with the whole team really feeling that heat inside the barn. Our choice of cars over the term of the shooting was a Ford Mustang V6, a Dodge Challenger, and a Cadillac CTS.

Behind the scenes photography – Jessica Gremaud

If you would like to watch how we worked with these cars and made the best use of our lighting then please join us online at Kelby Training where you can review and enjoy all 4 video classes, each of which is around 45 minutes to 1 hour in duration.

Kelby Training – Inspired Light with Tim Wallace Checkout the first of our four exciting classes online here